Are you a UAE resident who wants to know how to apply for divorce in UAE? If yes, this guide will help you for sure.
Marriage is a beautiful relationship. You marry a person to spend the rest of your life with him. But sometimes, destiny has quite different plans for you. Things get out of the way and a beautiful relationship turns into a terrible experience. You decide to end the toxic relationship.
It’s already a traumatic decision and a depressive phase of life. And it becomes even more disturbing when you don’t know how to apply for divorce in UAE.
Therefore, we have brought here a step-by-step guide to file a divorce in UAE. Here you go!
Steps to apply for divorce in UAE
Follow these steps to apply for divorce in UAE.
Register your case
If you want to submit a divorce petition, make sure that you or your partner must register your divorce case with the Family Guidance section present in any emirates.
Documents required
For the registration, you will be asked to submit the following documents.
- Copy of your marriage certificate as proof of your marriage
- Emirates ID
- Passport
Beginning of the counseling sessions
Once you are done with the registration and document submission, your counseling sessions will begin. You will be contacted by a licensed family lawyer or a counselor who will determine the reason for the divorce and try to resolve the matter.
The counselor can do his efforts for reconciliation for a maximum of three months. If the parties fail to settle and still ask for a divorce, the case will then proceed further.
Draft of agreement
The counselor will discuss with you all the matters regarding separation i.e., assets separation, post-divorce rights of both members, child custody, etc. The counselor will then prepare a draft of the agreement. Moreover, he will assign you a date for a hearing before the judge in court.
Agreement submission
The agreement prepared in the previous step with be filed and submitted to the Personal Status Court. The counselor will do it. The agreement is given an Arabic translation at this stage in case it is in any other language.
Hearing before the judge
The couple then appears before the judge on the appointed date in a First Instance Court. The judge will observe the agreement which the counselor presented. He will pass his judgment on the matter presented.
If you want to hire a lawyer to track the case proceedings, you can do it. However, a lawyer is not essential. The court will officially pass the judgment in Arabic, but there will be translators for you in case you require them.
Divorce certificate
The judge will issue the divorce order and you will get the divorce certificate. You can appeal the judgment within 28 days in case you disagree.
Submission of Divorce certificate
You will need to submit this divorce certificate to the Department of Justice to finalize the matter. If you are a non-Emirati national, you will have to submit it additionally to the Ministry of foreign affairs and the consulate of the home country of the couple.
Once you get the divorce certificate, you are officially divorced. Now, there is no way to reconcile except by remarrying that person.
Money required for applying for divorce in UAE
Different charges are involved when you file for a divorce in UAE. If you are an Emirati, you will require AED 500 to submit papers and secure the divorce certificate.
For Non-Emirati nationals, this charge can cost up to AED 1200.
However, these charges do not include any legal fees. If you add up the court fees, you will require a total of AED 10,000 to get a divorce in UAE.
UAE Divorce Law for Muslims
If the couple is Muslim, Sharia law is mandatory to follow. UAE Sharia Law is applicable when either both parties are Muslim, or the husband is Muslim.
Conclusion
It was all about how to apply for divorce in UAE. You need to follow the legal proceedings to get a divorce certificate in UAE. Laws are made to make our society a better and easier place to live in. Follow the laws, and the matters will settle down easily.