Written by Dr. Hassan Elhais Introduction
In this article, we will explain the kind of correspondence that the court accepts, and the role of the mediators in the processes of the family courts, whose purpose is to communicate between the parties to settle an amicable solution to the family dispute.
The Family Court in Dubai considers and, in most instances, accepts all written correspondences exchanged between the parties as evidence of proving one's claim or disproving the claim of the other party. The written correspondences include emails, text messages, WhatsApp and other commonly used tools of written communication.
If the Claimant's claim is not easy to prove, the court might appoint mediators. The purpose of appointing such mediators is to communicate independently and together with the parties to reach an amicable settlement and to explore any options they might have to reach a workable arrangement. This is done keeping in mind the social importance of the family unit in society.
During these communications between the mediators and the parties, the mediators try to explore the reason for the claim and the requested divorce and to try and work out who is responsible for the breakdown of the marriage and how it can be resolved. The mediators seek to learn if a happy life is possible between the parties and if there are any chances of reconciliation.
If the mediators are successful in convincing the parties to stop the divorce proceedings under certain agreed conditions signed by the mediators, the same is then referred to the family court. The parties have an opportunity to make objections to the report submitted by the mediators and can counter-argue their claim supported by evidence. The judge does not have the legal authority to disagree with them.
If the mediator recommended the divorce, the court would not have any discretionary powers to change its decision. However, if the mediator suggests compensation to be paid to the wife, such a decision would be subject to the court appeal which will be limited to the judgment related to the financial settlement only.
If there is an agreement between the Parties, the judge in the family court reviews the agreed conditions and terms between the parties and in the presence of the mediators and makes the agreement of terms a part of his judgment in the case, and is hence a legally binding document.
Legal Update:
The introduction of a new personal status law for the non-Muslims effective February 2023, the Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status, brings with itself numerous changes in terms of marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance etc. Following the issuance of the Abu Dhabi Personal Status Law for non-Muslim Foreigners in 2021, the federal government came out with a Personal Status Law that would apply to the entire non-Muslim population of the UAE, whether citizens or expatriates.
This New Federal Law has introduced changes in personal status matters for non-Muslims in matters related to family guidance mediation, rights between the parties concerning testimony, inheritance, divorce, calculation of time-based on the Gregorian calendar, and joint custody of children. The New Federal Law has introduced civil marriage at a federal level and provided equal rights to parties in requesting the divorce. The New Federal Law covers matters related to alimony, custody, inheritance, and parentage and shall be applied between non-Muslim expatriate residents in case none of them wanted to apply his/her home country's law in the UAE. Under the New Law, Divorce cases shall be excluded from being considered by family guidance committees and shall be directly referred to the Court to issue a judgment in this regard from the first session. The new amendment in the family law offers equality to men and women in their following rights and obligations. An expatriate woman's testimony shall be similar to an expatriate man’s testimony. There are equal rights for both spouses to ask for divorce unilaterally. The divorce could be given to any of the parties based on a no-fault divorce in the first court hearing where none of the parties may be required to provide any reason for the divorce. To know more information about this law, please feel free to click this link.
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