Abu Dhabi has approved the Civil Marriage and Divorce Law regulations for foreigners.
His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD), issued Decision No. 8 of 2022 approving the Regulations for the implementation of the Civil Marriage and Divorce Law No. 14 of 2020.
Youssef Saeed Al Abri, Undersecretary of Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, said that the regulations encompass all the details about the organisation of legal proceedings under the Civil Marriage and Divorce Law.
The law introduces a modern and advanced concept of civil family law for foreigners in line with international best practices.
Al Abri said the regulations span 52 articles dealing with the jurisdiction of the Civil Family Court, which has been established in the emirate, to decide on claims and disputes related to civil marriage and its effects.
Among the most notable articles of the regulations is the third chapter, which covers civil divorce procedures or what is known as “no fault divorce”. It provides equal right of both spouses to initiate a divorce.
Articles 15, 16 and 17 set out the financial rights resulting from civil divorce and the discretionary power of the court. It requires one spouse to pay a lump sum amount as compensation to the other party after divorce and the accounting criteria on which the court relies, such as the number of years of marriage, the age of the spouses and the extent to which one of them contributed to the breakdown of the marital relationship, the material or moral damage suffered by any party or a previous or subsequent loss of profit.
