How to File for Child Support in Dubai: Steps, Evidence, and Timing

Parents often know that a father must support his child. What they do not know is how to turn that duty into a court order, how much evidence is needed, and how soon to act. This article takes the practical view: how to file for child support in Dubai, in the order you will do it. It covers the filing steps, the evidence that supports the amount, and the time limit that makes delay costly.

Legal Basis: Articles 3, 96, 100, 106, and 111

Article 106 of Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 on Personal Status provides that the maintenance of a young child with no money is the responsibility of the father until the girl marries or works and until the boy reaches the age at which his peers can earn a living, unless he is a student continuing studies with usual success, as the court estimates. Article 95 includes education within maintenance. Article 96 directs the court, in estimating alimony, to the extent of the well-being of the spender, the condition of the person being spent on, and the economic situation at the time and place. Article 100 allows the court to order temporary alimony during the hearings, enforceable immediately. Article 111(1) provides that a claim for a child’s maintenance from the father is not heard for a period exceeding one year before the judicial claim.

Article 3(3) gives the court within whose jurisdiction the plaintiff’s or respondent’s domicile, residence, place of work, or marital home falls competence to hear claims filed by the children, the wife, the parents, or the custodian for alimony, wages, and the like. Article 4(3) gives the courts of the State competence over a claim for alimony for parents, a wife, or a minor with a domicile, residence, or place of work in the State, even against a foreigner with none.

Step 1: Establish Who Can File

• The custodial parent files on behalf of the child.
• A guardian or another person with custody can do the same.
• An informal arrangement between the parents does not by itself replace a court order.

Step 2: Build the Budget

• The child’s school fees, uniforms, books, and transport.
• Rent or housing costs, with the share attributable to the child, and the custodian’s residence where Article 119(2) applies.
• Medical costs, insurance, and regular treatment.
• Food, clothing, and everyday expenses.
• Childcare or nursery costs.

Present these as a monthly figure with supporting documents. Courts decide by reference to the factors in Article 96, so evidence of both the child’s needs and the father’s means matters.

Step 3: Gather Evidence of the Father’s Means

• Salary certificates or business accounts, where you have lawful access.
• Bank statements you are entitled to see.
• Evidence of property, vehicles, or other assets.
• Evidence of his lifestyle, such as accommodation and travel.
• The marriage contract, divorce documents, and any existing order.

Step 4: File With the Personal Status Court

• Prepare your identification, the children’s birth certificates, and the marriage and divorce documents.
• State the amount you ask for, the period, and the basis.
• Ask for temporary alimony under Article 100 while the case is heard.
• Check how to file with the Dubai Courts when you apply, since channels change.

Article 8 allows the supervising judge to refer parties to the Family Guidance Department before the case proceeds, where he considers it feasible. Urgent and temporary orders concerning alimony are exempt from that referral, so the request for temporary alimony can move quickly.

Step 5: The Hearing and the Order

The court considers the child’s needs, the father’s means, and the economic situation and sets the amount. It may also deal with the custodian’s housing under Article 119(2) and school fees as part of maintenance under Article 95. Judgments in personal status matters can be appealed within 30 days under Article 9, counted from the day after the judgment under Article 10.

Step 6: Enforce the Order

If the father does not pay, you open an execution file on the order. Continuing alimony due from the date of filing the claim is a privileged debt under Article 98. See the separate article on recovering unpaid alimony for the enforcement route.

Changing the Amount Later

Article 97 allows alimony to be increased or decreased when circumstances change. An increase is not retrospective for more than six months, a reduction runs from the ruling unless it specifies another date, and a claim for change is not heard before one year from the final ruling, unless the court finds exceptional circumstances.

If the Father Cannot Pay or Cannot Be Found

Article 106(6) provides that where the father is lost and has no property or is unable to provide, maintenance falls on the solvent mother, who may be reimbursed from him if he becomes solvent and the spending was permissible by him or the court. Article 110 sets the order of those obliged to provide maintenance.

Non-Muslim Parents

The Civil Personal Status Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, makes custody joint and equal under Article 10 and provides in Article 9(7) that during joint custody the father is liable for the expenses of the mother’s custody of the children for a temporary period not exceeding two years, based on an accounting expert’s report. It has no detailed chapter on child maintenance, and Article 15 refers to other laws in force for matters it does not provide for. Take advice on how a claim is framed.

How Faris Raian Can Assist

Faris Raian can assist with preparing a child support claim in Dubai, including identifying the competent court, organizing evidence of the child’s needs and the father’s means, and advising on temporary maintenance, housing and related claims. He can also advise on enforcement if an existing child support order is not paid.

Frequently Asked Questions