More than 1,000 non-Emirati couples have married in Abu Dhabi’s new civil marriage court in less than six months.
Hundreds of tourists have come to the judicial department to get married after broad revisions to Abu Dhabi legislation that allows non-Muslim citizens or visitors to have a civil marriage in court.
The first couple to register their marriage at the new court was a Canadian pair who did so in December.
More than 20% of the applicants so far have been visitors.
The new regulations are promoting the city as a wedding destination, with couples coming in from all over the world to tie the knot. A British couple from Essex, England, traveled in from the UK to marry in Abu Dhabi in February.
The family court also hears divorce cases now that no-fault divorce is legal for the first time.
“We decided to get married here because we want to have a civil marriage, not a religious one,” said the groom Craig Lindsey at the time.
“We are moving to Dubai so decided it would be nice to have it in the UAE.”
Instead, a mere divorce request from either spouse is sufficient. When a couple is granted a divorce, they are not required to provide proof of any misconduct.
Couples can now be divorced in a couple of days rather than months or even years as they could under prior legislation.
The time it takes to be married or divorced has been considerably shortened thanks to the new court.
Couples can also choose to have their divorce proceedings governed by the laws of the nation in which they were married rather than Sharia, which exclusively applies to Muslims.
Youssef Saeed Al Abri, the undersecretary of Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, said in a statement that reaching 1,000 civil marriages in fewer than five months was a step forward in “providing people who live and invest in the UAE with the freedom to apply liberal rules when it comes to their family affairs”.
“Twenty percent of the marriage applicants are tourists who specifically flew to Abu Dhabi to benefit from the exclusive civil marriage service which is only available in the UAE capital, and over 120 nationalities applied to the civil marriage service,” he said.
So far, the court has received 50 no-fault divorce applications, 20 civil inheritance cases, and 250 civil will attestation requests.
Up to 50 people have applied for a no-fault divorce since January.
The judicial department said: “The no-fault divorce judgment is issued in one court session within 30 days from filing the case, without the need to submit the case to the Family Guidance, and it included by default the joint custody of the kids.
“The law has deliberately favored this solution, as it makes the separation a peaceful one without turning couples into opponents by reducing conflict between separating couples and helping them to focus on how to jointly raise their kids and to move on in life.”
“Court statistics also show that 20 cases of civil inheritance for foreigners have been registered since January .granting the wife 50 percent of her deceased husband’s assets and dividing the remaining 50 percent among the children in equal shares, regardless of gender,” the statement said.
“It only takes 30 days for the court to issue its decision on the distribution of the estate, and the whole procedure is available in English and Arabic.”
