Family mediation for families in the UAE

British and international families move to the Emirates for work, and when a relationship ends there the practical questions arrive long before the legal ones are settled.

A great many British families spend part of their working lives in the Emirates, and a separation there raises a question that does not arise at home: which country decides. Employment is often tied to a visa, housing to the employer, and school places to the academic year, so the practical decisions are urgent long before anyone reaches a courtroom.

Mediation does not answer the jurisdiction question – that is a legal one, and it needs a solicitor in each country involved. What mediation can do is let two people work out the arrangements themselves while the legal position is being clarified, which is usually faster and very much cheaper than waiting.

Situations we are asked about

• One parent staying in the Emirates on a work visa while the other returns to the UK with the children, or without them.
• A posting ending, and a decision to make about where the children will be at the start of the next school year.
• Property or savings in both countries, and no agreement about which should be dealt with where.
• A marriage registered in the UAE, or a religious marriage, and uncertainty about what that means for an English divorce.

Money and property in two countries

Assets in the Emirates can be discussed in mediation – an end-of-service gratuity, a property bought off-plan, accounts that cannot easily be moved. How an English court would treat them, and whether an English order could reach them, is a legal question for advisers in both countries.

If a child is taken or kept without agreement

The UAE is not a party to the 1980 Child Abduction Convention or the 1996 Child Protection Convention. That does not mean nothing can be done if a child is wrongly kept in either direction. It does mean the usual return machinery is not there, so specialist legal advice matters more, not less.

This is a summary, not advice, and the exceptions and detail matter enormously. Our guide to the Hague Conventions explains how they work. If a child has already been taken or is not being returned, take specialist legal advice immediately – mediation must never delay that.

School years and holidays

Children at school in the Emirates follow the UAE calendar. The year runs from late August or early September to late June or early July, with a long summer break that many families spend in the UK, and holidays that follow Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Islamic New Year and National Day rather than the English pattern.

Because the Eid dates follow the lunar calendar they move about eleven days earlier each year, so a plan naming months rather than school holidays will drift out of step. Write the arrangement against the school calendar, and agree who confirms the dates once the school publishes them.

Travel, distance and contact

Around seven hours' flying and four hours ahead of the UK, with frequent daily flights. Contact is practical; the greater constraints are usually visas, employment and school terms rather than the journey itself.

Language and timing

Mediation is held in English, Bengali or Hindi, and interpreters are arranged for Arabic and other languages where they are needed. Much of this site can also be read and listened to in six other languages.

The UAE is currently 3 hours ahead of the UK, so sessions are arranged for a time that works in both places. Appointment times are agreed with each of you beforehand.

Someone who knows the context

I lived and worked in the Gulf for a good part of my career. It means I already know the shape of life there. How a job, a visa and a home tend to arrive as one package and leave the same way. What the school year really looks like, and the part wider family and community play when a marriage is in difficulty. You will not have to explain any of that from the beginning, and you will not be asked to justify it either.

What it does not make me is a lawyer in any Gulf country. For the legal position there you need somebody qualified there. What I can offer is an understanding of the world these decisions are being made in.

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.

Ask for a free 15-minute chat

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 we are asked

Sources

• HCCH – status table, 1980 Child Abduction Convention
• HCCH – status table, 1996 Child Protection Convention
• GOV.UK – international parental child abduction

Treaty status and official guidance checked on 27 September 2026.