Background
Our client, the husband, was represented by the Emirati Advocate Mrs. Awatif Al Khouri of Awatif Mohammed Shoqi Advocates and Legal Consultancy, who personally led this dispute through all three levels of the Abu Dhabi judiciary. The matter concerned a divorce between two foreign nationals whose marriage had been concluded abroad as a civil marriage and who were later residing in the UAE. Our client sought a no-fault divorce before the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court, along with a request for joint custody.
The opposing party resisted the claim and raised a series of objections at every stage of the proceedings. They challenged whether Abu Dhabi courts had the authority to hear the case at all, arguing that neither party had a genuine connection to the Emirate and that an earlier agreement between the parties had designated the courts of another country to handle any matrimonial disputes. They also contested the automatic application of joint custody as a consequence of any divorce order. The dispute therefore centered not on the breakdown of the marriage itself, but on the legal framework within which the divorce could properly be determined, and on the jurisdictional reach of Abu Dhabi’s civil family law regime.
Court of First Instance
Through Mrs. Awatif Al Khouri’s efforts, our client successfully established before the Court of First Instance that the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court had full authority to hear and determine the divorce claim. Our client had a valid residential connection to Abu Dhabi with a tenancy contract and a range of additional documents to support this. The court was satisfied that this was sufficient to establish local jurisdiction.
The court also rejected the defendant’s argument that the issue had already been decided in an earlier court case, stating that the previous case had only dealt with a jurisdictional question, not the merits of the dispute. The request for a stay of the Abu Dhabi proceedings in favour of proceedings abroad was also rejected.
As to the merits, the court applied the framework of civil marriage and divorce available in Abu Dhabi, which enables one spouse to seek divorce by merely stating a desire to end the marriage. The court obliged and, in accordance with the said regulation, decided that joint custody of a child would be divided equally between the parents as a matter of course at the time of divorce. The defendant appealed against this result to the Court of Appeal.
Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal conducted a full review of the reasoning of the lower court and upheld it in full. The court found that the Abu Dhabi regulation in question provided for jurisdiction where either party had a place of residence, domicile or place of work with a connection to the Emirate, and found that this threshold was met on the facts.
The appeal court also considered the wider question of the legal framework for the relationship of the parties. It concluded that, as the marriage had been concluded abroad as a civil marriage and neither party had requested the application of their own national law, the matter fell squarely within the framework of Abu Dhabi’s civil marriage. The earlier agreement referring to foreign courts was held not to deprive the Abu Dhabi court of its jurisdiction. The agreement itself recognised that legal jurisdiction might exist in more than one country. The joint custody decision was deemed to be a consequence of the relevant regulation and did not require a separate application or referral to a family guidance committee.
Court of Cassation
The Court of Cassation rejected all the grounds in full. It said that the civil family framework in Abu Dhabi applies to disputes involving foreign nationals whose marriage was concluded in a country that does not apply Islamic law as a primary source in personal status matters.
Conclusion
This case illustrates the broad reach of the civil family law framework in Abu Dhabi and its effect on foreign nationals who entered into marriages abroad. Our client obtained a divorce and joint custody order at all three levels of the Abu Dhabi courts through the efforts of Mrs Awatif Al Khouri of Awatif Mohammad Shoqi Advocates and Legal Consultancy.
