Personal Status Law

Purpose and scope

• The first codification of family law in the Kingdom: engagement, marriage and its effects, separation by divorce, khul and judicial dissolution, waiting period, lineage, custody, maintenance and guardianship, wills, estates and inheritance.
• It unifies the rules and makes outcomes more predictable, so spouses and heirs know their rights in advance; where there is no text, the rules of Islamic Sharia most consistent with the law's preferred opinions apply (Article 251).
• Periods in the law are counted by the Hijri calendar (Article 247).

Key rules, rights and obligations

• Marriage rests on the consent of both parties, the guardian, two witnesses and the dower, and is officially registered; registration protects the rights of the wife and children and eases proof of lineage and maintenance.
• Spouses have mutual rights; the husband must maintain his wife and children reasonably according to his means, including food, clothing, housing and medical care.
• Divorce is by the husband's will and must be registered; the wife may seek khul in return for compensation, or judicial dissolution for reasons such as harm, non-payment of maintenance, absence and serious defects.
• In custody the child's interest comes first; custody goes to the mother and then to those after her in the order set by the law, and the other parent has visitation rights.
• Claims on an estate are ranked: funeral costs, then debts, then the will, then division of the rest among the heirs (Article 198).
• A person who kills the deceased intentionally or quasi-intentionally, or causes or orders the killing, does not inherit; one who kills by mistake inherits from the estate but not from the blood money (Article 200); there is no inheritance between different religions, subject to the rules on wills (Article 202).
• A wife in a revocable divorce inherits while in her waiting period; a wife divorced during her husband's final illness without her request inherits unless she remarries before his death (Article 201).
• Shares are fixed by the law, including: the husband a half or a quarter; the wife a quarter or an eighth, shared among several wives (Articles 209 and 210); a daughter a half, two thirds, or the residue with a son, the male taking twice the female's share (Article 215).
• If fixed shares exceed the estate they are reduced proportionally (Article 230); a remainder with no residuary heir returns to the fixed-share heirs other than the spouses (Article 231).

Violations, penalties and common problems

• Unregistered marriages or divorces cause problems in proving lineage, inheritance and maintenance and in issuing children's official papers.
• Unpaid maintenance is among the most common cases; the judgment is enforced compulsorily by the enforcement court, and up to half a salary may be attached for it.
• Refusing to carry out a custody or visitation judgment is an offence under the Enforcement Law, punishable by up to ninety days' imprisonment and a SAR 30,000 fine.
• Delay in dividing an estate, or some heirs keeping it, leads to disputes; the larger of the possible shares is reserved for an unborn child (Article 240) and a missing person's share is kept assuming he is alive (Article 238).
• Heirs may agree to buy out a share (takharuj) under conditions, and it must be registered with the competent body (Article 243).

Procedures and key deadlines

• Personal status cases are filed before personal status courts or circuits; claims and requests can be filed online through the Najiz platform.
• Many family cases go through reconciliation before judgment, and a notarised agreement between the parties becomes an enforcement instrument.
• Dividing an estate starts with listing the heirs and proving the death, then listing the assets, paying debts and executing the will, then dividing by agreement or by the court.
• Anyone who learns family information through their work must keep it confidential (Article 246).

An advisory summary prepared by Al-Bayan Al-Wadih Law Firm. It is not an official text and does not replace the law, its implementing regulations, or advice from a specialised lawyer. The official published text and its amendments prevail.