LEGAL GUIDE

Child Maintenance (Nafaqa) in the UAE

Child maintenance (nafaqa) in the UAE is the support a parent, in the first place the father, must provide for a child’s food, clothing, housing, medical treatment and education; a court sets the amount by weighing the payer’s means against the child’s needs, and unpaid orders are enforced through the courts’ execution process.

This guide covers the money side of raising children after a separation. If the dispute is about where your children live or when you can see them, see what to do when your ex won’t let you see your children.

Who pays child maintenance in the UAE, what it covers and how much a court orders depend first on which family law applies to you. For UAE citizens where either spouse is Muslim, and for non-UAE citizens unless one of them insists on applying their own law or another agreed law (Article 1), the Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024, in force since 15 April 2025) makes a young child’s maintenance the father’s responsibility (Article 106), defines maintenance as food, clothing, housing, medical treatment and education (Article 95) and tells the judge to weigh the payer’s means, the child’s situation and the economic conditions of the time and place (Article 96). For non-Muslims whose case falls under the Civil Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022), the Executive Regulation (Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023) requires the father to support his children after divorce (Article 11), with the court setting the amount on an accounting expert’s report (Article 12). Abu Dhabi’s Civil Family Court applies its own civil rules. In every regime, an order that is not paid is enforced through the courts’ execution process. Each rule below cites the article that states it.

LAST REVIEWED 1 OCTOBER 2026

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Reviewed for legal accuracy by LEXNOVA's team of lawyers. General information only — not legal advice. LEXNOVA is not a law firm.

WHO THIS GUIDE IS FOR

Parents in the UAE who are separating or already divorced and need to understand the financial side of their children’s care: a mother deciding whether to claim maintenance or housing for the children, a father who wants to know what a court can order him to pay and how it reaches the figure, a parent whose former spouse has stopped paying, and a parent whose income or the children’s needs have changed and who wants an existing order revised. It is also for non-Muslim expatriate parents who are not sure whether the 2024 Personal Status Law, the federal civil law or Abu Dhabi’s civil family rules govern their case, and for anyone trying to work out how far back unpaid maintenance can still be claimed.

Which law decides child maintenance in your case?

The UAE has more than one family-law regime, and the rules on children’s maintenance differ between them, so the first step is to work out which one governs your family. The Personal Status Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024, came into force on 15 April 2025 and replaced Federal Law No. 28 of 2005. Its scope article says it applies to UAE citizens “if both parties of the relationship or one of them is Muslim”, to non-Muslim UAE citizens unless they have provisions specific to their sect and religion or agree to apply another permitted law, and to non-UAE citizens “unless one of them insists on applying his/her law or any other law that has been agreed to be applied” (Article 1).

The Civil Personal Status Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, in force since 1 February 2023, applies “to non-Muslims who are national citizens of the United Arab Emirates, and to non-Muslim foreigners residing in the state, unless any of them adheres to the application of the law of their home country” (Article 1(1)); the parties may also agree to apply other family legislation in force in the UAE instead (Article 1(2)). Its Executive Regulation, Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, holds most of the detail on children’s financial support. The UAE Government portal summarises the split this way: the divorce of Muslim couples, and of couples where the man is Muslim and the wife is not, is governed by the 2024 law, while civil divorce is governed by the 2022 law and Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023.

Abu Dhabi has its own civil family rules. Abu Dhabi Law No. 14 of 2021 on Civil Marriage and its Effects, as amended, defines the persons it governs as “non-Muslim male and female foreigners or UAE nationals” (Article 1), and its implementing regulation, ADJD Chairman Decision No. 8 of 2022, also covers foreigners whose nationality, or place of marriage, is a country that does not mainly apply Islamic law in family matters (Regulation, Article 5). Its scope article, as amended, applies the law to the effects and dissolution of a marriage concluded under it (Article 3(1)). Both instruments are applied by the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department’s Civil Family Court. The Judicial Department’s own pages describe access in different terms: its FAQ says neither party to a civil marriage may be a UAE citizen and that Muslims who are not UAE citizens may use the service, and the Civil Family Court page lists, for a no-fault divorce, Abu Dhabi residents, anyone who obtained a civil marriage through that court, and parties from a country not governed by sharia law. Because the court’s post-divorce financial order is applied for after the divorce judgment, those conditions matter for a child-support claim there too. If you are unsure which of these regimes applies to you, or whether your case can be brought before the Civil Family Court, put that question to a family lawyer first, because the answer changes who pays, what the court looks at and how long payments may last.

What does child maintenance cover?

Under the 2024 Personal Status Law, maintenance (translated as “alimony” in the official English text) “includes necessities and basic needs of food, clothing, housing, medical treatment, and education in accordance with customs” (Article 95). The same chapter applies that definition to children: a young child’s maintenance falls on the father (Article 106(1)), and if the mother is unable to breastfeed, the father bears the cost of breastfeeding the child, which the law treats as a form of maintenance (Article 106(5)).

Housing and identity documents are dealt with in the custody chapter. The person obliged to maintain the child in custody “shall pay the rent of the custodian’s residence” unless the custodian owns a home she lives in or one designated for her residence, and the judge may award rent “in an amount that covers the costs of the children in her custody” (Article 119(2)). The father also bears “the expenses of obtaining and renewing the identification documents” of the child (Article 124). The UAE Government portal sums this up in one line: the father bears the child’s essential maintenance expenses, including housing and identification documents.

Under the civil regime, Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023 says the father “shall financially support his children after the divorce”, covering “all aspects of maintenance, such as education, housing fees, treatment and other daily or periodic expenses that he was responsible for before the divorce”, unless the couple agreed otherwise in the marriage contract (Article 11). Separately, unless the court decides otherwise and unless the marriage contract provides otherwise, the father pays his former wife a housing allowance, in kind or in cash, for the duration of joint custody: the home should suit the standard of living the children were used to before the divorce and be close to their old one, and the allowance includes basic utility bills such as electricity, water, internet, gas and air conditioning (Article 8(1)). The court may exempt him wholly or partly if the mother can afford suitable housing herself (Article 8(2)). The Abu Dhabi regulation uses almost the same words for the father’s duty to spend on his children after divorce (Article 23) and for the housing allowance (Article 19), though neither Abu Dhabi article mentions the marriage contract.

Who has to pay, and can the duty pass to someone else?

Under the 2024 law the starting point is the father: “The maintenance of a young child who has no money is the responsibility of his father” (Article 106(1)). If the child has money of his or her own that does not cover the expenses, the father makes up the difference (Article 106(4)).

The mother steps in only in defined cases. A child’s maintenance falls on a solvent mother “if the father is lost and has no property, or is unable to provide for him/her”, and she may later recover what she spent from the father if he becomes solvent and the spending was permitted by him or by the court (Article 106(6)). More widely, maintenance is owed by solvent relatives who would inherit from the person entitled, in their order of inheritance; and where one person cannot maintain everyone who depends on him or her, the wife’s maintenance comes first, then the children’s, then the parents’, then other relatives’ (Article 110).

The children’s right survives a khula divorce, where the wife asks for the separation and offers a consideration in return: the law says it is not permissible to agree that the consideration is “the waiver of any of the children’s rights, their maintenance, or custody” (Article 66(3)).

Under the civil regime the Executive Regulation places the duty on the father (Article 11), and a parent who gives up joint custody “shall not be exempted from financial obligations with respect to the children in custody” (Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, Article 15(2)); the Abu Dhabi regulation says the same (Article 30). The Civil Personal Status Law also lists, among the factors the judge weighs when a divorced wife applies for alimony, the father’s liability for “the expenses and costs of the mother’s custody of the children during joint custody, for a temporary period not exceeding two years” according to the accounting expert’s report (Article 9(7)); Abu Dhabi’s law has the same two-year item (Article 8(7)). That two-year item sits in the provisions on the divorced wife’s alimony; the father’s support for the children themselves is set out separately, in Article 11 of the Executive Regulation.

How does a judge decide how much maintenance to order?

The 2024 law gives the judge three things to weigh: “the extent of wellbeing of the spender, the condition of the person being spent on, and the economic situation at the time and place” (Article 96(1)). In plain terms: the paying parent’s means, the child’s needs and circumstances, and the cost of living where the family lives. Maintenance may be paid in cash (Article 96(2)), and making property available, in kind or as a benefit, can take the place of payment (Article 96(3)).

Neither the 2024 law nor the civil-regime texts cited in this guide set a percentage of salary or a fixed table for children; the Decree-Law issuing the 2024 law does provide for a guidebook, to be issued by the Federal Judicial Council and the local judicial authorities, “regulating the rules necessary for estimating the value of alimonies, wages, and the like” (Article Three(1)(i)), so ask a lawyer whether one applies in your court. Under the civil regime the court “has the discretion to estimate the maintenance required from the father for the benefit of the children”, may increase or decrease it, and decides how it is calculated and paid “according to the results of the accounting expert report, in a way that ensures a decent living for the mother and children without burdening the father with financial costs that exceed his financial capabilities” (Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, Article 12). The accounting expert is assigned by the court to evaluate each spouse’s true financial situation, “such as sources of income, volume of wealth and property” (Article 1). Abu Dhabi’s regulation gives its Civil Family Court the same discretion and the same decent-living test (Article 24).

A percentage does appear in the Abu Dhabi regulation: a cash percentage of not less than 25% of the husband’s last monthly income multiplied by the number of years of marriage. Article 18 presents it as a criterion the court and expert “may be guided by” for “the financial compensation due after divorce”, and the articles on children’s expenses (Articles 23 and 24) do not refer to it, so it should not be read as a child-maintenance formula.

Because the figure turns on evidence of both parents’ means and the children’s actual costs, it helps to gather the documents that show them before you file: salary certificates and bank statements, school fee invoices, medical bills, the tenancy contract and a record of the family’s regular outgoings. A family lawyer can tell you what the court in your emirate will expect to see and how the expert stage works in practice.

Until what age is child maintenance paid?

The 2024 law does not end maintenance on a fixed birthday. For a daughter, the father’s duty runs “until the girl marries or works”; for a son, “until the boy reaches the age at which his peers can earn a living, unless he is a student who continues his studies with usual success in accordance with custom and in accordance with what the court estimates” (Article 106(1)).

The duty can also continue into adulthood or revive. An adult son who cannot earn a living “due to a disability or otherwise” remains his father’s responsibility if he has no property to live on (Article 106(2)), and a daughter who is divorced or widowed becomes her father’s responsibility again unless she has property, works, or someone else is responsible for her maintenance (Article 106(3)).

These rules are separate from the custody ages. Under the same law custody ends when the child reaches 18 (Article 123(1)), and a child of 15 may choose which parent to live with unless the child’s interest requires otherwise (Article 122). Those ages govern where the child lives; Article 106 measures the end of the maintenance duty by different tests: marriage, work, earning capacity and studies.

The civil regime is different again. The Civil Personal Status Law gives both parents an equal right to joint custody until the child reaches 18, after which the child has freedom of choice (Article 4(4)), and Abu Dhabi’s law sets that age at 16 (Article 16(4)). The provisions on the father’s financial support in Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023 (Articles 11 and 12) and in the Abu Dhabi regulation (Articles 23 and 24) do not themselves state an age at which support ends. The Abu Dhabi regulation defines a “child” as “a person who has not reached the age of (16) calendar years” (Article 1), but its support articles speak of the father’s “children” and do not say that support stops at 16. So how long payments run in a civil case depends on the court’s order and on legal advice about your facts.

Can you claim maintenance for months that have already passed?

Only for a limited period. Under the 2024 law, “a claim to request a child’s maintenance from their father shall not be heard for a previous period that exceeds one year from the date of the judicial claim” (Article 111(1)). So if payments stopped two years before you file, the court will not hear the claim for the part of that period that falls more than one year before the filing date.

For relatives other than children, maintenance is imposed only from the date of the judicial claim (Article 111(2)). Once a case is filed, the law also ranks what falls due: “continuous alimony, which is due from the date of filing the case to claim it for the wife, children and parents, is a privileged debt that takes precedence over all other debts”, whereas past maintenance is treated like other debts (Article 98).

The practical point is timing. If payments have stopped, or never started, each month of delay beyond that one-year window may be money that can no longer be claimed. The civil-regime texts cited in this guide do not set out their own time limit for past maintenance, and the Civil Personal Status Law says that the laws in force apply to matters it does not specifically cover (Article 15), so ask a lawyer how arrears are treated in a civil or Abu Dhabi case before you rely on any period.

How do you ask a court for child maintenance?

Maintenance cases go to the personal status courts. Under the 2024 law, a case for “alimonies, wages, and the like” brought by the children, the wife, the parents or the custodian may be filed in the court for the plaintiff’s or the respondent’s domicile, residence or place of work, or where the marital home is (Article 3(3)). UAE courts can also hear a maintenance claim for a wife, parents or a minor who live, reside or work in the UAE against a foreigner who has no domicile, residence or workplace in the country (Article 4(3)).

In Dubai, the Personal Status Court hears “divorce, alimony, custody, and other personal matters”, with separate tracks for the personal and financial matters of Muslims and of non-Muslims, and its claims e-service asks personal status claimants to upload the Family Guidance Department’s decision referring the case, together with the statement of claim. For Abu Dhabi’s personal status courts, the Judicial Department states that Family Guidance is mandatory before registering most personal status cases, including alimony and custody cases, which “may not be submitted directly to the court before being referred to the Family Guidance”. The 2024 law itself exempts “urgent and temporary orders concerning alimony” from being referred to Family Guidance (Article 8(1)), and an agreement reached before Family Guidance, recorded in a report signed by the parties and the counsellor and approved by the supervising judge, has “the force of execution writs” (Article 8(2)).

While a maintenance case is being heard, the court may, at the wife’s request, order temporary maintenance for her and her children from the respondent, and that decision is “subject to immediate enforcement by force of law” (Article 100). Rulings in personal status matters under the 2024 law can be appealed within 30 days (Article 9).

Parties before Abu Dhabi’s Civil Family Court make financial claims after the divorce judgment: where no amicable settlement is reached, the court’s page says “you can apply for a financial order using the post-divorce application for a financial order”. The same court can hear a claim for alimony for a wife or minor child who lives, resides or works in the emirate even against a foreigner with no domicile there (Abu Dhabi Law No. 14 of 2021, Article 17-bis(3)). Family Guidance is not a precondition there: the Judicial Department’s Q&A on the civil marriage law says “it is not a requirement for the parties to attend family guidance before filing a case before the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court”, and the Abu Dhabi regulation excludes “civil divorce and ancillary cases” from the family guidance committees (ADJD Chairman Decision No. 8 of 2022, Article 39). For Abu Dhabi’s courts generally, the Judicial Department’s FAQ says cases are subject to the Abu Dhabi Judicial Fees Law and lists alimony cases among those “exempted from court fees”; its registration services manual ties that exemption to alimony claims filed by the person entitled to the alimony.

Can a maintenance order be increased or reduced later?

Yes, if circumstances change. Under the 2024 law, maintenance “may be increased or decreased upon the change of circumstances” (Article 97(1)), within three limits. An increase cannot reach back more than six months. A reduction is not retrospective and runs from the date of the ruling unless the ruling specifies another date. And a claim to increase or reduce “shall not be heard before one year has passed from the date on which the alimony ruling becomes final, unless in exceptional circumstances determined by the court” (Article 97(2) and (3)).

Under the civil regime, the court may also increase or decrease the children’s maintenance and decide how it is calculated and paid, again based on the accounting expert’s report (Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, Article 12); the Abu Dhabi regulation gives its Civil Family Court the same power (Article 24). A change of job, a new school, a medical need or a fall in income is the kind of event to raise with a lawyer before applying, together with documents that prove it.

What happens if the other parent stops paying?

A maintenance ruling is enforced like other court judgments. The Civil Procedure Code, Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022, regulates personal status lawsuits and “establishes the method of appealing and executing the judgements”, and a judgment is executed “under the supervision of the execution judge at the Court of First Instance, assisted by execution representatives”, as the UAE Government portal explains. In Dubai, the courts’ Execution of Judgments service lets a party “register for an execution file to enforce the executive writ by force if enforcement was not possible by agreement”.

Several rules in the 2024 law strengthen the position of the person owed maintenance: temporary maintenance ordered during the case is immediately enforceable (Article 100); a settlement approved after Family Guidance has the force of an execution writ (Article 8(2)); and maintenance falling due after the case is filed ranks ahead of the payer’s other debts (Article 98).

Under the civil regime, the court’s power to set children’s maintenance extends to “the financial fines imposed on him in the event of his failure to provide the maintenance as required” (Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, Article 12). Abu Dhabi’s regulation goes further for its Civil Family Court: the court enforces its own judgments (Article 46); its judgments carry immediate enforcement (Article 47); a judgment may include protective measures “such as an order to impose a protective seizure or a travel ban”, and must instruct the bank to deduct the ordered amount directly from the debtor’s accounts once seven working days have passed from notification, unless the parties agree otherwise (Article 48); and alimony and post-divorce financial judgments of less than AED 500,000 are final and enforceable as soon as they are issued (Article 49).

Which enforcement measures are available in your own file outside Abu Dhabi’s Civil Family Court depends on the execution rules of the Civil Procedure Code, which this guide does not set out article by article. A family lawyer can tell you what the execution judge can order against a parent who does not pay, and what to file first.

When is it worth involving a family lawyer?

Several of the rules above turn on facts that are easy to get wrong without advice. Which regime applies depends on religion, nationality and any agreement between the parents (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024, Article 1; Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, Article 1). Past maintenance under the 2024 law can only be claimed for one year before the filing date (Article 111), and a request to change an order generally cannot be heard until a year after it became final (Article 97). Those time limits reward acting early.

A lawyer is also useful where the other parent lives abroad, where income is hard to prove, where a settlement is being negotiated alongside a divorce, or where an order has not been paid and you need to open an execution file. LEXNOVA Legal Connect is a lawyer-matching service, not a law firm, and does not give legal advice; it can help you describe your situation and explore potentially suitable family lawyers who handle maintenance cases.

Sources & legal basis

FAQ

Overview & Eligibility

It is one kind of it. The official English text of the 2024 Personal Status Law uses “alimony” for a whole chapter that covers maintenance for a wife, children, parents and other relatives (Articles 95 to 111), with child maintenance in Article 106. The civil regime keeps them apart: the divorced wife’s alimony is in Article 9 of Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, and the father’s support for the children is in Article 11 of Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023.

Not in the texts this guide relies on. The 2024 law tells the judge to weigh the payer’s means, the child’s condition and the economic situation of the time and place (Article 96). The Decree-Law issuing that law also provides for a guidebook regulating the rules for estimating the value of alimonies (Article Three(1)(i)), so ask a lawyer whether one applies in your court. Under the civil regime, the court estimates the amount at its discretion on the accounting expert’s report, aiming at a decent living for the mother and children without exceeding the father’s capabilities (Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, Article 12). The 25% figure in Abu Dhabi’s regulation (Article 18) is a guide for the financial compensation due after divorce; the articles on children’s expenses (23 and 24) do not use it.

Not automatically under the 2024 Personal Status Law. Eighteen is when custody ends (Article 123), but maintenance follows Article 106: a daughter is maintained until she marries or works, and a son until he reaches the age at which his peers can earn a living, or longer while he continues his studies with usual success. An adult son unable to earn a living, and a divorced or widowed daughter without means, can again be the father’s responsibility. The federal civil-regime support provisions state no end age; Abu Dhabi’s regulation defines a child as a person under 16 (Article 1) but its support articles do not say support stops then, so ask a lawyer.

Not in a khula divorce: the 2024 law forbids agreeing that the wife’s consideration is the waiver of any of the children’s rights, including their maintenance (Article 66(3)). Under the civil regime, Article 11 of Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023 applies “unless the married couple agree otherwise in the marriage contract”, so the contract’s terms matter, and a parent who gives up joint custody is still not released from financial obligations to the children (Article 15(2)). Have any proposed agreement reviewed by a lawyer before signing it.

Under the 2024 Personal Status Law, a claim for a child’s maintenance from the father is not heard for any earlier period exceeding one year from the date the claim is filed in court (Article 111(1)). Maintenance falling due after filing is a privileged debt that ranks ahead of the payer’s other debts, while past maintenance is treated like other debts (Article 98). For civil or Abu Dhabi cases, ask a lawyer how arrears are handled before relying on any period.

Under the 2024 Personal Status Law, yes: during the hearings the court may, at the wife’s request, order temporary maintenance for her and her children from the respondent, and that decision is immediately enforceable by force of law (Article 100). Urgent and temporary orders concerning maintenance also do not have to go through Family Guidance first (Article 8(1)). Abu Dhabi’s Civil Family Court can issue interim and urgent decisions on provisional alimony claims (ADJD Chairman Decision No. 8 of 2022, Article 3(2)).

UAE courts can hear the claim. The 2024 Personal Status Law gives them jurisdiction over a maintenance claim for a minor who lives, resides or works in the UAE even against a foreigner with no domicile, residence or workplace here (Article 4(3)), and Abu Dhabi’s civil law has a similar rule for claims for a wife or minor child in the emirate (Article 17-bis(3)). Obtaining a judgment is one step; collecting from someone with no assets in the UAE raises separate questions of enforcement abroad that a lawyer should assess.

Fees & Timelines

Yes. Under the 2024 Personal Status Law, a young child’s maintenance is the father’s responsibility (Article 106), and when parents separate, custody goes first to the mother (Article 114). The person who owes the child’s maintenance also pays the rent of the custodian’s home unless she owns a home she lives in or one designated for her residence (Article 119(2)). Under the civil regime, custody is joint by default (Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, Article 13), and the father’s duty to support the children after divorce is in Article 11.

Under the 2024 Personal Status Law, only in defined cases: a child’s maintenance falls on a solvent mother if the father is lost and has no property, or is unable to provide for the child. She then has the right to be reimbursed by the father if he later becomes solvent and the spending was permitted by him or by the court (Article 106(6)). Under the civil regime, the Executive Regulation places the post-divorce support duty on the father (Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, Article 11).

Yes, in both main regimes. The 2024 Personal Status Law defines maintenance as including food, clothing, housing, medical treatment and education in accordance with customs (Article 95). Under the civil regime, the father’s post-divorce support covers “education, housing fees, treatment and other daily or periodic expenses that he was responsible for before the divorce” (Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, Article 11), and Abu Dhabi’s regulation lists education, residence fees and treatment in the same way (Article 23).

Under the civil regime, yes: the court’s discretion covers both the maintenance owed to the children and “the financial fines imposed on him in the event of his failure to provide the maintenance as required” (Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, Article 12). Abu Dhabi’s regulation gives its Civil Family Court the same power to impose financial penalties for non-compliance (Article 24), and its judgments can order a protective seizure, a travel ban and direct deduction from the debtor’s bank accounts (Article 48).

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department’s FAQ says cases are subject to the Abu Dhabi Judicial Fees Law, that some cases, such as alimony cases, are exempted from court fees, and that you are told the fee when registering a case, before the procedure is completed. The Judicial Department’s registration services manual (2023) words the exemption more narrowly: no fee is imposed on alimony claims “if they are submitted by those entitled thereto”. Those statements concern Abu Dhabi’s courts; for Dubai or the federal courts, confirm any fee with the court when you register the case.

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