New Law On Divorce And Inheritance For Non-Muslims Unveiled

New rules governing divorce, inheritance and child custody for non-Muslims has been unveiled in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Gatekeepers News reports that Abu Dhabi would create a new court to handle these cases, which will be held in Arabic and English to be better understood by the emirate’s vast foreign worker population, according to the country’s state-run news agency.

Change in child custody, as reported by the WAM news agency on Sunday, will allow parents to share joint custody of their children.

The law which consists of 20 articles is divided into several chapters covering civil marriage, divorce, joint custody of children and inheritance.

Approved by the UAE President, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the law is set to provide “a flexible and advanced judicial mechanism for the determination of personal status disputes for non-Muslims.”

The first chapter of the law regulates the marriage procedures of foreigners before the court by introducing the concept of civil marriage based on the will of both the husband and wife.

The second chapter defines the divorce procedures for non-Muslims, the rights of the spouses after divorce and the discretion of the judge in assessing the financial rights of the wife based on several criteria, such as the number of marriage years, the wife’s age, the economic standing of each of the spouses and other considerations that the judge takes into account in determining the wife’s financial rights.

The third chapter introduces a new concept in post-divorce child custody, namely, the sharing of custody equally between the father and mother, or what is known in some Western countries as “Joint or Shared Custody,” to safeguard the family’s cohesion after divorce and to preserve the psychological health of the children.

The fourth chapter addresses inheritance issues, the registration of wills for non-Muslims, and the right of a foreigner to draw up a will devolve all his/her property to whomever he/she wishes.

While the fifth chapter of the law regulates the proof of paternity for non-Muslim foreigners, providing that the proof of paternity of the newborn child is based on marriage or recognition of paternity.