Emirati father loses custody battle

An Emirati man went to court seeking custody of his 10-year-old son. The court rejected his claims and ruled that the boy should remain with his mother.

ABU DHABI // The Cassation Court has rejected a claim by an Emirati father seeking custody of his 10-year-old son from his Qatari mother.

The man argued that since the appointed custody period with the boy’s mother had come to an end, he and his new wife should take over responsibility for the child.

After the pair divorced, custody was originally given to the father by the Court of First Instance, but the ruling was overturned by the Appeals Court and the boy went to live with his mother.

After the appointed custody period with the mother came to an end, the boy’s father asked the Cassation Court to return his son to him and his new wife.

He claimed that he had all the necessary resources to look after his son, and satisfied the legal conditions for custody.

The father said that it would be in his son’s benefit to grow up with his brothers, and that his mother often had to travel to Qatar, leaving the boy at home.

He said the Appeals Court should not have taken the mother’s case, because it was filed after the allocated three-month window. The claim was rejected after no proof could be found that the woman had been told of the verdict.

The Cassation Court rejected the father’s claims and extended the mother’s custody period.

It ruled that the mother was the most suitable person to look after a boy of that age and that there would be harm to the child’s emotional state if he was taken away from his mother.