Emergency Court Orders in a UAE Divorce: Custody, Travel, Money

What Are Interim and Emergency Orders in UAE Divorce?

They are temporary court orders that protect a spouse, the children or the family's money while the main case is decided. Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024, the personal status law for Muslims, treats them as a separate category: urgent and temporary cases, and urgent or temporary orders on alimony, custody and guardianship, are not referred to Family Guidance first (Article 8). Where the law requires the court's permission, you apply by an order on petition to the court where you live (Article 6).

Non-Muslims have parallel tools. Under Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, the executive regulation of Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, a divorced wife can ask for temporary alimony (Article 10), a parent can ask the judge to allow or refuse a child's trip abroad during joint custody (Article 21), and either parent can ask the court to stop the child travelling for a temporary period after the divorce (Article 22). In Abu Dhabi, Article 42 of the 2022 Regulation under Abu Dhabi Law No. 14 of 2021 lists the provisional orders the Civil Family Court can make, from temporary alimony and housing to a child travel ban and a protective seizure.

No federal law sets a general deadline for deciding these requests, and every order is temporary: it lasts until the court lifts or replaces it, or until the final judgment. The main types are:

Emergency Custody Orders: Protecting Your Children

An urgent custody order settles where the children live, or limits the other parent's time with them, until the court can decide the dispute properly. Courts act on documented risk: violence or abuse against the child, serious neglect, addiction affecting care, or a genuine threat to take the child out of the UAE. General parenting disagreements are dealt with in the ordinary case.

The legal test depends on your track. For Muslims, custody after separation goes first to the mother, then the father and then the grandmothers, but the court may depart from that order in the child's interest (Article 114 of Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024), and a custodian who no longer meets the conditions in Article 113, for example because of addiction or a dangerous disease, can lose custody (Article 115). For non-Muslims under Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, custody is joint and either parent can ask the court to decide a disputed custody issue in the child's best interest (Article 10). At the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court, the judge can temporarily suspend joint custody while a request to remove a parent is decided (Article 32 of the 2022 Regulation), and a risk of domestic violence or abuse is a listed ground for removal (Article 33).

Interim custody while the divorce is running

Most custody disputes do not start as same-day emergencies. They start as a practical question: who do the children live with, and when does the other parent see them, while the divorce case works its way through the court? For this the court can make a temporary custody and visitation order that holds until the final judgment, after hearing both parents.

Under Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024, custody now continues to age 18 for boys and girls (Article 123), and at 15 a child may choose which parent to live with unless the child's interest requires otherwise (Article 122). An interim order made early in the case tends to shape the status quo the final judge sees, so it is worth getting the arrangement right at the interim stage rather than treating it as a placeholder. If circumstances change during the case, for example a move within the UAE or a new school, you apply to vary the interim order rather than waiting for the final hearing. For how the court weighs custody and guardianship over the longer term, see our child custody in the UAE guide.

Protective Seizure: Stopping Money Being Moved

If you have evidence that your spouse is moving money out of the UAE, selling assets cheaply or otherwise draining property before a money claim is decided, you can ask the court to seize it as a protective measure. At the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court, imposing or cancelling a protective seizure is one of the listed provisional orders (Article 42 of the 2022 Regulation), and a final judgment can also include a protective seizure or a travel ban to secure its enforcement (Article 48). In the other courts the request is made as a precautionary attachment under the Civil Procedure Code, Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022.

A seizure can target:

• Bank accounts held in the UAE
• Real estate registered in the UAE
• Shares and business interests registered in the UAE
• Specific assets you can identify, such as vehicles or investments
• Money a third party, such as an employer, owes your spouse

A seizure does not transfer ownership; it stops the asset being disposed of while the claim is decided. The person whose assets are seized can ask the court to lift or vary the order.

Travel Bans in Divorce Cases

A court can stop a child, and in money disputes a spouse, from leaving the UAE. The rules for children differ by track.

For Muslims, the custodial parent may travel abroad with the child only with the other parent's written approval (Article 116 of Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024). Without it, the court may authorise trips totalling no more than 60 days a year, with a guarantee of the child's return, and longer if the trip is for the child's benefit, treatment or another necessity, after hearing the other parent. The guardian keeps the child's passport except when it is needed for travel (Article 117). Travelling with the child without the guardian's or the court's permission, or misusing the child's documents, is an offence punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine of AED 5,000 to AED 50,000 (Article 252), prosecuted only on a complaint by the person concerned and ended if that complaint is withdrawn before a final judgment (Article 255).

For non-Muslims under Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, neither parent may take the child abroad by a unilateral decision during joint custody; if the other objects, the judge decides and can require guarantees of return (Article 21 of Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023). After the divorce either parent can ask the court to stop the child travelling for a temporary period, stating the objection (Article 22). Abu Dhabi's Civil Family Court applies the same approach (Articles 37 and 38 of its 2022 Regulation). Our child travel consent guide covers the consent letter, the court permit and passports in detail.

A travel ban on a spouse is usually tied to a money claim, such as unpaid maintenance, and is decided on its own facts. In Abu Dhabi, the ADJD lists a travel ban request at AED 400 and says an interim travel ban stays in place until a party applies to the court to remove it.

Why the travel ban matters more here: the Hague gap

A travel ban on a child is preventative for a reason specific to the UAE. The UAE is not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. In member states, a parent whose child is wrongfully taken abroad can use a treaty process to seek the child's return. That process is not available to or from the UAE, so recovering a child depends on the courts and law of the country the child was taken to, which is neither quick nor certain.

The practical consequence is simple: stopping removal at the border is far more effective than trying to reverse it afterwards. If you are worried a removal is being planned, treat it as urgent and apply before any attempt is made, not after. Our guides on travel bans during divorce and international child abduction from the UAE set out both the preventative and the recovery routes in more detail.

Domestic Violence Protection Orders

Protection orders are governed by Federal Decree-Law No. 13 of 2024 on Protection from Domestic Violence, which replaced the 2019 domestic violence law. A protection order is separate from divorce proceedings: you can seek one before, during or without any divorce case.

According to published summaries of the law, a restraining order can require the respondent to:

• Stop contacting the victim by any means, directly or through others
• Stay away from the victim's home, workplace, school or other places named in the order
• Not damage the victim's property or personal belongings
• Pay financial support and medical expenses
• Attend social or psychological counselling

How fast a protection order can be issued

The fastest route runs through the Public Prosecution rather than a civil filing, because the prosecution can issue a restraining order without waiting for a court trial. Published summaries of the 2024 law say a prosecution order lasts up to 30 days and can be extended for two further periods of the same length, after which the competent court can extend it for up to six months or until the judgment becomes final. Confirm the current periods with your lawyer against the official text.

Breaching a restraining order is a criminal offence that can lead to imprisonment and a fine. In an immediate danger situation, go to the nearest police station or call the police first. For how protection orders interact with a divorce filing, custody and fault, see our guide on domestic violence and divorce in the UAE.

Emergency and Interim Maintenance Orders

A common trigger for urgent action is money rather than safety. When one spouse controls the household finances and cuts off support after separation, the other spouse and the children can be left without funds while the case runs. You do not have to wait for the final judgment to fix this.

For Muslims, Article 100 of Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 lets the court, at the wife's request and during the hearings of her maintenance case, order temporary maintenance for her and the children from the respondent, and that decision is enforceable immediately by force of law. For non-Muslims under Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, the divorced wife can ask for temporary alimony after the divorce judgment until her financial rights are decided, with both spouses' monthly income and six months of account statements; the court decides by an order on a petition and may refuse if she has a job or fixed income covering her basic needs (Article 10 of Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023). Abu Dhabi's Civil Family Court has the same rule (Article 21 of its 2022 Regulation) and can also order temporary housing or the reconnection of utilities (Article 42). Our guide to temporary alimony in the UAE sets out the forms and evidence for each court.

The order is only as useful as its enforcement. If the spouse ignores it, you take it to the execution court, which can deduct from salary, attach bank accounts and, where justified, ban the debtor from travelling. In the Muslim track, maintenance due from the date the claim was filed is a privileged debt that ranks ahead of the payer's other debts (Article 98). For the step-by-step collection process, see our guide on enforcing unpaid alimony in the UAE.

How to Apply for an Urgent Order, Step by Step

Evidence by order type

After You Get the Emergency Order: Next Steps

Obtaining the order is the beginning, not the end. It is temporary and has to be defended until the main case is decided, and mishandling the period after it can lead to the order being lifted on the other party's application.

Keep your evidence organised

Every incident, message or development that relates to the grounds for the order should be documented and kept. Your lawyer will need this to justify keeping the order in place when the main case comes before the court.

Respond promptly to challenges

Your spouse can challenge the order: an order on petition can be appealed within one week (Article 6 of Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024), and either side can ask the court to vary or lift a temporary order. Attend any hearing with your lawyer and be ready to support the order with evidence.

Coordinate with your divorce proceedings

Temporary orders feed into the main case, and the final orders on custody, finances and property replace them. In Abu Dhabi, the ADJD says an urgent request made before the main case requires you to commit to filing the main case within 8 days, so plan both together.

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