Family wealth in the UAE often sits in a web of shared assets held across generations, and when a dispute erupts it can threaten the business itself. Dubai Law No. 9 of 2020 gives families a dedicated vehicle, the family property contract, to hold those assets together, govern them, and keep succession out of open court.
What is a family property contract?
Dubai Law No. 9 of 2020 (as amended by Law No. 21 of 2024) lets members of one family hold assets they own in common under a single family property contract: an agreement that regulates co-owned property, held in undivided shares, and sets out how it is managed. The property can be movable or immovable, including shares and stakes in companies, sole proprietorships, and real estate, though public joint stock companies are excluded. The contract must identify the partners as members of the same family, define their shares, address whether they own and may dispose of the subject property, and be attested before a notary public. Its purpose is openly protective: to keep family assets intact, preserve cohesion across the generations, and give the family a governed structure rather than an informal understanding that fractures on the first disagreement.
How long does it last, and how is it changed?
The contract term is capped at 15 years, renewable by agreement for further periods of up to 15 years each. It is deliberately hard to destabilise: amendments generally require the approval of partners holding at least 75% of the shares, unless the contract itself sets a variation mechanism. Termination follows defined triggers, including expiry without renewal, agreement of partners holding at least 51% (unless the contract says otherwise), loss of more than half the property's value, or the bankruptcy of a company that forms a large part of the family property. The high thresholds are the point: the structure is designed to resist the impulse of any one partner to force a sale or a split.
Who manages the family property?
Management rests with a manager appointed by partners holding at least two-thirds of the family property, who may be one or more persons (kept to an odd number to avoid deadlock), a partner or a third party, and even a legal entity. The contract fixes the manager's powers; absent that, the manager has broad authority to maintain and develop the property, distribute profits and represent the family before third parties, subject to real restraints, including a bar on competing with the family business or using the property as personal security without the partners' consent, and a duty to report annually. The contract may also establish a board of directors to supervise management and a partners' council to keep non-managing members informed. Good governance here is not optional window-dressing; it is what keeps the structure functioning when interests diverge.
What happens on a partner's death or exit?
Succession is handled inside the structure rather than by a forced sale. On a partner's death, the heirs may remain in the family property to the extent of their inherited share, or dispose of it on the conditions the law sets. A partner or heir who wishes to transfer a share generally must offer it first within the family, a pre-emption right, unless it passes to a spouse or first-degree relative or an existing partner. Where a share is to go to a third party, a partner or heir who wants it may step in within a defined window, and admitting an outside party ultimately needs the approval of partners holding at least 51%. The architecture keeps control within the bloodline unless the family positively decides otherwise.
Where family-property disputes go
Disputes arising from a family property contract are not heard by the ordinary courts. A specialist judicial committee (tribunal) for family-business and family-ownership disputes has exclusive jurisdiction, constituted for the purpose and staffed with expertise in legal, financial and family-business matters. For families whose wealth and whose relationships are both at stake, that specialist, more private forum is often the single most attractive feature of the regime.
A family property contract is estate planning and dispute prevention in one instrument, if it is drafted before the dispute, not after.
Key instruments: Dubai Law No. 9 of 2020 on Family Ownership (as amended by Dubai Law No. 21 of 2024); Dubai Decision No. 14 of 2023 (committee for family-business and family-ownership disputes). General information, not legal advice.