Federal Decree Law No

We, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates,

- Pursuant to the perusal of the Constitution;

- Federal Law No. (1) of 1972 on the competencies of Ministries and powers of Ministers, and its amendments;

- Federal Law No. (5) of 1985 on the issuance of the Civil Transactions Law, and its amendments;

- Federal Law No. (11) of 1992 on the issuance of the Criminal Procedure Law, and its amendments;

- Federal Law No. (21) of 1997 on determining dowry in the marriage contract and its expenses;

- Federal Law No. (28) of 2005 on Personal Status, and its amendments;

- Federal Law No. (13) of 2020 public health;

- Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 on the issuance of the Crimes and Penalties Law, and its amendments;

- Federal Decree-Law No. (10) of 2022 on regulating the registration of births and deaths;

- Federal Decree-Law No. (20) of 2022 on regulating the Notary Public Profession;

- Federal Decree-Law No. (35) of 2022 on issuing the Law of Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions;

- Federal Decree-Law No. (32) of 2022 on the Federal Judicial Authority;

- Federal Decree-Law No. (33) of 2022 on the Federal Supreme Court; and

- Based on the proposal of the Minister of Justice, and the approval of the Council of Ministers;

Have issued the followed Decree-Law:

1- The provisions of this Decree-Law shall apply to non-Muslims who are citizens of the United Arab Emirates, and to non-Muslim foreigners residing in the State unless one of them adheres to the application of their law, with regard to articles of marriage, divorce, inheritance, wills, and proof of parentage, without prejudice to the provisions of Articles (12), (13), (15), (16), and (17) of the aforementioned Federal Law No. (5) of 1985.

2- Those addressed by the provisions of this Decree-Law, referred to in Clause (1) of this Article, may agree to apply other legislation regulating family or personal status in force in the State, instead of applying the provisions of this Decree-Law.

3- The provisions of this Decree-Law shall apply to all incidents that occur after the entry into force of its provisions.

The Gregorian calendar shall be adopted in calculating the time limits stipulated in this Decree-Law.

Divorce lawsuits filed in accordance with the provisions of this Decree-Law shall be excluded from being referred to family guidance committees, and shall be referred directly to the court for issuance of judgement in the first session.

In applying the provisions of this Decree-Law, equality between women and men in terms of rights and duties shall be taken into account, and this shall apply in particular to the following matters:

1- Testimony: There shall be equality in testimony before the court, and the testimony of a woman before the court shall be considered the same as the testimony of a man without distinction.

2- Inheritance: Equality between men and women in the distribution of inheritance according to the provisions of this Decree-Law.

3- Right to request a divorce: Husband and wife alike shall have the right, each of his own will, to request the signing of a divorce from the court without prejudice to their rights related to divorce.

4- Joint custody: Women and men shall have equal right to joint custody of a child until they reach the age of (18) eighteen years, after which the child shall have freedom of choice.

For a civil marriage contract to be valid, the following conditions shall be met:

1- Both husband and wife shall have reached at least (21) twenty-one Gregorian years of age. Age shall be proven by any official document issued by the state to which each of them belongs by nationality.

2- Marriage shall not take place between siblings, children, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, and in any other cases as determined by the Implementing Regulation.

3- Both spouses shall be required to give consent to the marriage before the Officiant (judge), and prove that there is no legal impediment that prevents considering their consent.

4- Signature of both spouses shall be affixed on the disclosure form.

5- Any other conditions set out in the Implementing Regulation of this Decree-Law.

1- Marriage procedures may be concluded before the Officiant (judge) at the competent court, by submitting an application according to the form prepared for this purpose, taking into account the conditions and other procedures stipulated in this Decree-Law and its Implementing Regulation.

2- Marriage shall be concluded by the spouses filling out the form prepared for that before the Officiant (judge), and the spouses shall have the right to agree on the terms of the contract. The provisions of this contract regarding the rights of each of the husband and the wife during the marriage period and post-divorce rights, and in particular the joint custody of the children, shall be considered between them.

3- The marriage contract form shall include a disclosure by each of the spouses of the existence of any other previous marital relationship for either of them, indicating the date of divorce, if any, in addition to the wife’s acknowledgement that there is no existing marital relationship. The husband shall submit this acknowledgement in case his legislation does not allow him polygamy. In all cases, the husband shall disclose any existing marital relationship before the Officiant (judge).

4- The contract shall include what indicates the consent of each of them, either verbally or in writing.

5- The Implementing Regulation of this Decree-Law shall specify the bilingual contract form approved for civil marriage.

6- After verifying that all the conditions for a civil marriage contract are met, and after completing the procedures stipulated in this article, the Officiant (judge) shall certify the marriage contract, and it shall be recorded in the register prepared for this purpose.

To request and sign a divorce, it suffices that one of the spouses expresses before the court their desire to separate and not continue the marital relationship, without the need for justifying that request, or demonstrating a harm caused, or blaming the other party.

Either spouse may request a divorce without the need to prove any harm, according to the form prepared for that purpose, and the divorce shall take place by court ruling after notifying the other party.

A divorced woman shall have the right to request the Court to make an order for spousal maintenance from her ex-husband, and any post-divorce requests before the court shall be added according to the form prepared for that purpose. The acceptance and duration of the request shall be subject to the discretionary power of the judge after evaluating the following factors:

1- The number of years of marriage, where the amount of spousal maintenance shall increase with the number of years of marriage.

2- The age of the wife, where the value of spousal maintenance shall decrease with the decrease in the age of the wife, and vice versa.

3- The financial situation of each of the spouses, according to a report prepared by an accounting expert who shall be delegated by the court to assess the economic situation of each of the spouses.

4- The extent of the husband's contribution to the divorce through negligence or error, or through commission thereby of any act that led to the divorce.

5- Compensation of each of the spouses by the other for any material or moral damage caused to them as a result of the divorce.

6- Financial damages incurred by either spouse as a result of the request to sign the divorce by unilateral will.

7- Coverage, by the father, of the expenses and costs of the mother’s custody of the children during joint custody, for a temporary period not exceeding two years, according to the results of the accounting expert’s report.

8- The extent of the wife's interest in taking care of the children or not.

9- In all cases, the wife's spousal maintenance shall cease in the event of her marriage to another man, and in the event that her custody of the children ends for any reason. A new application may be submitted to amend the spousal maintenance after each year or depending on the change of circumstances.

1- Custody of children is a post-divorce joint and equal right of both the father and the mother. Children shall also have the right not to face bias towards one parent over the other through upbringing and visitation, in order to preserve the psychological health of the child in custody and limit the effects of divorce on the children.

2- As a general rule, a custody of children is the sharing of responsibility of raising the children after the divorce has taken place by the father and mother together, unless the two parties submit a request to the court to establish custody for the party who is worthy of fulfilling the interests of the child in custody, or one of them requests a written waiver before the court of their right to custody, or submits a request to the court to dismiss the other party from joint custody and impose forfeiture of their right to custody for any reason acceptable to the court, such as impediments to legal competence, the danger posed by the sharing of custody by the defendant custodian, or the joint custodian not performing their duties. The Implementing Regulation of this Decree-Law prescribes the cases of dismissing the other party from custody and imposing forfeiture of their right to it.

3- In the event that the father and mother disagree on any matter of joint custody, either of them shall have the right to submit a request to the court according to the form prepared for that purpose to object or request the intervention of the court to decide on the matter in dispute.

4- The court shall have the discretionary power to decide what it deems appropriate for the interest of the child in custody, based on the request of either parent after the divorce.

1- The legator shall have the right to leave a will covering the entire amount of money they own in the State for whoever they want in accordance with the controls specified by the Implementing Regulation of this Decree-Law.

2- In the absence of a will, half of the estate shall go to the husband or wife, and the other half shall be distributed equally among the children, without any difference between male and female. If the deceased had no children, the estate shall devolve to the parents of the deceased, if they are alive, and shall be divided equally among them, or half of the estate shall devolve to one of them in the absence of the other, while the other half shall devolve to his siblings, or all the estate shall devolve to one of the parents in the absence of the other and the absence of the husband of the legator or his children or siblings. In the event that the parents are not present, the entire inheritance shall devolve to the siblings of the legator and shall be distributed equally among them, without any distinction between male and female.

3- By way of exception from the provisions of Clause (2) of this Article, any of the heirs of a foreigner may request the application of the law applicable to the estate in accordance with the provisions stipulated in the Civil Transactions Law, unless there is a registered will to the contrary.

The Council of Ministers shall issue the guidelines for inheritance procedures for those addressed by the provisions of this Decree-Law.

1- The wills of those addressed by the provisions of this Decree-Law shall be recorded in the register prepared for this purpose in accordance with the procedures specified by the Implementing Regulation of this Decree-Law.

2- The spouses may fill out a will registration form during the signing of the marriage contract to indicate how the money will be distributed in the event of death of either of them.

1- Parentage of a child shall be established by marriage or by acknowledgement of the father and mother, and the birth certificate of the child shall be extracted according to the legislation in force in this regard.

2- The court may order a DNA test to be conducted, in accordance with the relevant governing rules, and it shall not issue an order to prove parentage to the one who claims it except after verifying the following: -

a- That the child is of unknown parentage.

b- That the age difference demonstrates the possibility of parentage of the child to the person claiming it.

3- The Council of Ministers, based upon the proposal of the Minister of Justice, may issue a decision regulating the procedures and provisions of adoption and alternative families and their implications.

The laws and legislation in force in the State shall apply to matters for which no specific provisions are laid down in this Decree-Law.

The Council of Ministers shall issue the Implementing Regulation of this Decree-Law

.

Any provision that is contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Decree-Law shall be abrogated.

The present Decree-Law shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall come into force as of 1/2/2023.