Woman knocks doors of courts for son’s custody

abu dhabi — The Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation has quashed decisions by the lower courts that had refused hearings in the case of a mother who was denied the right to see her son and spend time with him by her ex-husband.

The judge of Abu Dhabi’s top court ordered that the Family Court of First Instance should hear the Arab woman’s case because it falls under its jurisdiction.

Official court documents stated that the mother had separated from her husband after irreconcilable differences and the custody of their son was granted to his father. After winning the custody of his son, who was above seven years old, the father denied his exwife the chance to see her child, take him for holiday tours or on Haj or Umrah rituals.

The man claimed that the woman had bad behaviour and that she would spoil his child.

The woman then filed a law suit against the man for denying her the right to see her son.

She demanded that custody of the child be stripped of the father and instead be granted to her because the man was selfish and never wanted her to be part of his life or taking part in her son’s upbringing despite her being his biological mother.

Both the Abu Dhabi Family Court of First Instance and the Appeal Court had refused a hearing in the case on the grounds that it had no jurisdiction to hear into it because the woman was living in Dubai and not Abu Dhabi.

The mother, who presented evidence showing that she stays in Abu Dhabi, went to the Court of Cassation, which has ordered the First Instance Court to hear the case because the couple’s family home is located in Abu Dhabi.

Ali Al Abadi, the woman’s lawyer, had urged that both the lower courts had erred in the application of the law when they refused to hear his client’s case.