It is affirmed under Article 1 of the Manual that all competent court or authorities dealing with personal matters shall adhere with the provisions of the Manual, and any contradicting order or decision is deemed to be cancelled.

The objective behind issuing this manual is to maintain harmony between the practical challenges faced by the judges in family cases and the principles of Shariah. Another significant feature of this decision is to attain speedy justice as this Manual will clearly describe the procedure for dealing with family cases to avoid any delay due to the unavailability of information:

• Failing to reach a reconciliation or to agree mutually, the claimant can open a case before the Family Court for matters like divorce, custody, maintenance or even inheritance.
• The third step is to submit relevant documents before the competent court to achieve a favourable judgment.
• The application and acceptance of travel ban in cases of maintenance or alimony shall be filed either during the litigation procedure or at the time of enforcement of the judgment issued by the court.
• The court will use a certain mechanism to determine the amount of alimony and other maintenance amounts such as accommodation amount, school fees, and daily expenses.
• Determining the rights of custody and family unit concerns
• Orders on the petition for personal status cases and the procedures for filing such petition and before which court.
• Execution of judgments issued by the Personal status courts and its procedure.
• Forms of decisions regarding custody, divorce, alimony, personal servant and other case preparation forms.
• Tables in the way of a guide to ascertain the value of the cost of living, the salary of the husband/father and to evaluate the amount of alimony or maintenance in such cases.

In addition to this, the Manual is a unified set of rules acquired to ascertain the amount of alimony, child support and other personal status issues from the initiation of the case until the final judgment and execution of such order.

Primarily, the Manual lays down the procedures related to all sorts of personal status cases as mentioned below:

1. The first and the foremost step for any individual initiating any family matter is to file a case before the Family Reconciliation Centre in order to reconcile or mutually agree to resolve the dispute before the Family Reconciliation Committee.

To conclude the Manual will undoubtedly assist the court in preserving the rights of the individuals filing cases before Personal Status Courts and to achieve a practical judgment with an intention to maintain harmony between the couple and to eliminate the potential disputes between the parties especially in cases where the conflict is regarding the children as it tends to have a significant impact on the mental and physical health of the children.

Importantly, considering the Manual has some elaborative concerns, it is advised to seek the assistance of Best Lawyers in Abu Dhabi prior to filing any family matter even before the Family Reconciliation Committee.