Court ruling affirms that property gifted during marriage cannot be reclaimed under UAE law.
Dubai: The Dubai Court of First Instance has rejected a man’s lawsuit seeking to reclaim a residential apartment he had gifted to his ex-wife, ruling that the transfer was legally valid and cannot be reversed under UAE law. The court also ordered the claimant to cover all legal costs and expenses, including Dh1,000 in lawyer’s fees.
The dispute concerned a Dubai property that the man had transferred to his then-wife under a gift agreement during their marriage, with ownership officially registered in her name at the Dubai Land Department. After their divorce, he filed a lawsuit seeking to annul the gift contract, cancel its legal effects, remove the property registration from his ex-wife’s name, and re-register the apartment in his own name.
He contended that the gift had been made on the expectation that their marriage would continue, claiming that his ex-wife later fabricated disputes and filed for divorce without cause, thereby unfairly benefiting from the property.
In response, the defendant, through her legal counsel, contested the case, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction and that the matter should be addressed by the Personal Status Court. She also sought dismissal of the lawsuit, claiming it had no legal basis or supporting evidence.
The court dismissed the jurisdictional objection, affirming that civil courts have general authority to hear financial disputes, including those between spouses, unless explicitly excluded by law. It clarified that personal status laws do not prevent civil courts from adjudicating disputes related to financial transactions between spouses.
In its ruling, the court cited the UAE Civil Transactions Law, which defines a gift as the transfer of ownership without consideration during the owner’s lifetime, completed through offer and acceptance and finalized upon possession. The court determined that the gift agreement had been properly executed and registered, and that the ex-wife had taken possession of the property, making the gift complete and legally binding.
The court stressed that, under UAE law, a gift between spouses creates a legal barrier to revocation, meaning it cannot be unilaterally cancelled or challenged in court unless specific legal conditions are met and no statutory impediment exists. In this case, the marital relationship at the time of the gift was sufficient to prevent revocation.
The claimant’s claims that he had been misled and that the marriage had ended were deemed insufficient to override this legal protection. The court noted that while gifts can be revoked in certain circumstances, such revocation depends on the absence of legal impediments, which were clearly present here.
The court further highlighted that the burden of proof rests with the claimant, who failed to demonstrate valid legal grounds to revoke the gift.
As a result, the court dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety, upheld the validity of the gift agreement, and confirmed the ex-wife’s ownership of the apartment. The claimant was also ordered to cover all court fees, expenses, and Dh1,000 in legal costs.
