UAE laws are enacted on a federal and local emirate level. Family law in the UAE is on the whole dealt with on a federal level but there are some local emirate elements. A new federal Non-Muslim Civil Personal Status Code came into force in 2023; and a new federal Muslim Personal Status Code came into force in April 2025.
The personal status courts are part of the courts of first instance and the judges of those courts determine the personal status (i.e. family and inheritance) matters of Muslims and non-Muslims. Each emirate’s personal status courts have jurisdiction concerning any child residing in that emirate.
Abu Dhabi has introduced a Civil Marriage Law for Non-Muslim Foreigners, No. 14 of 2021 (as amended by Law No. 15 of 2021). Abu Dhabi also has a specialised court for those that fall under that law.
The Civil Personal Status Code for Non-Muslims was introduced by Federal Law No. 41 of 2022 with effect from February 2023. An official translation is available at https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/1586. It is not a comprehensive Code but Cabinet Resolution No. (122) of 2023 provided more detailed rules concerning its application. Some parts of the very new 2024 Personal Status Code (primarily concerning Muslims but also with some general provisions) also apply to non-Muslims.
The Civil Personal Status Code for Muslims was introduced by Federal Law No. 14 of 2024 with effect from 15 April 2025. This applies to Muslims (and some parts of it, in some cases, to non-Muslims); and it applies to Emiratis and non-Emiratis resident in the UAE. It replaced the previous 2005 Personal Status Code. An official translation is available at https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/2770. The most widely reported changes are that:
a. Under the law, the custody age has been extended to 18 for boys and girls. The previous default custody ages whereby mothers would be granted custody until their sons reached the age of 11, or their daughters reached the age of 13 are repealed.
b. The previous default position regarding non-Muslim mothers married or previously married to Muslim men allowing them only to retain custody of their children until the age of five is repealed.
c. The views of children who have attained 15 years of age will usually be determinative of custody (unless a court determines otherwise in their best interests).
d. The law on travel is to be clarified so that there is no longer any requirement to have the agreement of both parents for one parent to travel for up to 60 days with a child (subject to court authorisation). A court can set restrictions on this right.
It has also long been the case that non-UAE citizens involved in personal disputes could agree to choose to adhere to their native laws. A request to a UAE court can be made by the parties to apply another law instead of the UAE Personal Status Codes. This ‘other law’ could be either specific to a particular religious group (e.g. Jewish or Coptic Orthodox law) or it could be the national family law of the family involved (e.g. English law). The decision as to whether to apply the non-UAE law is for the UAE court. This mechanism is relatively infrequently used.
