Dad loses child’s custody against ex who remarried

abu dhabi — An Abu Dhabi court has rejected an Emirati father’s lawsuit, in which he had demanded that the custody of his daughter be stripped from his ex-wife, claiming he was “worried about her safety” after the woman remarried. The Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance ruled that the child was still young and needed to continue staying with her mother.

Court documents stated that the couple had separated a few years ago because of family differences. Their daughter’s custody was granted to her mother.

The court had also ordered the Emirati to pay a monthly alimony to his ex-wife, in addition to renting a house for her, paying the school fees of the child and utility bills.

After learning that his ex-wife had married a foreigner, the Emirati filed a lawsuit against her, requesting that he be given the child’s custody. He also requested that he be relieved from paying the monthly expenses since his ex-wife had remarried.

The woman’s lawyer, Ali Al Abbadi, argued that the child was still in kindergarten and should not be separated from her mother.

She also claimed that the father did not give “genuine reasons” for stripping the mother of the custody. She argued that as per the law, a child needed to stay with the mother till the age of 13.

The judge ruled that the father was responsible for providing financial support for his child.