'Arabic' plea wins divorced father son's custody

The UAE’s Federal Supreme Court has given a verdict in favour of an Emirati father who sought custody of his child through his foreign wife, the Arabic daily ‘Emarat Al Youm’ has reported.

The court justified the judgment on the grounds that the wife cannot speak Arabic which will impact negatively on the child’s study of Arabic at school.

The Court said in its ruling that the eight-year old son should live with his father and his two sisters from the same mother to help him learn to speak Arabic.

An Emirati man had filed a suit against his Asian wife before the Abu Dhabi Family Court, seeking custody of the boy as he could not speak Arabic.

The plaintiff (the UAE citizen) told the court that the respondent (his wife) is the mother of his two daughters and son  (aged 17, 13 and eight respectively) and that he already had the custody of the two girls.

He added that his wife had left the children with him before divorcing and that the boy wanted to live with his sisters and not with his mother.

The Court of First Instance had ruled in favour of the father and gave him custody of the child.

The mother (the defendant) then went to the Court of Appeal which gave her custody of the child.

The father (the plaintiff) then approached the apex court seeking custody of his son.

He claimed that his son had lived in harmony with his two siblings since birth. Also, the boy needed his sisters’ help, especially to prepare for his examinations in religion and Arabic.

The plaintiff added that his son currently lived with his mother who does not speak Arabic.

The defendant said she did not speak Arabic because she is not an Arab. She sought custody of the boy, now that she is a UAE citizen.

The Court then sought the opinion of the boy who said that, despite his love for both his parents, he preferred to stay with his father.

The Court indicated that it is in the boy’s interest to be with his sisters because that will help him to learn to speak Arabic.

 

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