Family Law in UAE

All You Need to Know about Family Law in UAE

A family law deals with a wide range of personal status matters; including individual, family and marital relationships. In the UAE, the personal status courts govern procedures of wills, separation, divorce, guardianship and inheritance for both Muslims and non-Muslims.

The UAE government approved the National Family Policy launched by Ministry of Community Development. The policy seeks to achieve main five goals:

•  building Emirati families’ capability of coping with challenges in a marriage
•  promoting the stability of family life for generations to come
•  providing a healthy environment to support the Emirati family in coping with the stress of life
•  raising the capabilities of the Emirati family and its responsibilities towards its society and the country, its national identity and UAE’s values and morals
•  Achieving happiness for the Emirati family through family cohesion.

The policy includes six components:

• Marriage
• Family relations
• Balance of roles
• Child protection
• Family protection
• Re-engineering the provision of family services to achieve family happiness. 

Marriage:-

Under the UAE law, marriage is the only legal bond for a man and a woman to establish a relationship and form a family. The law identifies marriage as a legal contract between a man and a woman, aimed at protecting the rights of the couple and their children.

Through partnerships with economic and tourism institutions in UAE, the ministry will encourage discounts of facilities and halls to reduce marriage costs, especially for low income families.

Family Relations:-

The ministry will launch a guide across the UAE to educate families on the rights and duties of family members, the general principles of marital relations and procedures that protect against family disintegration. 72 local and federal counselling centers will be available, licensing marriage counselling centers’ requirements will be reviewed and amended.

Balance of roles:-

Paternity leaves will be discussed and counseling services offered for fathers to enhance their role in the family. Parents, widows and divorced women will also be advised through counselling services. A guiding programme will be dedicated for single parents, to empower and support them in adapting post-divorce life. The main objective of all this is ensuring family stability and cohesion.

Child Protection:-

The UAE gives top priority to children's care and development. At the federal level, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Community Development undertake protection of children. The UAE has initiated Child Rights Law also called Wudeema's Law and several regulations and initiatives to support it.

School children can use the hotline number 80051115 to communicate directly with Ministry of Education regarding any issue that may affect their learning process. Education specialists supervise the hotline.

Useful Links: - Dimensions of child protection – MoI

Family Protection:-

The policy defines family or domestic violence as any abuse, violence or threat committed by a family member against any other family member or individual exceeding his guardianship, jurisdiction, authority or responsibility, resulting in a physical or a psychological harm.

To support the stability of families and marital relationships, the UAE government provides free of charge family counselling and consultation through different channels through the following entities:

• Ministry of Community Development
• Community Development Authority (CDA)
• Judicial Department-Abu Dhabi
• Family Development Foundation

Re-engineering the provision of family services to achieve family happiness:-

Maintaining a cohesive society and preserved identity is one of the six pillars of the National Agenda in line with Vision 2021. Thus, it promotes an inclusive environment that integrates all segments of society while preserving the UAE's unique culture, heritage and traditions and reinforces social and family cohesion.

Furthermore, the National Agenda aims for the UAE to be among the best in the world in the Human Development Index and to be the happiest of all nations so that its citizens feel proud to belong to the UAE.

We at Emirates Advocates represent in all family matters for both Muslims and Non-Muslims residing in the UAE. We understand that each case is unique in nature and our lawyers are trained to give their utmost care and personal attention to our clients.   


Source:government.ae