UAE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Awatif Al Khouri and Hassan Elhais, Awatif Mohammad Shoqi Advocates & Legal Consultancy
Marriage and its Effects allows civil marriage for male or female non-Muslim citizens or residents who reside in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Spouses can agree on contract conditions, considering rights during mar ‑ riage and post-divorce. It is not mandatory to submit a marriage or prenuptial agreement, but it is permis ‑ sible to do so. The court offers a standard template to assist in drafting the agreement, which will be pro ‑ vided upon request. Additionally, parties may have the option to personalise their agreement with the assis ‑ tance of a legal professional. A postnuptial agreement is an agreement signed between a couple after their marriage. They may execute the agreement on any date after the mar ‑ riage, even on the day following the marriage. In brief, this agreement will set out the terms of the financial arrangement between the parties. They may also pro ‑ vide that each party retains the title of any property which that party acquired through its own finances. Arrangement of finance is not against public order so long as the arrangement does not deprive the wife of her right to claim expenses. Moreover, the parties can ‑ not agree to waive the custody rights and the mainte ‑ nance of the children in such an agreement. However, the wife may agree on a certain monetary arrange ‑ ment to reduce or increase the expenses allowance. Further, the wife may also agree to release the hus ‑ band from paying her expenses. This postnuptial agreement can be executed in the UAE courts. Accordingly, in the event of a dispute, execution proceedings can be directly started pursu ‑ ant to the terms of the agreement. Further, it may also be noted that enforcement of such an agreement is relatively fast, and the signing of such an agreement in most cases may be very cost-effective. An attested marriage certificate may be required. This certificate should be legalised and translated into Arabic. At times, it may happen that one of the parties is not present in the UAE. In such a situation, this party may issue a power of attorney in order to be represented by an authorised attorney to execute this agreement before the court. The postnuptial agreement should be prepared in Arabic. However, once the agreement is executed, you may translate the agreement into the English lan ‑
guage by availing the services of a legal translator. Subsequently, this agreement can be legalised by a chain of attestation from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the relevant embassy, if the internal regulations of the said embassy accept such a document. The department in the courts that is tasked with assisting in the execution of such a document is called the Family Guidance department, which is a special department in the UAE family courts. In order for the parties to approach the department and register an application, one of the parties should be a resident of the UAE. The services of this department are avail ‑ able to all expatriate residents in the UAE. To ensure compliance with the terms of the prenuptial agree ‑ ment, it is advisable that the parties enter into a post ‑ nuptial agreement signed before the Family Guidance department within the premises of the family courts. The timeframe within which to execute a postnup ‑ tial agreement replicating the terms of the prenup ‑ tial agreement will be much faster as opposed to the enforcement of a foreign court order in the UAE. This process allows both parties to safeguard the terms and conditions of the prenuptial agreement, bearing in mind that if any of the provisions contradict UAE pub ‑ lic morality then the UAE courts may refuse to include such provisions in the agreement. Therefore, it might be worth getting legal experts on UAE law to evalu ‑ ate the clauses before applying to the local courts to execute the agreement. The parties may consider specifically including sepa ‑ rate provisions in their prenuptial or postnuptial agree ‑ ment. The objective is to prevent the mixing of sepa ‑ rate assets into the marital property. The following is a sample clause that could be included in the draft: “Each Party shall retain sole, absolute, and inde ‑ pendent ownership of their Separate Property listed in Schedule 1 and any property acquired individually before or after the Marriage, including all income, appreciation, and proceeds derived therefrom. The Parties have unrestricted right to manage, lease, encumber, or dispose of such property free from inter ‑ ference. Accordingly, each Party hereby irrevocably waives and releases any claim, right, or interest in the other’s Separate Property that may otherwise arise by
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