Wife seeks divorce in UAE, court tells her to go back to husband's house

Ras Al Khaimah - "I cannot live with him anymore, and want divorce," the wife averred.

The Ras Al Khaimah Personal Status Court of Appeal has upheld the ruling of the lower court while turning down a divorce plea of a GCC woman and ordering her to return "obediently" to her husband's house.
The court also asked her to show respect to her husband and not let anyone of her family members interfere in the couple's personal issues.
As per court records, the case unfolded when the wife approached the Personal Status Court in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah seeking litigious or fault-based divorce, and full legal rights, including their daughter's custody.
The woman's lawyer said that the husband allegedly showed no responsibility as a breadwinner, stopped taking care of family issues and its needs, and paid neither to his wife nor their child any money.
"I cannot live with him anymore, and want divorce," the wife averred. She sought the girl's custody and rights to alimony, deferred dowry, child support, monthly maintenance, a house, payment of utility bills, a housemaid, and treatment charges of their daughter.
The husband's lawyer, in return, told the court that the wife's allegations are baseless. He added that she (wife) was used to going outdoors to her family without her husband's knowledge or permission, whenever the couple had an argument.
"She used to force their housemaid to do extra work at her family's house, also without her husband's permission," he pointed out. "She let her family interfere in their marital issues, showing no respect to her spouse."
The wife's brother, one of the witnesses, told the court that his sister was living in the house of her husband's sister.
"She had no privacy in her husband's house," he said, alleging that the man used to bring his friends home all the time.
However, the defence lawyer affirmed that the husband never let any of his friends contact or see his wife or breach her privacy.
Based on the testimonies of the witnesses, the court rejected the wife's divorce plea, and ordered her to return obediently to her husband's house. She was also asked not to send her maid to her family to serve them.
Dissatisfied over the lower court's ruling, the wife appealed against it in the higher court, which pronounced the same verdict. It stated that the wife should encounter a real and serious damage to seek divorce.
"This is not the case here, and there was no serious damage against the wife. Accordingly, the divorce plea must be rejected," the chief judge said, ordering the wife to pay the court charges and lawyer fees.

news@khaleejtimes.com

• Ras Al Khaimah