- within Accounting and Audit, Immigration, Media, Telecoms, IT and Entertainment topic(s)
- in United Arab Emirates
Question: I am a Western woman who works in the UAE. My husband also works here but he has not supported me financially for the past 10 years. Am I able to make a claim against him for financial support, backdated 10 years?
Answer: Unfortunately, as Article 67 of the UAE Personal Status Law states, the maximum permissible backdated financial support claim a woman can make against her husband is for three years. However, there is one exception to that rule. The exception is if you and your husband had signed an agreement in accordance with the law stating that he was to provide financial support to you. If it were the case that he was not complying with the terms of such an agreement and not meeting his obligation for a long time, then the three-year backdated limit is not applicable.
Question: I am an Arab woman who filed and won a financial support case against my ex-husband. I know that he has a lot of bounced cheque cases pending and civil cases against him in court so I am afraid that, when it comes to his financial support, I will only get a small proportion of the money I'm entitled to. Does the law safeguard my money?
Answer: According to Article 65 of Federal Law no 28 of 2005, referred to as the Personal Status Law, your financial rights against your ex-husband take priority over any other third-party claims to your husband's assets. Therefore, when the law is applied, you, as an ex-wife, will get your due rights before any other debtor enforcing their respective rights against your husband.
Previously published by The National
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
[View Source]