Women outside the country are judicially pursuing their resident husbands to obtain their “legitimate rights”

Wives residing outside the country complained about the neglect of their resident husbands and their failure to spend on them or their custodial children, despite their good standard of living inside the country. They wondered about the permissibility of filing a personal status case in the country’s courts for non-residents, whether to demand divorce or oblige the husband to pay maintenance, the deferred dowry, and legal dues.

On the other hand, couples wondered about the mechanism for calculating alimony for divorced women and non-resident children in custody, and whether it takes into account the standard of living and prices in the country in which they live, or in the country in which the person obligated to pay alimony resides.

For his part, the legal advisor, Dr. Youssef Al-Sharif, confirmed that a non-resident has the legal right to file a personal status lawsuit before the state’s courts, as long as the defendant is a resident and has a domicile within the state, indicating that “the capacity of the spender is the basic criterion in determining the value of the alimony, with a balance between the economic situation at the time of estimating the expenses in the country of the person obligated to pay the alimony and in the country of the recipient.”

In Article Three, the Personal Status Law affirmed the jurisdiction of state courts to hear lawsuits related to personal status matters filed against citizens and foreigners who have a domicile, residence, or place of work in the state.

It stipulates that the court within whose jurisdiction the plaintiff’s or defendant’s domicile or place of work or the marital residence is located has jurisdiction to hear lawsuits filed by children, the wife, parents, or the custodian, as the case may be, in the following matters: expenses and wages and the like, custody, vision and matters related to them, dowry, equipment, gifts, and the like, divorce, divorce, release, annulment, and separation of spouses of all kinds.

In detail, an Arab woman – who refused to mention her name – said in a message to “Emirates Today” that she is currently in her homeland, and that her husband – who is of the same nationality – resides and works in one of the emirates of the country, and she wants to file a divorce case against him because of his neglect of her and his failure to spend on her and their children, in addition to his absence from his family for more than a full year, pointing to the escalation of family disputes between them.

She also wondered what procedures she must take to obtain her legal rights.

A person of Arab nationality said that he filed a lawsuit some time ago to reduce alimony for his first wife and his children from her, who currently reside in his country, pointing out that he is married to another woman and has other children from her residing with him. But the lawsuit was rejected.

He wondered why the expenses of divorcees and custodial children residing outside the country are not estimated according to the standard of living and prices in the country in which they reside, and not according to the standard of living in the Emirates, where there is a big difference between them?

A woman said: “There have been family disputes between me and my husband, who resides in the country. He works and his living situation is good, but he refuses to send alimony,” adding that she wants to issue a visit visa to the country, to file a lawsuit before the country’s courts, to claim her legal rights, wondering whether she has the right to do so, even though she is not a resident of the Emirates.

For his part, the legal advisor, Dr. Youssef Al-Sharif, said that with regard to the procedures taken by non-resident wives in the country to obtain their legal rights from their husbands residing in the country, or others, the Federal Personal Status Law issued by Decree Law No. (41) of 2024 has permitted non-residents to file personal status lawsuits against foreigners who have a domicile, residence, or place of work in the country. This means that the condition for the jurisdiction of the state courts is that the foreign defendant must have a domicile, residence, or place of work in the state, and that the subject of the case be any personal status issue.

He explained that these lawsuits are filed before the court within which the defendant’s home, residence, or place of work is located.

As for the criterion for determining expenses and whether it is according to the standard of living in the country in which the wife and children reside or the country in which the person obligated to pay the expenses resides, Al-Sharif confirmed that the criterion for this is set by Article (96) of the Personal Status Law is the capacity of the person obligated to pay expenses, the condition of the recipient, and the economic situation in time and place. The economic situation in time and place means the balance between the economic situation at the time of estimating expenses in the country of the person obligated to provide maintenance and the country of the person being paid for. In all cases, it is not acceptable for it to be less than the subsistence limit, and therefore the court sets When estimating expenses, it takes into account the financial situation of the person obligated to support, and that expenses are not an inheritance or a percentage and proportion between the assets of the person obligated to support and the expenses of the person being paid for, but they are a guarantee that the needs of the person being paid will be met within the limits of the person obligated to support him, without exaggeration.

He pointed out that increasing or decreasing expenses has conditions related to changing the conditions under which the expenses were estimated, such as an increase or decrease in the income of the person obligated to pay the expenses, or an increase in his financial obligations, in exchange for an increase in the needs of the recipient or the availability of income for him, and then the alimony is increased or decreased, and the original is that the request to increase or decrease the alimony must be made one year after the final ruling issued imposing it, except in exceptional circumstances as determined by the court.

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7 cases

The Personal Status Law, in its Article (4), specifies the jurisdiction of the courts in lawsuits filed against a foreigner who does not have a domicile in the country, as it affirmed that the state’s courts have jurisdiction to hear lawsuits related to personal status that are filed against a foreigner who does not have a domicile, residence, or place of work in the country, in seven cases, which are:

1. If the lawsuit is against a marriage contract intended to be concluded in the state.

2. If the lawsuit is related to a request for annulment or invalidation of the marriage contract, divorce, or divorce. The lawsuit was filed by a citizen wife or a wife who lost the citizenship of the state, when she had a domicile or place of residence in the country, or it was brought by a wife who had a domicile or place of residence in the country against her husband who had a domicile, residence or place of work in the country, when the husband had abandoned his wife and made his domicile, residence or place of work abroad, or had been deported from the country, or if he had no known place of residence abroad.

3. If the lawsuit is related to a request for alimony for the parents, wife, or minor, if they have a domicile, residence, or place of work in the country.

4. If the lawsuit is regarding a minor relative who has a domicile or place of residence in the state, or is related to an issue of guardianship over life or property, when the minor or the person required to be interdicted has a domicile or place of residence in the state, or it has the last domicile, residence or place of work of the absent person.

5. If the lawsuit is related to a personal status issue, and the plaintiff is a citizen, or a foreigner with a domicile, residence, or place of work in the country, if the defendant does not have a known domicile or place of residence abroad, or if the national law is applicable in the country.

6. If there are multiple defendants and one of them has a domicile, residence, or place of work in the state.

7. If he has a chosen domicile in the country (law office or commercial address).