Over 1,000 couples tie the knot in Abu Dhabi's new civil marriage court

Over 1,000 couples tie the knot in Abu Dhabi's new civil marriage court
June 3, 2022, 10:11 am

British couple Sarah Goodman and Craig Lindsey wanted a civil wedding and applied online after new laws were introduced in November to support expatriates in Abu Dhabi - The National

In fewer than six months, more than a 1,000 non-Emirati couples have tied the knot in Abu Dhabi's new civil marriage court, The National reported.

After sweeping changes to Abu Dhabi laws that allow non-Muslim residents or visitors to have a civil marriage at court, hundreds of tourists have flocked to the judicial department to get married.

The new regulations are positioning the capital as a wedding destination with couples flying in specifically to tie the knot.

So far, more than 20 per cent of the applicants have been tourists.

In December, a Canadian couple were the first to register their union at the new court. In February, a British couple from Essex, England, flew in from the UK to get married in Abu Dhabi.

More than a dozen couples have already registered for civil marriages in Abu Dhabi - The National

“We decided to get married here because we want to have a civil marriage not a religious one,” said the groom Craig Lindsey at the time. “We are moving to Dubai so decided it would be nice to have it in the UAE.”

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The family court also handles divorce cases after new laws allowed no-fault divorce for the first time. This is when a couple do not need to submit proof of any wrongdoing to be granted a divorce. Instead, a simple request for divorce by either partner is sufficient.

The new court has drastically reduced the waiting time needed to get married or divorced. Couples can now get divorced in a matter of days instead of months, or sometimes years, under the previous laws.

Couples can also have the laws of the country in which they were married applied to their divorce proceedings instead of Sharia, which applies only to Muslims.

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The court has so far received 50 no-fault divorce applications, 20 civil inheritance cases and 250 applications for civil will attestation.

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