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A British court has agreed that a British lawyer who has worked in the United Arab Emirates for 14 years can file divorce proceedings in his adopted home.
Unnamed wife in Sa v. Law The lawsuit was filed in England last September, but her husband claims they are resident and domiciled in the UAE, making it the best jurisdiction for divorce.
The husband has filed a lawsuit in Abu Dhabi’s new non-Muslim Family Court, but it was suspended after the jurisdictional issue was resolved.
His Honourable Judge Edward Hess believed the UAE was the right jurisdiction to reject the view that using the court could result in significant injustice to the wife, saying there was no reason to assume any judge might have dealt the case unfairly.
The court heard the couple had been living in the Middle East since 2008, when the husband took a job at a law firm in the UAE. They married in England the same year and later had twins.
The judge determined that both parties were domiciled in England, so the courts in England and Wales had the power to handle their divorce and financial relief proceedings. Then he turns to where the lawsuit should be.
The husband’s annual tax-free income is £850,000 and his total assets are £4.5 million, while his wife’s is £15,305. He told the court he had no intention of changing his arrangements to pay almost all household expenses, including rent for his wife’s house and school fees for his children.
He also said he would be prepared to commit to a UK court to pay his wife’s reasonable legal costs in the divorce proceedings if the case was allowed to proceed in the UAE.
Abu Dhabi’s new court was established last December and has so far dealt with 50 cases, although no decision has been reported on its new statutory right to financial remedies. The court has the power to make orders, including lump sum payment orders and child support orders.
The wife’s lawyer argued that because the new court was still in its infancy, the UK courts could not accept that it would provide “substantial justice”. It has been suggested that the only appointed judge is a Muslim Emiratis and there should be fears that any decision would be “significantly influenced” by the norms of Sharia law.
The judge disagreed, saying the new court was created to reassure non-Muslims that if they divorced, they would be treated in the same way as in non-Muslim countries.
He added: “The wife may get a better outcome in the UK courts than in the UAE courts (although this is also uncertain), but even in this case, I don’t think it’s true. I think the factor is decisive, I Nor should this be used as a reason to conclude that the wife will not receive “substantial justice” in the UAE courts.
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