Personal Status Lawyer — Divorce, Khul', Custody, Maintenance and Estates

The Personal Status Law recognises more than one way to end a marriage, each with its own conditions and effects. Divorce (talaq) is pronounced by the husband and must be documented. Khul' is sought by the wife in return for compensation she gives the husband, and is completed by agreement or by court ruling when agreement fails. Judicial annulment (faskh) is decided by the court for a reason the law recognises, such as harm, failure to provide maintenance or absence, and the applicant must prove that reason.

Before choosing a route, your situation deserves a calm comparison: which financial rights remain for each side, such as the deferred dowry and maintenance? How does each option affect arrangements for the children? Is reconciliation still possible? A family lawyer from our team sits with you, whether you are the husband or the wife, and lays out the options clearly and without prejudging anyone.

Many of these disputes pass through the Reconciliation Centre before being filed in court; if the session ends in agreement it is documented, otherwise the file moves to the personal status court. Documents worth bringing to the opening meeting:

When parents separate, custody becomes the most sensitive question. The Personal Status Law makes the child's interest the standard on which custody rulings rest; it ranks those entitled to custody, requires them to be fit and able to care for the child, and leaves it to the court to decide what suits the child when parents disagree. Custody does not cut the child off from the other parent: visits, overnight stays and contact are set by the parents' agreement or by the court.

We stand with fathers and mothers alike: proving custody, asking for it to be transferred when circumstances change, fixing visitation times and handover arrangements, or enforcing them when one side refuses. When both parents agree, custody can in many cases be documented online and a custody deed issued through Ministry of Justice services, with no dispute at all.

If you are being kept from seeing your child, fear for their safety, or learn of travel intended to take them away, this is the moment to act rather than wait: some custody and visitation matters can be heard on an urgent basis, and every day that passes affects the child's situation.

Maintenance covers what the entitled person needs in food, clothing, housing, medical care and education according to custom. It is owed to a wife by her husband and to children by their father under the Personal Status Law. The court sets it by weighing the payer's means against the recipient's needs, so there is no single figure that fits every family, and amounts people quote to each other are guesses, not a basis for decisions.

We prepare maintenance claims, or requests to increase or reduce maintenance when circumstances change, pursue arrears where they are legally due, and gather evidence of the payer's income and the children's actual needs. On the other side, we represent husbands and fathers asked to pay more than they can genuinely afford.

A judgment does not mean the money arrives. If the person ordered to pay refuses, an enforcement request is filed through Najiz under the Enforcement Law, and the enforcement authority takes its statutory measures. The Nafaqa Fund also supports eligible beneficiaries, under its own conditions, when collection stalls.

Every estate starts with an heirship deed that identifies the heirs and their relationship to the deceased, which in many cases can be requested online through Najiz. Next comes an inventory of what the deceased left in property, balances, shareholdings and debts, settling those debts, carrying out any will within its Sharia limits, and then distributing the remainder according to each heir's Sharia share, whether the heir is a man or a woman.

If all heirs agree, the estate can be divided amicably and documented without a dispute. If they disagree on a property valuation, one heir refuses, or a minor is among the heirs, the division goes before the court. This is where an heirs' lawyer helps: representing your share calmly and proposing solutions such as a sale or a buy-out before the disagreement drags on between relatives.

Planning matters even more when the estate includes a company or sole proprietorship. The transfer of shares to heirs is governed by the Companies Law and the company's articles of association, and keeping the business running calls for prompt decisions on management and accounts. We work with heirs and partners to arrange this without the company's operations coming to a halt.

A marriage may be concluded without official registration, or a divorce may happen and never be recorded, leaving rights on hold: establishing the children's parentage, issuing their documents, and claiming dowry and maintenance. In these cases a claim to prove the marriage or the divorce is filed with the personal status court, relying on witnesses and whatever documents support what happened.

We also review family agreements before they are signed: conditions in the marriage contract, amicable separation agreements, and written custody and maintenance arrangements, so they are clear and can later be documented and enforced. Many disputes begin with a spoken understanding that was never written down and becomes impossible to prove once relations sour.

If one spouse is not Saudi or the marriage took place outside the Kingdom, extra documentation requirements may apply; we explain them at the outset so your file is not held up by a missing paper. This sometimes means having documents issued abroad authenticated, or translated by a certified translator, before the court or Ministry of Justice platforms will accept them.