Introduction to Clarification of Personal Status Law in UAE
Clarification on the Personal Law of UAE was needed. The New Personal Status Law, formally known as Federal Law No. 41/2022 came into force in February 2023. The implementing regulations of the UAE personal law were issued at the end of 2023.
The purpose of this post is to introduce you to the importance and clarifications introduced by the Personal Law Implementing Regulations.
In brief to the novelties that we introduced by the UAE Personal Status Law (applicable to non-Muslims) in our publication of March 2023:
- Affirmation of the equality between men and women. This implied equality in testimony, distributing inheritance, seeking divorce and the automatic joint custody of the children in any potential divorce.
- Introduction of a civil marriage for non-muslims with associated registry for pre-marriage wishes to be registered.
- The possibility for wives to seek alimony from husbands.
- The introduction of a registry of wills with full testamentary freedoms (keeping Sharia aside, an old fear of UAE expatriates when it came to succession)
Following the issuance of the new UAE Personal Status Law, there were a number of questions that were left unanswered:
- What are the conditions to conduct a civil marriage?
- How much alimony will wives be able to request and obtain?
- How would the joint custody be organized in the absence of joint agreement?
- What are the conditions for will registration and execution?
Cabinet Decision No. 122/2023 on the Implementing Regulation of Federal Decree-Law No. 41/2022 on the Civil Personal Status Law gives answer to most of these questions or sets the framework within which these questions will find an answer.
Clarification of Personal Status Law in UAE: Civil Marriage & Alimony
Its first articles address the conditions to conduct the civil marriage and options for a minor to get married (how will the required permission need to be obtained).
During this section it also addresses that spouses could seek compensation after divorce, replicating the same factors that the Law addressed:
Its Article 6 indicates:
[…] the judge may oblige either spouse to pay a lump sum to compensate the other party after the divorce, taking into account the following calculation criteria:
“1- The total years of marriage and the age of the spouses, so that the amount of compensation increases with the number of years of marriage.
2- The extent to which the husband or wife contributed to the failure of the marital relationship through negligence or error, or committing any act that led to divorce, such as infidelity or abandonment.
3- Compensation by either of the spouses to the other for any material or moral damage caused to them as a result of the divorce.
4- The economic, financial and social status of each spouse according to the accounting expert report.
5- The level of education and university degrees for both spouses.
6- The age of the wife; as the value of spousal support decreases with the decrease of the woman’s age, and vice versa.
7- The extent of the wife’s interest in taking care of the children, or not.
8- The husband’s requirement that the wife doesn’t work, or not.
9- The standard of living to which both the wife and children were accustomed during the marriage period.
10- The extent to which each spouse contributes to the other’s wealth.
11- Health conditions of both spouses.
12- The wife’s employment status and her ability to work.
13- The number of children, their jobs, and the extent of their need for care.
14- Financial dependence of either spouse on the other.
15- Any other criteria that the Court may deem necessary.”
The novelty is introduced in Article 7 which affirms what as practitioners we were already observing. All cases, in the absence of agreement are referred to a financial expert who will deepen into all of the above, seek documents and draw a report for the Court’s revision and use during its decision making process.
This is why alimony is covered by the implementing regulations at the time of addressing the civil marriage and marriage agreement. Spouses could agree for terms in the event of divorce.
The goal of the expert will be to ensure the quality of life of the mother and the kids without overburdening the father and this of course in the absence of a marriage contract. Marriages contract will be revised at this stage to evaluate the rights and obligations of each spouse.
Other Father’s Obligations
If the spouses do not have a marriage contract, the Implementing regulations advance that the father will need to cover housing during the joint custody and that the mother will be able to seek house assistance.
With respect to the alimony, the Implementing Regulations confirm that the wife will be entitled to them while her financial rights resulting from the divorce are settled.
The Implementing regulations further confirm that the father will be solely responsible for kids’ expenses as he did before the marriage and in the absence of contrary terms in marriage agreement.
Clarification of Personal Status Law in UAE: Joint Custody
It is further revealing the options that the Court reserves in the event that the spouses do not agree on the terms of the joint custody and this could be weekly, bimonthly or monthly, leaving the door open to any suitable alternative splits.
Evidently the implementing regulations touch on the reasons that could make an application to remove joint custody to succeed, which as we see below are very gross reasons:
“1- The risk of the child in custody being exposed to domestic violence or abuse.
2- Inadequate living conditions provided by the joint custodian to the child in custody.
3- The joint custodian having behavioural or psychological problems that would harm the child in custody or expose him to risk or neglect.
4- Loss or lack of eligibility of the joint custodian.
5- The joint custodian not carrying out custody duties.
6- The joint custodian committing a crime of moral turpitude or dishonesty that prevents him from carrying out his duties or poses a threat to the behaviour of the child in custody, provided that his conviction is proven by a final ruling.
7- Not devoting time to caring for the child in custody and being preoccupied.
8- The desire of the child in custody, provided that he reaches (18) eighteen years of age.
9- The custodian’s abuse of drugs, alcohol, or any psychotropic substances.
10- Health reasons preventing the joint custodian from carrying out his duties towards the child in custody.
11- Any other reasons determined by the competent Court and achieving the interest of the child in custody.”
On the topic of Joint Custody, the implementing regulations confirm that unless the spouses otherwise agree each spouse will need to seek permission from the court to be able to take the kids out of the country. Both could also request a travel ban on the kids from the time of divorce.
Non-Muslim Wills
The last section of the regulations concentrate on the wills for non-muslims, its registration and conditions of validity of the will, the need to have executors to fulfill the wishes of the testator, the relationship between wills in the event that there were different wills executed by a testator.
***
We hope this publication will help you understand the New Personal Status Law in the UAE and remain available for any questions regarding this post of general application.
For more information published in English you can visit all our publications at this link as well as the videos in English of our Partner Maria Rubert.
*The information on this page is not intended to be legal advice. This article is intended to provide an initial introduction to the personal status regulations for non-muslims in the UAE.