Dubai: The UAE Cabinet has issued a new family status law, addressing some issues for the first time, such as setting the minimum age for marriage at 18 years.
Recovering dowry
The new law also revises the provisions related to recovering gifts and dowry in cases where an engagement is abandoned. It clarifies the types of gifts that may be reclaimed, including gifts conditional upon the completion of the marriage and high-value gifts exceeding Dh25,000 each. If such gifts are unavailable in their original form, their equivalent value at the time of receipt may be sought unless the gift’s nature renders it consumable.
Permission to marry
The law facilitates the transfer of marriage guardianship to the court, ensuring a woman’s right to marry someone she consents to. If a guardian unjustly refuses to grant permission, the court may intervene to transfer guardianship. Additionally, the law eliminates the requirement for a guardian’s consent when a non-citizen Muslim woman’s national law does not mandate it for concluding a marriage contract.
The decree-law grants flexibility to family court judges, allowing them to rule according to Islamic law in the absence of specific provisions within the law, without being restricted to specific schools of thought, as required by public interest.
Wife’s rights
The provisions of the new rule outline the wife’s rights concerning the marital home, whether it is owned, rented, provided by her, or co-owned or co-rented with her husband.
The law mandates the husband to document any divorce or reconciliation before the competent court within a maximum of 15 days from the date of its occurrence. Failure to document the divorce within this period grants the wife the right to claim compensation equivalent to alimony, safeguarding her rights and protecting her interests from potential losses.
Seeking divorce
The law allows either spouse to seek divorce on grounds of harm caused by the husband’s addiction to narcotics, psychotropic substances, or intoxicants. This provision upholds the spouses’ rights by ensuring neither is compelled to remain in a marital relationship with an addict who endangers the welfare of their family and themselves.
To simplify and expedite proceedings in cases of marriage dissolution due to harm, the decree reduces the arbitration period to 60 days, instead of 90 days under the previous law, ensuring a timelier resolution before a judgment is issued.
Child custody
The new law introduces significant amendments to custody provisions, placing the child’s best interest as the foremost priority in all related rulings and ensuring that the child’s rights are not compromised between divorced parents.
The age of custody termination has been unified and extended to 18 years for both males and females, replacing the earlier law, which set the end of custody at 11 years for males and 13 years for females.
Additionally, the new provisions grant children the right to choose their preferred parent for residence upon reaching 15 years of age. In cases where the custodian mother is of a different religion than the child, the law now leaves the decision to the court’s discretion, prioritising the child’s interest. This contrasts with the previous law, which mandated the end of custody for non-Muslim mothers when the child turned five years old.
Fines and imprisonment
The law introduces penalties, including imprisonment or fines ranging from a minimum of Dh5,000 to a maximum of Dh100,000—or either of these penalties—for offences involving the assault on minors’ property, unauthorised travel with a child, the mismanagement or seizing of inheritance funds, abuse, neglect, or failure to provide appropriate care and support for parents when required.
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