What You Need To Know About The Latest Changes To The Family Law In The UAE The year 2020 has seen unprecedented changes in the United Arab Emirates' legal regime to adapt to more progressive personal laws. In this article, we would like to discuss the recent changes concerning family law in the UAE. The federal law number 30 of 2020 (the “New Decree”) amends the Federal Law Number (5) of 1985 (the ‘Civil Transactions Law’) and the Personal Law Number (28) of 2005 amongst others. The new decree completely replaces the articles 12, 13, 18 ,19, 20 ,21,23,24 ,25 and 1116 of the civil transactions law. The said amendments have introduced crucial changes to the personal laws, especially concerning the choice of law governing the validity of a marriage.
Previous to the changes, the nationality of the couple determined the applicable law, however, with the new amendment, the law of the state where the marriage took place would govern the validity. Further, with the new amendment, the financial and personal effects resulting from a contract of marriage will also be governed by the law of the state where the marriage was contracted. The previous position was that the law of the husband's nationality at the time of the conclusion of the marriage would have applied. This change has vide reaching impact and potential legal implications with the choice of ‘place of marriage’ dictating both the validity and the future financial and personal implications arising out of the marriage. Under the new law, by choosing the place of marriage to be different from their home countries or