CUSTODY OF THE CHILDREN IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES By Professor Gabriel Sawma January 29/2022 INTRODUCTION Custody of the children in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is governed by Federal Law No. 28 of 2005 known as Personal Status Law (PSL). Accordingly, the biological mother of the child is the custodian, and the father is […]

  By Professor Gabriel Sawma   GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY Kuwait is located on the northeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, known as Arabia, and on the northwestern head of the Persian Gulf. The country is rich, and is estimated to have the fifth largest petroleum reserves in the world. The country became independent on June […]

By Professor Gabriel Sawma Case Study: S.B. v. W.A. In 2012, I was asked to write an opinion to the Supreme Court of Westchester County in New York on behalf of S.B. who obtained a divorce decree from Abu Dhabi, UAE. The divorce decree granted the wife custody of the children and ordered the husband […]

By Prof. Gabriel Sawma   In 2012, a client called me seeking expert opinion on recognition of a divorce decree issued by the highest court in Abu Dhabi. The decree granted divorce, mahr, and child custody to the wife. The case can be summarized as follows: The couple are US citizens of Egyptian background. They […]

By Professor Gabriel Sawma   The United States severed diplomatic and consular relations with the Government of Iran on April 7, 1980 as a result of the events surrounding the seizure of our Embassy in Tehran, Iran on November 4, 1979. In April of 1980, the United States Government formally asked the Swiss Government if […]

By Prof. Gabriel Sawma   In recent years, I have been getting calls from mothers with US citizenships, seeking help in bringing back their children who have been kidnaped by their fathers. In other cases, the mother fears that the father plans to take the children to Jordan and never brings them back to the […]

By Prof. Gabriel Sawma   As this article was being written, the court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Family Division, issued a judgment in our favor, granting the custody of two children to the mother and denying a request by the father to take the children back to Saudi Arabia. This custody order […]

By Professor Gabriel Sawma   This author submitted an affidavit to the New York Supreme Court in Westchester County in support of recognition and enforcement of a divorce decree obtained from Abu Dhabi, an emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The divorce was granted to the wife, and included mahr and custody of the children, […]

By Professor Gabriel Sawma   Students of Saudi Nationality come to the United States for study. Many of them marry American women with no experience in Saudi Arabia’s family law, and have no idea what they are getting into in marrying someone of a different culture. Quite often, the Saudi students convince these women to […]

By Professor Gabriel Sawma Introduction to the Druze Community in USA A study of the Druze community in the United States can be understood within the context of the Druze people and their presence in the Middle East, mainly in Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. The faith is called Tawheed and takes its origin from Shi’a […]