The Emirate of Abu Dhabi has issued a law regulating the personal status of non-Muslim foreigners; this law is the first civil law to regulate family matters for non-Muslims in accordance with international best practices and to ensure the right of non-Muslims to be subject to an internationally recognized law close to their culture, customs and language.
The law introduced new concepts in several topics such as marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance, and we summarize them in the following points:
First: Marriage:
Civil marriage takes place before the notarial judge, by only expressing the consent of both parties.
Second: Divorce:
It is sufficient to grant the divorce, for one of the spouses to express unilaterally before the court his/her desire to separate, without the need to justify that request or to state the damage or fault of the other party, as the divorce takes place in the first session before the court without the need to submit to family guidance.
After the divorce ruling, the wife has the right to apply for alimony from her ex-husband.
Third: Custody:
Custody is a joint and equal right between the father and mother after divorce unless one of them waives his/her right, and in case of disagreement, each of them has the right to submit an application to the court to object or to request the court’s intervention to settle the matter in dispute.
Fourth: Inheritance and Wills:
A non-Muslim foreigner has the right to leave a will with all his money to whomever he/she wants.
In the absence of a will and the absence of one of the heirs requesting the local law, the inheritance shall be divided equally between the wife and children without difference between the male and female children, and if the deceased has no children or wife, the inheritance will go to his parents equally, or half to one of the parents in the absence of the other and the second half to the siblings of the deceased, however, in the absence of parents, the estate goes to the siblings of the deceased.
Fifth: Proof of parentage:
The paternity of the child is established by marriage or with the approval of the father and mother.
According to this law, a specialized court was established to hear cases related to the personal status of non-Muslim foreigners. The law also recognized equality between men and women in all rights such as testimony, inheritance, divorce application by unilateral will, and the custody of the children.
