Abu Dhabi received over 70 marriage applications per day during the first half of 2024, as per the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court. Overall, the authority received over 8,000 marriage applications during the period.
Since the capital’s Law No. 14 of 2021 came into effect, there have been 26,000 civil marriage applications filed for couples of various nationalities, religions and ethnicities.
The Abu Dhabi Courts has also launched the ‘express civil marriage’ service. Through this, couples can have their marriage ceremony on the same day of their application. The authority also established the English-Notary Services Bureau, which provides notary public services in English without the need to translate documents into Arabic.
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Abu Dhabi Courts provides many of its services and procedures in both Arabic and English, ensuring no linguistic barriers through comprehensive and integrated services for foreigners, including civil marriage, no- fault divorce, joint custody of children and inheritance cases.
It also offers end-to-end electronic court services, including the registration of cases and conducting court hearings online.
Other figures
During the first half of 2024, the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court has registered more than 2,500 civil wills remotely, an increase of 200 per cent compared to last year. This brings the total number of civil wills for foreigners registered in Abu Dhabi to 5,700.
The procedure to register a will is entirely remote which means anyone in the world can register their will without the need to visit the court in person.
There were also 205 no-fault divorce cases registered since January 2024, with the authority receiving 590 divorce requests since the law came into effect.
The law permits foreigners to get a divorce from the first session with the judge without needing to explain why the marriage has broken. The divorce process is handled in English by a qualified team of foreign lawyers, and the ruling is given in both Arabic and English. With the divorce decree, the court immediately grants joint custody of the children.
The court also heard 90 civil inheritance cases, bringing the total number of inheritance cases to 360. The law states that the estate should be distributed to foreigners without regard to gender, and that the spouse will receive half of the deceased’s wealth, with the remaining portion being divided equally among the children, should the foreigner die intestate.