Can I Sue My Ex-Wife in UAE for Blocking Child Visits?

Article 121(5) of the Personal Status Law provides for compulsory enforcement when the custodian refuses compliance. Refusal to hand over a child under a decision or final judgment may also engage Penal Code Article 379.

Can I Sue My Ex-Wife In UAE For Blocking Child Visits?

• Enforcement: The visitation judgment is enforced through the execution judge, by force if the custodian refuses (PSL Art 121(5)).
• Changing the arrangement: The court can set or change times and places, and overnight stays, in the child’s interest (PSL Art 121(1), (4)).
• Criminal complaint: A person responsible for a child who refuses to hand him over to the person entitled under a decision or final judgment can be punished by imprisonment or a fine. The case can end by waiver or settlement (Penal Code Arts 379, 381).
• Custody review: Custody can fall if the custodian fails in the duties of custody, and the court decides custody by the child’s interest (PSL Arts 114, 115).

Restrictions on contact are discussed in visitation rights and the reasons they can be restricted.

What To Do Before You Go To Court

Keep a clear record of every missed visit.

• Note the dates and times of each missed visit, and keep the messages that show the refusal.
• Make sure you have a visitation judgment or decision. Article 379 depends on a decision or a final judgment.
• Send a polite written request to the mother asking her to follow the judgment.
• Take advice on the Federal Judicial Council’s child-visitation regulation, which sets the detailed procedures.

The wider parental position is covered in fathers’ rights after divorce.

Steps To Enforce Your Visitation Rights

1. File for enforcement of the visitation judgment with the execution judge.
2. If refusals continue, ask the court to adjust the arrangement, for example to a supervised handover.
3. Consider a criminal complaint under Article 379 if the refusal continues against a decision or final judgment.
4. If the refusals show the custodian is failing in her duties, take advice on a custody review under Article 115.
5. Keep paying the child’s maintenance. Visitation and maintenance are separate, and Article 121 does not tie one to the other.

For the applicable custody framework, see custody under UAE divorce law.