UAE Family Law Glossary

Plain-English explanations of the Arabic and procedural terms that appear in UAE family matters.

Family paperwork, court documents and translations use terms that rarely have a single clean English equivalent. Each entry below explains what the term means in practice, where it appears, and what it usually affects — so that a document or a conversation makes sense before you have to respond to it.

These are explanations, not definitions with legal force. The meaning that matters in a case is the one the court applies to the facts and documents before it.

Terms used in personal status matters

• Talaq — the term used for divorce pronounced by a husband, and how it is proved and documented.
• Khula — divorce at the wife’s initiative, and the compensation and court steps involved.
• Tafreeq — judicial separation granted by a court in Muslim family matters.
• Iddah — the waiting period that follows a divorce or a death, and what it affects.
• Mahr (dowry) — the marital gift agreed at marriage and how it is treated afterwards.
• Nafaqah (maintenance) — financial support obligations within a family.
• Hadhanah (custody) — day-to-day care of a child, and who exercises it.
• Wilayah (guardianship) — legal guardianship, which is distinct from custody.
• Family guidance — the guidance and reconciliation stage many disputes pass through.

Children and parenting

• Best interests of the child — the standard applied to decisions about children, and the evidence behind it.
• Joint custody — what the term does and does not mean in UAE family law.
• Parenting plan — an agreed arrangement for a child’s care, and what legal effect it can have.
• Child relocation — moving a child’s residence, and the consent and evidence involved.

Courts, orders and procedure

• Personal status court — the court that hears most family matters in the UAE.
• Court of Appeal — the scope of an appeal in family cases and how one is filed.
• Court of Cassation — the final court, the grounds it considers and the deadlines that apply.
• Interim order — a temporary order made while a case is still running.
• Travel ban — restrictions on travel that can arise in family matters.
• No-fault divorce — divorce without establishing fault, and where it is available.
• Reconciliation agreement — terms agreed between spouses, and how they are approved and enforced.

Cross-border documents and recognition

• Legalisation and attestation — the steps that make a foreign family document usable in the UAE.
• Foreign judgment recognition — how a family decision made abroad may be recognised here.
• Power of attorney — the authority it grants in family matters, its form and its limits.

Wills and succession

• Succession certificate — the document used to prove heirs after a death.
• Civil will — what a civil will covers in the UAE and who can use one.
• DIFC will — the DIFC route for non-Muslim estate planning.

Translations of these terms vary between documents. Where a translation matters to a decision, check it against the original.

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