An Abu Dhabi court has imposed a Dh300,000 conditional fine on a mother who failed to return her four-year-old daughter from the Philippines after an authorised trip, with the penalty set to cease when the child returns to the UAE, the father's lawyer has said.
The October 20 judgment gives the mother three months to bring her daughter home, after which the father can apply to remove her from the joint-custody arrangement and seek sole custody if the child remains abroad.
The child has not yet returned to the UAE, and the mother has been served with the judgement, according to Byron James, the lawyer representing the father. He said his client had temporarily held off initiating enforcement proceedings to give the mother an opportunity to comply.
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“The fine was never designed to be collected. It was designed to be avoided,” James told Khaleej Times, describing the ruling as an attempt to secure compliance rather than simply punish past conduct.
The mother has 30 days from the judgment to appeal, James said, adding that the fine remains enforceable in the meantime.
A repeated breach of custody orders
The dispute dates back to June 2023, when the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court granted the father contact with his daughter at a child visitation centre on the first and third Saturdays of each month, for two hours at a time.
A subsequent judgment in July 2026 extended the contact period to eight hours on those Saturdays, allowing the father to take the child outside the centre.
On August 11, the court authorised the mother to travel with the child from August 7 to 21, subject to financial security being deposited pending the child's return. The judgment records that the mother travelled to the Philippines with the child on August 12 but did not return her by the stipulated date.
The child remained in the Philippines and was absent from school in the UAE, according to the judgment.
The court also referred to an earlier incident in which the mother had been fined Dh80,000 in May 2026 after allegedly leaving the child with strangers while travelling. The court had found that the incident endangered the child and involved non-compliance with custody orders. James said the earlier fine was upheld on appeal.
The latest judgment cited the repeated nature of the breaches in imposing the Dh300,000 fine.
James said he believed it was the largest fine imposed on a parent for breaching a custody order by the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court since its establishment. This could not be independently confirmed.
What happens if the child is not returned?
The latest fine is structured differently from a conventional penalty, according to James. The judgment states that it ceases to have effect upon the child's return to the UAE, without specifying a separate date by which the fine itself must be paid.
The three-month deadline instead determines when the father can apply for a change in custody. The deadline falls on January 20, 2027.
If the mother does not return the child by then, the father can ask the court to remove her from the joint-custody arrangement and grant him sole custody. The judgment does not automatically transfer custody to him.
James said the court could also be asked to order that the child's passports be held by the court and restrict her travel without the father's agreement. He said these were potential further measures, not orders already imposed in this case.
The lawyer added that, if the mother does not comply, his client intends to open an execution file. He said the available enforcement measures could include deductions from bank accounts, seizure of assets and a travel ban.
The mother has been asked to confirm in writing the date and flight on which the child will return, James said.
Mother's position
In the proceedings, the mother argued that the child was living with her and attending school in the Philippines, where she was providing continuous care. She maintained that this arrangement was in the child's best interests.
She also argued that the father's employment did not allow him sufficient time to care for their daughter and said she was willing to facilitate regular video calls and appropriate periods of contact with him in the Philippines.
The mother opposed the father's applications for sole custody and the child's return to the UAE. The court rejected her position in its latest judgment.
James said the court had given the mother an opportunity to comply before the father could seek a change in custody.
“What the judgment does specify is the next step: if the child is not home within three months, the father may apply to remove the mother from joint custody and to be granted sole custody,” he said.
The mother has the right to appeal the October 20 ruling. James said she had been served with the judgment on the day it was handed down, along with a letter from his firm setting out the requirements and consequences of non-compliance.
The child remains in the Philippines, he added.