Sweeping changes are being made to the UAE's personal status laws, with some of the most significant updates affecting divorce and inheritance.
The UAE government announced the overhaul of parts of its legal system on Saturday. The changes mean Islamic law, or Sharia, will rarely be used when it comes to family-law cases for non-citizens.
So what has changed and how will this affect the country's citizens and residents? The National explains.
What has changed?
Amendments to the UAE's personal status laws, some of which were first written in 1987, mean the country will now offer expatriates a path to divorce that is not governed by local law, which is based on Islamic law, or Sharia.
A couple from any religion that chooses to divorce in the UAE will have proceedings dictated by the laws of the country in which they married.
What was the law previously?
Previously, Muslim couples had Sharia applied to the division of assets, support payment requirements and child custody agreements.
Until now, non-Muslim expatriates who divorced in the UAE could choose either to have Sharia applied or request to have the laws of their home country applied instead. If the couple had different passports, then the citizenship of the husband would apply. And if the law of the individual's home country failed to cover an aspect of the divorce procedure, then the courts could apply UAE law instead.
Now, the personal status law of the country where the marriage took place will be applied.
What does this mean?
It is a dramatic change for couples who may have otherwise had to go through lengthy and cumbersome procedures to finalise a divorce and divide their assets.
The new law also mentions joint assets and accounts and says the court could be called on to mediate if there is no agreement between the two parties.
Changing the applicable jurisdiction over a divorce settlement could have dramatically different implications in respect of financial outcomes for each party.
The updated law will ensure there will be no need for petitions or conflict over whose laws should apply.
While the law includes the division of assets, it does not mention child custody laws.
How have inheritance laws changed?
Saturday's changes also cover wills and inheritance. Until now, family members of a deceased person, particularly in acrimonious cases, could have found assets were divided under Islamic law, which residents may be unused to, and can be an unequal division for men and women.
Previously, only a non-Muslim expatriate could petition the court for their country's laws to be applied when managing their assets on their death, while a Muslim resident of the UAE would automatically have Sharia applied. If a non-Muslim expatriate had not petitioned for their home country's laws to be applied to their will on their death, then the UAE's courts would automatically apply Sharia.
Now, a person's citizenship will dictate how their assets are divided among their next of kin. An individual's inheritance will be divided according to their citizenship at the time of death, irrespective of religion. If a will is drafted, it would be followed. If an individual did not draft a will before their death, the law of the country of citizenship would apply.
The one exception is for property bought in the UAE, which will be managed according to Sharia if a will was not submitted.
How is inheritance managed under Sharia?
Under Sharia, all assets, including property, finances and even outstanding debts, will be inherited by the individual's eligible heirs. Eligible heirs do not include illegitimate or adopted children and divorced women cannot claim from a former husband's estate if they have been divorced for more than about three months (the time allocated in Islam to determine if the woman is pregnant).
Inheritance laws under Sharia are quite complicated and depend on how many eligible heirs an individual has as well as their familial relationships to the deceased.
Primary heirs, who are always entitled to a share of an inheritance, include: the deceased's spouse, parents, children and grandchildren.
But the deceased's grandparents, siblings and nieces and nephews could also be eligible for a share of the inheritance if the individual was unmarried or had no living parents.
Inheritance under Islam typically allocates a larger share of assets to male heirs than female heirs, with the expectation that men would be responsible and support women.
Usually, a daughter would receive half the assets her brother would inherit from their father.
How are wills currently registered?
Non-Muslim expatriates can register a will with the UAE courts.
Wills registered at Dubai International Financial Centre’s wills and probate registry cover resident and investor assets across the UAE, as well as internationally.
In Abu Dhabi, non-Muslims have been able to register a will at the emirate’s Judicial Department since 2017.
Law firms in the UAE report an increase in inquiries about wills since the Covid-19 outbreak.
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- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
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- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
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- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
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- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
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Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
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Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
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Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
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