UAE: Come April 2025, Women Can Marry Without The Permission Of Their Guardian

Recently, sweeping changes were made to personal laws in the UAE that were pertaining to different aspects of family life in the country. Yes, the Federal Personal Status Law No. 41 of 2024 is taking effect on April 15. And as this comes into effect, fundamental changes will be applied to marriage consent, custody rights, and divorce procedures, which will affect thousands of families across the country. Here’s more on this!

UAE Federal Personal Status Law No. 41 of 2024 Comes To Effect In April

Different aspects of family life will see major change as the Federal Personal Status Law No. 41 of 2024 takes effect this April. A major change as revealed by Arabian Business would be the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar for legal proceedings. There will also be a complete overhaul of custody age limits. Coming to marriage and consent, the new law, Tatleeq, allow either of the spouses to petition the court for divorce. However, this is under specific circumstances. There are grounds for divorce, which were previously undefined. For instance, wives can seek divorce if a husband abstains from marital relations for more than six months without any valid justification.

Moreover, Muslim expatriates can now choose to apply their home country’s law or the other opted in-laws for personal matters. This includes marriage commitment towards custody and even inheritance. This means that expatriate Muslim women who are living in the UAE no longer need the guardian’s approval to marry. However, this is only applicable if their home country’s law does allow such consent.

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Laws Regarding Child Custody, Finance & Marriage

Coming to divorce procedures, there is a mandatory arbitrary period of marriage dissolution and this has been reduced to 60 days for streamlining the process. The law has introduced stricter documentation requirements and the husbands are required to officially record any divorce or reconciliation within 15 days.

If there is a failure to document, wives get to claim compensation, which is equivalent to alimony. For financial implementation, the retroactive period for spouse, maintenance claims have been reduced to two years. The new provision also considers employment status while determining alimony obligation. Moreover, new penalties for neglect and abuse of the rights and properties of minors have been introduced. These fines range from AED5000 to AED10,000.

For child custody, children who are aged 15 and older will now have the right to choose who they wish to stay with. Yes, acknowledging the maturity in such a decision, they will get to choose a preferred custodian. These changes are a part of the UAE’s broader modernisation efforts.

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