FEDERAL LAW No . 28

Issued on 19/11/2005

Corresponding to 17 Shawal 1426 H .

ON PERSONAL STATUS

We , Khalifah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan , President of the United Arab Emirates State , Pursuant to the perusal of the Constitution ; and : Federal Law no . 1 of 1972 on the Jurisdiction of the Ministries and the Powers of the Ministers and its amending laws ; Federal Law no . 10 of 1973 on the Federal Supreme Court and its amending laws ; Federal Law no . 6 of 1978 on the establishment of Federal Courts and the transfer of the jurisdictions of the local courts in some of the Emirates to these Federal Courts and its amending laws ; Federal Law no . 17 of 1978 on Organization of the cases and procedures of appeal in Cassation before the Federal Supreme Court and its amending laws ; Federal Law no . 3 of 1983 on the Federal Judicial Authority and its amending Laws ; The Penal Law issued by Federal Law no . 3 of 1987 ; The Civil Transactions Law issued by Federal Law no . 5 of 1985 and its amending laws ; Federal Law no . 22 of 1001 on Notary Public and its amending laws ; The Law of Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions , issued by Federal Law no . 10 of 1992 ; The Law on Civil Procedures , issued by Federal Law no . 11 of 1992 ; Federal Law no . 21 of 1997 on Fixing the Dowry in the Contract of Marriage and its Expenses ; and Acting upon the proposal of the Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs and Wakfs , the approval of the Council of Ministers and ratification of the Federal Supreme Council ; We have promulgated the following Law :

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

The present Law shall apply to all facts occurring subsequent to the coming into force of its provisions .
It shall retrospectively apply to divorce attestations and divorce lawsuits that have not received final settlement .
The provisions of this Law shall apply on citizens of the United Arab Emirates State unless non - Muslims among them have special provisions applicable to their community or confession . They shall equally apply to non citizens unless one of them asks for the application of his law .

Article 2

In understanding , interpreting or construing the legislative provisions of this Law , the principles and rules of the Muslim doctrine shall be consulted .
The provisions of this Law shall apply on all matters dealt with herein , in words and context . For the purposes of interpretation and completion of their provisions , the doctrinal school of thought from which these matters derived shall be consulted .
In the absence of a text in this Law , judgment shall be given in accordance with what is widely known of Malik’s doctrine , then Ahmed’s , then El Shaffei’s , then Abi Hanifa’s doctrine .

Article 3

Unless otherwise provided , lunar computation shall be adopted in calculating the time limits mentioned in this Law .

Article 4

In the absence of any text in this Law regulating the procedures of any matter , the provisions of the Civil Procedures Law and the Law of Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions shall apply .

Article 5

The State courts shall have jurisdiction on Personal Status litigations in which citizens , or aliens , having a domicile or residence or place of business in the State , are defendants .

Article 6

The State courts shall have jurisdiction on Personal Status lawsuits raised against an alien who has not , in the State , a domicile or residence or place of business , in the following instances :
Where the lawsuit is an opposition to a marriage to be contracted in the State .
Should the lawsuit concern a claim in rescission or annulment of a marriage , in repudiation or in divorce and the claim is introduced by either a citizen wife or a wife having lost her citizenship , whenever any of the two have a domicile or residence in the State , against her husband who had a domicile , residence or place of business in the State , whenever the husband had abandoned his wife and established his domicile , residence or place of business abroad or had been deported from the State .
If the lawsuit concerns a claim of alimony to the parents , the wife or th minor whenever they have in the State a domicile , residence or place of business .
Where the lawsuit concerns the affiliation of a child , having in the State a domicile or residence , or is related to the guardianship on the person or property , whenever the minor or the person to be interdicted has , in the State , a domicile or residence or if the absent had therein his last domicile , residence or place of business .
Should the lawsuit concern a matter of Personal Status and the plaintiff is a citizen , or an alien having in the State a domicile , residence or place of business , in case the defendant has no known domicile or residence in a foreign country or if the national law is , in the State , the governing law .
Where there are more than one defendant and one of them has , in the State , a domicile , residence or place of business .
If he has a domicile of choice in the State .

Article 7

In instances where the State courts have jurisdiction in accordance with Article 6 of this Law , the court of the plaintiff’s domicile , residence or place of business shall be competent otherwise the court of the Capital .

Article 8

The first instance court of restricted jurisdiction , composed of a single judge , shall have jurisdiction to settle Personal Status matters .
The first instance court of restricted jurisdiction , composed of a single judge , shall have jurisdiction to settle Personal Status matters .
The authentications’ judge shall authenticate the attestations delivered by the court .

The Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs and Wakfs shall issue a regulation on the procedures to be followed in attestations and their authentication .

Article 9

The court of the defendant’s domicile , residence or place of business shall be competent and , in case there are several defendants , the court of the domicile , residence or place of business of one of them shall have jurisdiction .
The court of the plaintiff’s or defendant’s domicile , residence or place of business , or the conjugal domicile , shall have jurisdiction to examine the lawsuits introduced by the children , the wife , the parents or the fostering nurse , as the case may be , in the following instances :
1. Costs , wages and the like .
2. Fostering , visitation and related matters .
3. Dowry , trousseau , gifts and the like .
4. Divorce , divorce in return of money , discharge , rescission and separation between spouses of all kinds .
5. The court of the deceased’s last domicile , residence or place of business in the State shall have jurisdiction to verify the evidence of heredity , wills and liquidation of the estate . If the deceased has no domicile , residence or place of business in the State , the competent court shall be the one in whose jurisdiction one of the estate’s immovable property is situated .
In matters of tutelage , the competence ratione loci shall be determined as follows :
In matters of tutelage , the domicile or residence of the tutor or the minor ; in matters of guardianship , the last domicile or residence of the guardian or that of the minor .
In matters of interdiction , the domicile or residence of the interdicted - to - be .
In matters of absence , the last domicile , residence or place of business of the absent .
In case any of the above - mentioned in paragraphs ( a , b , and c ) have no domicile or residence in the State , competence shall be given to the court of the claimant’s domicile or residence or the court in whose jurisdiction the property of the person to be protected is located .
The court which ordered interdiction , withdrawal or cessation of tutorship shall refer the case to the court of the minor’s domicile or residence in order to appoint a tutor or guardian in case the domicile or residence of the minor or the interdicted has changed .
Should the defendant have no domicile , residence or place of business in the State and it was not possible to designate the competent court , under the foregoing provisions stated in the above paragraphs , competence shall be given to the court of the plaintiff’s domicile , residence or place of business , otherwise to the court of the Capital .

Article 10

Where the law requires an authorization or approval from the court , or to submit the matter to the judge , the request for order shall be submitted to the court of the applicant’s domicile or residence , unless otherwise provided by law .
Every interested person may , within one week from his notification of the order , submit a grievance against such order ; the court shall decide to uphold , amend or cancel it and its decision shall be subject to appeal by all means specified by law .
The application for appointment of a trustee shall be submitted on a request for order that has to be notified to the public prosecution and the potential heirs .

Article 11

Unless otherwise decided by the court , a stay of execution shall not result from the opposition to the implementation of judgments , summary or provisional decisions , the minutes drawn - up or authenticated or the ratified conciliation reports concerning alimony , fostering ; or appeal thereof .

Article 12

In case of applying for the declaration of absence of a person , the litigation shall be directed against the potential heirs of the absent , his proxy , the one appointed to represent him and to the public prosecution .

Article 13

Where the Court of Cassation quashes the appealed judgment , totally or partially , it shall have to decide on the merits of the case .
Shall be excepted from the foregoing paragraph :

Where the appealed judgment has been cancelled on grounds of nullity , due to a reason related to the notification of the initial pleadings , the court shall , in addition to the declaration of nullity , order to return the case to the court of first instance for examination , after notifying the litigants , considering that the appeal against the notification judgment concerns the claims submitted in the case .
In case the appealed judgment has decided the non - jurisdiction of the court or the acceptance of an incidental plea that resulted in staying the procedures of examining the case or in upholding the appealed judgment on these two counts and the Court of Cassation quashed the appealed judgment , it has to remit the case to the court that has rendered the appealed judgment unless it decides to transmit to a circuit composed of other judges or to the competent court for review of the case . The court to which the case is transmitted has to abide by the decision of the Court of Cassation in the matter settled by it , unless it is a second appeal , then , should the Court of Cassation quash the appealed judgment , it has to decide on the merits of the case .

Article 14

The defendant or the person to be notified shall be served the notification at his domicile , residence , place of business , elected domicile or wherever he is present and if such notification is not possible , the court may notify him by fax , electronic mail , registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt or by any equivalent means .
In case the process server does not find the concerned person at his domicile , or residence he may deliver the notice to any of the persons living with him : spouse , relatives sons - in - law ; or if he does not find him at his place of business he may deliver it to his superior at work or one deemed by him as occupying a managerial position . Under all circumstances the notice should be delivered only to a person who appears to have completed his eighteen years of age and who , in person or through a representative , has no apparent interest in conflict with that of the notified person .
If the service processor does not find any of those having capacity to receive a copy of the notice or if they refuse to sign the original acknowledging receipt or to take delivery of a copy of the notice after verifying his identity or if the place is closed , he must deliver , the same day , the copy to the officer or his substitute in charge of the police station of the domicile of the person to be served , his residence or place of business , as the case may be . In addition , the service processor must address by mail to the concerned person , at his domicile , residence , place of business or elected domicile , a registered letter informing him that the copy has been delivered to the police station .
The Court may , by exception to the foregoing paragraph , order the posting of a copy of the notice on the bulletin board and on the door of the concerned person’s place of residence , or of the place of his last residence , or , if necessary , by publishing the notice in two dailies , issued in the State or abroad in the Arabic or foreign languages , as the case may be .
Where the court has verified that the person to be notified has no domicile , residence , place of business , fax , E - mail or a postal address , it shall notify through publication in two dailies issued in the State or abroad in the Arabic or foreign languages , as the case may be , and the date of the publication shall be considered as the date of notification .
As concerns persons who have abroad a known domicile , residence or place of business , copy of the notice shall be delivered to deputy - minister of Justice to be notified to them through diplomatic channels or by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt .
Publication of the notice shall be effective as of the date of notifying the copy , dispatching of the Fax or E - mail , reception of the registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt or as of the date of publication , in accordance with the foregoing provisions .

Article 15

A judgment shall be notified to the condemned person either at his domicile , place of business or residence , otherwise through the means specified in Article 14 of this Law , upon order of the Court that has rendered the judgment or upon request from the party in whose favor the judgment was rendered .
The period set for appeal of the judgment shall start the day following the date of its issuance , if given in presence of the parties , or the day following notification of the losing party , if the judgment was given in the supposed presence of the parties .
The period set for appeal and for further appeal to the Court of Cassation is thirty days for each .
The party in whose favor a judgment has been rendered for divorce , separation , rescission , nullity of a contract or declaration of death of the absentee , must notify the judgment to the losing party or the party against whom the judgment was rendered , as if he was present , in order that the periods of appeal start to run .

Article 16

The lawsuit concerning personal status matters shall not be admitted before the court unless it has previously been submitted to the Family Orientation Committee . Are excepted from this provision , matters concerning wills , inheritance and like matters , summary and provisional lawsuits concerning alimony , fostering , guardianship as well as cases that cannot be settled by conciliation such as evidence of marriage or divorce .
Where conciliation between the parties takes place before the Family Orientation Committee , it shall be recorded in a minutes signed by the parties and the competent member of the Committee . The minutes shall be sanctioned by the competent judge , enforced as an executory deed and shall not be subject to any means of appeal except if it is in violation to the provisions of this Law .
The Minister of Justice , Islamic Affairs and Wakfs shall issue the implementing regulation organizing the work of the Family Orientation Committee

United Arab Emirates E-Legal Portal