Last week, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department announced a new law regulating personal status matters for Non-Muslims (the “New Law”), to be ratified and enforceable imminently within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The New Law consists of 20 articles covering inheritance, but also civil marriage, divorce, joint custody of children.
To handle such personal status matters for non-Muslims, a new, bilingual court (the first of its kind in the UAE mainland), will be created.
Novelties introduced by the New Law:
- Registration of Wills with Abu Dhabi court for non-Muslims and right of foreigners to draw up a will devolving all his/her properties to whomever he/she wishes.
- Option for non-Muslims above the age of 18 to conclude a civil marriage in front of a judge in Abu Dhabi court;
- Waiver of requirement for mandatory family guidance counseling;
- Financial compensation can be claimed by the wife’s post-divorce, with an amount to be determined by the judge, taking into consideration factors such as length of the marriage, age of spouses, their children, the contribution of each party to the divorce, etc.
- Joint custody for children, granting equal rights to parents
What we say
The introduction of the above changes follows a number of legal changes implemented in the UAE last year including decriminalization of alcohol consumption and cohabitation of unmarried couples.
These changes reflect the UAE’s ambition to constant development and opening to its expat community.
It remains to be seen if other Emirates will follow Abu Dhabi’s example, and how the above changes will be handled in practice.
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