There are many documents that you need in your family dispute, and their importance varies according to the nature of each case.

Marriage Contract … perhaps this is the most important document required by the court and its various departments. If the marriage contract is foreign (made outside the UAE), it must be attested by the various diplomatic channels (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country in which the marriage took place, and the UAE embassy in this country, as well as at the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Foreign Affairs in UAE, as the last stage of documentation.

Children’s birth certificates … As they are of great importance just like the rest of the other supporting documents for children such as (passport, Emirates ID) and may even be more important in some cases, as the birth document may be important to prove the relationship of the two parties to the case with the children.

Identity papers … Make sure to provide a copy of the passport or Emirates ID card of the other party to save a lot of time and effort in searching for this type of documents.

Photographs … Some may think that photographs are not as important as written documents, while many divorce and custody disputes have been resolved by photographs because of their strong significance. For example, a photograph of a father in a nightclub, and a photograph of a mother leaving her child in a situation that may put him at risk, and the image of a smoking person (father or mother) may have a major factor in resolving many custody issues more than some think. (especially if one of the parties can prove the date of the image).

Social media posts … Some people do not imagine that what they write and publish on social media sites may be taken as evidence against them at times, as these posts are no less important than other documents.

WhatsApp messages and emails … The UAE laws (IT Crimes Law, Commercial Law, Family Law, Evidence Law, Electronic Records Law, etc.) attach great importance to all electronic and modern means of communication and give them their authority in proof.

Medical reports … Many reports reveal the health and medical condition of a party, so they play a major role in divorce and child custody disputes in particular.

Social researchers and psychiatric clinic reports … They are no less important than the medical reports in terms of the strength of proof, as they may be a reason for the court to find an urgent need for assigning a social researcher to the court whose task is to draft a modern and detailed report for one of the parties or for kids.

Police reports and reports … There is no doubt that these reports have a real strength of proof that makes them come at the forefront of the evidence on which the disputants relied in family disputes, and although they often end in conciliation or waiver, they still retain their evidentiary power as one of the most important documents required in family cases.

Other judicial rulings … This is a complicated matter that has a lot of details that we will explain later in other articles, but whether these rulings are foreign or local, they have strong evidence in the family courts in the United Arab Emirates. For example, a criminal ruling against one of the parties may reduce his chance of obtaining custody of a child. Also, a judgment issued in a real estate or commercial case may resolve the issue of the custody residence requested by the custodian.

Bank accounts … This type of document not only reveals the amount of savings, but rather goes beyond that, as bank accounts disclose the nature of one party’s purchases, as well as the person’s monthly income, which may not appear with his salary statement. Some, for example, receive commissions, suspicious hotel reservations or excessive purchase of alcoholic beverages may appear only on the bank statement.

Inquiries authorized by the court … During the deliberation of the case, the court may authorize one of the parties to obtain official statements from government agencies such as the Roads and Transport Authority, the Department of Lands and Properties, and the stock market, and the availability of these documents with their financial data and information may cause a noticeable difference in the judge’s assessment of the financial obligations and rights that one party may obtain against another.

This was a quick review of the most important documents that are common in the practical applications of family disputes, and they differ according to the nature of each conflict. Other documents of importance may appear outside the framework of this article. Only this article was to help your imagination before starting your dispute.