Family mediation for families in Dubai

Online sessions arranged around Dubai hours, for families with a connection to England and Wales.

Contents 8 sections

Mediation held online, at hours that work from Dubai, for families whose decisions connect to England and Wales.

This page is about the practical side of mediating from Dubai: when sessions can be held, how they work across the time difference, and what can realistically be decided. The wider picture – jurisdiction, assets in the Emirates, what an English divorce means for a UAE marriage – is on the UAE page, and it is worth reading first.

When sessions are held

Dubai is currently 3 hours ahead of the UK. In practice that means a late-morning or afternoon session in the UAE lands in the UK morning, which suits most people either side. The working week is the other consideration: the UAE weekend is Saturday and Sunday, but Friday afternoons are widely taken as prayer and family time, so sessions are not scheduled then unless you ask.

Times are agreed with each of you individually before anything is booked. Nothing is scheduled on an assumption about your week.

Parents living apart, in two countries

The pattern we see most from Dubai is one parent remaining on a work visa while the other returns to the UK, sometimes with the children and sometimes not. What has to be decided is concrete: who the children live with during the school year, how the long summer works when Dubai schools break from late June, who pays for flights, whether a child of a particular age can fly unaccompanied, and how the parent at a distance stays part of ordinary life rather than becoming a holiday visitor.

A parenting plan is where those answers get written down, in enough detail to be usable on an ordinary evening rather than argued over again.

Language

Mediation is held in English, Bengali or Hindi. Interpreters are arranged for Arabic, Urdu, Malayalam, Tagalog or another language where they are needed, and that is discussed and costed before anything is booked rather than sprung on you. Much of this site can be read and listened to in six languages.

Before you book anything

Two things are worth being clear about. First, whether a court in England and Wales can deal with your divorce or your finances is a legal question, and it needs advice both here and in the UAE. Second, the UAE is party to neither the 1980 nor the 1996 Hague Convention, so if children are being kept in either country against the other parent’s wishes, the position is more difficult and specialist advice is urgent. See the Hague guide.

Someone who knows the context

I lived and worked in the Gulf for a good part of my career, so the shape of life in Dubai is familiar – the way work, visa and housing come as one package, what the school year is really like, and how much wider family can matter when a marriage is in trouble. You will not be starting from scratch explaining it. For the legal position in the UAE you need a lawyer there; the UAE page sets out where that line falls.

How this would work

Everything is held online. Each of you meets the mediator separately first – that is the MIAM, and it is where suitability is assessed, including whether an English mediator is right for your situation at all. After that, joint sessions are arranged at a time that works in both countries, or as shuttle sessions where being in the same call is not right.

A MIAM matters only if a case in England and Wales is possible; a MIAM certificate carries no weight before a foreign court. Mediation cannot decide which country has authority, cannot give legal advice, and what you agree is not enforceable until a lawyer makes it so – so independent advice, usually in both countries, runs alongside.

Where there has been abuse or controlling behaviour, mediation may not be suitable at all: see domestic abuse and mediation.

Fees: a MIAM is £125 per person and joint sessions £180 per person – full fees. The Government voucher and Legal Aid have eligibility rules most families living abroad will not meet; it is checked individually, never assumed.

Not sure an English mediator is the right choice? That is what the free chat is for. If a mediator in your own country would serve you better, we will say so.

Questions Dubai families ask

Can we mediate if neither of us is currently in the UK?

Possibly, where the decisions connect to England and Wales. It is assessed at the individual first meeting, and if an English mediator is not the right choice we will tell you.

Will a MIAM certificate be accepted by a Dubai court?

No. It is evidence for a court in England and Wales only.

Can sessions be held outside UAE working hours?

Usually, yes. Early evening in Dubai is late afternoon in the UK and works well for most people.

Is the £500 mediation voucher available to us?

The voucher scheme has eligibility rules that most families living abroad will not satisfy. It is checked individually rather than assumed.