“Personal Status” resolves the claims of paternity of the child of customary marriage

Youssef Al-Sharif: “The law guarantees the mother’s right to file a parentage claim, even if that is the result of a customary marriage.”

Legal Adviser, Dr. Youssef Al-Sharif, confirmed that the Personal Status Law resolves the claims of paternity of the unrecognized child from his father, as it guarantees the mother’s right to residency, even if this is the result of a customary marriage, as long as the child has a domicile or place of residence in the country.

Al-Sharif presented, in a video episode, broadcast by "Emirates Today" on its social media platforms, to shed light on the Personal Status Law, the story of an (Arab) woman, who gave birth to a child, from a customary marriage, and his father, whose whereabouts are unknown, refused to recognize him.

The mother says that she is “35 years old and has been working in a café for five years. She met a forty-year-old broker, and because there was no one of her family in the state, she was unable to legally marry him, and they agreed on the customary husband, until the marriage was documented in her country or his country.”

She continued that she became pregnant, and her husband asked her to abort the fetus, in order to arrange his affairs, but she could not, and they agreed that she would travel to his country, to arrange the pregnancy there, and indeed she traveled, but he did not fulfill his promise, and left her.

She added that "she gave birth to her child in the husband's country, but the official authorities there did not recognize the customary contract, as long as the other party is not present, but through the embassy of her country, she was able to obtain identification papers and a passport for her son, in her name, so that she could return to the UAE and manage her affairs, and issue a residence permit." He is on her sponsorship, which is what happened, but she has not yet been able to find the father of the child, to recognize him and to issue identification papers in his name.

The woman asked: Can you file a lawsuit to prove the paternity of the boy to his father using the customary paper?

Will the UAE courts accept her case, especially as she resides with her son in the country, and his father may be abroad?

The legal advisor, Dr. Youssef Al-Sharif, confirmed that as long as the son whose parentage the questioner wishes to prove has a domicile or place of residence in the country, she can file the case before the UAE judiciary, and this is what was stipulated in Clause No. (4) of Article (6) of the Law Emirati Personal Status: “State courts are competent to hear cases related to personal status that are filed against a foreigner who does not have a home, place of residence, or place of work in the state, in a number of cases, including if the case is about the lineage of a minor who has a home or place of residence. in the state.”

Al-Sharif expected that the court would rule to prove the son’s lineage, as long as there is a suspicion of a contract according to the text of Article 90/2 of the same law, advising the questioner to file a case supported by witnesses.

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