Non-Muslim expats no longer subject to Sharia Law in UAE

21 December 2022

Ajmal Khan

The new law is in line with UAEs efforts to develop its legislative ecosystem and comes into effect from February 1, 2023.

Federal Decree-Law No.41/2022 will regulate the procedures of marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance, and evidence of paternity for non-muslins foreigners residing in UAE before the courts. The law aims to give women equal rights to men in court procedures and gives equal weightage to a woman’s testimony in court. The new law will regulate the marriage conditions and the procedures of contracting and documenting the marriage before the competent courts. This will allow non-Muslim foreigners to marry in a non-Sharia legal process.

The conditions will be that those wishing to marry should be at least 21 years old, and parties will be required to fill out a declaration form in front of a judge. Since February 2022, this has been applicable in Abu Dhabi, where non-Muslim couples have been able to marry in the civil court. From February 2023, it will be available UAE-wide. The UAE government statement specifies that as per the new decree, the procedures of divorce that can be initiated jointly or unilaterally. It organizes the procedures for settling the alimony dispute after divorce and sets out various factors that are to be considered while calculating alimony.

This law will also bring forward the concept of “No-Fault Divorce” wherein either spouse will be able to ask the court to end the marriage, without proving a party is at fault or justifying the need to end the marriage. Divorces may be granted after one hearing, and it won’t be required to go through family guidance counseling, nor meditation sessions that were previously required.

A divorcing couple that has children, joint and equal custody of the children will automatically be granted until the children are 18 years old. Where there are custody disputes, the court can take further action and involvement, with consideration always given to the child or children’s best interests. Earlier, only a mother was given custody till the son reached 11 years of age or the daughter reached 13 years of age and a father could only claim custody once the children had reached those ages.

The new law will allow non-Muslim foreigners to register wills at the same time as their marriage certificate, which will allow them to give their property to whomever they wish.

If there is no will in place, 50% of a person’s estate will go to the spouse, while the other 50% will be distributed equally between children. If the couple does not have children, 50% will go either to any surviving parents, or siblings.