Criminal Case Legal Assistance in Dubai

The mistake most British arrestees make in Dubai is thinking they can explain it away. You cannot, and trying usually hands the prosecution its case. After an arrest or a complaint, the police have roughly 48 hours to refer the file to public prosecution, and the account you give in that window tends to stick. Stay silent. Do not sign a statement in Arabic that nobody has translated for you. The British consulate will visit and note your welfare, but it does not defend you or arrange release. Only a UAE licensed advocate can act inside the criminal process, and we are in the police station, the prosecutor's office, and the court on your behalf. We come in before the charge sets. We read the complaint, look hard at how the evidence was obtained, and press your version to the prosecutor while there is still room to steer the outcome. The triggers are familiar to the British community here: a bounced cheque, a workplace row, a social media post, a holiday incident that got out of hand. None of it improves by waiting. Get advice first, then let us speak. What you do in the first two days usually decides the rest.

Interpol Red Notice and Extradition

Britons are stopped at Dubai airport more often than they expect, and a Red Notice is usually the reason. Be clear on what that notice is. Not an arrest warrant, but one country asking others to hold you while it seeks your return. The UAE decides whether to act on it, which means there is something to fight. The consequences are real: detention on arrival, a passport surrendered, and an extradition case that can run for months. The UK and the UAE have an extradition treaty, so distance alone does not protect you. Many notices we see come from a commercial falling-out dressed as fraud, or a foreign prosecution that will not survive scrutiny. We push on two tracks. In Dubai, we contest the extradition request in the courts, test the treaty and dual criminality, and expose any political or abusive motive, which bars surrender. In parallel, we file with the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files in Lyon to strike the notice at its origin. Suspect your name is on one? Do not fly to find out. Take advice and let us check quietly first.

Divorce

A cross-border divorce is two problems at once: ending the marriage, and deciding where your money and children belong. For non-Muslim residents, the UAE now runs a civil personal status system with a no-fault route, and in some situations you can ask for English law to apply instead. Which door you choose is a strategic decision, not a form-filling one. British couples often hold assets on both sides: a house in the UK, a pension at home, accounts and property in Dubai. An English court and a Dubai court will not automatically honour each other's orders, so a settlement has to be built to work across both. Filing fast in the wrong forum can cost you far more than a short delay. We start with the map: what you own, where it sits, and what you most need to protect, whether that is children, a pension, or the family home. From there we tell you where and how to file, and which side of the border each asset is safest on. Where children are involved, we move first on travel restrictions and account freezes. And we give you a realistic outcome early, not once the fees have mounted.

Investment

In Dubai the pitch is always polished. The protection sits in the paperwork behind it, and that is what nobody reads until it is too late. Before you move money into a fund, a company, or an off-plan project, the terms need testing against UAE law and against what the salesperson actually promised you in the room. We go through the structure, the exit, and the security. We tell you whether your capital is genuinely protected, what happens if the other side stops performing or disappears, and where the small print leaves you carrying the risk. A guaranteed return that lives only in a brochure is not a guarantee. British investors should also remember that UK tax can follow you. A holding here may still need declaring at home, and a structure that looks efficient in Dubai can create a problem with HMRC. We flag where you need to align it with your UK accountant. If a deal has already soured, speed matters. We move to trace the money, preserve what can be preserved, and bring the claim through the Dubai courts or the right regulator. Check it before you commit, not after.

Business

British founders love Dubai for the tax position and the speed of setup. Both can tempt you into signing before you have thought it through. The structure you pick at the start, mainland or free zone, ownership split, control, is hard and expensive to change once you are trading, so it pays to get it right the first time. Britain and the UAE trade heavily, and Dubai is where a lot of UK firms run their Middle East operation. The setup has to reflect how you actually work and sit sensibly alongside your UK reporting, rather than follow a free-zone brochure. Most disputes trace back to a thin contract. A client who stops paying, a partner who exits with the goodwill, a supplier who walks away, an agreement drafted for English law that a UAE court reads differently. We draft and review your contracts to hold up here, and when things go wrong we issue the formal notice, take the claim to the right forum, and move to secure assets or impose a travel ban before the money moves. Early beats late almost every time. And we will tell you honestly when a claim is not worth chasing.

Real Estate

British buyers helped drive Dubai's off-plan boom, and they feature heavily in its off-plan disputes too. The property itself is rarely the issue. The contract is. A handover date that slips by a year, a payment plan that shifts risk onto you, a joint purchase where ownership was never properly recorded. We read the contract before you commit, verify the developer and the title, and make sure the terms protect you before any deposit leaves your account. On a resale, we check what you are really buying and what liabilities come with it. When a purchase goes wrong, we act. A developer who will not hand over, a broker who has vanished with a reservation fee, a landlord withholding a deposit against invented damage. We take it to the right forum, RERA, the rental committee, or the courts, and push to get your money back rather than watch it sit frozen. If you are buying to let, as many British owners are, we also look at the tenancy framework and how the asset passes on death, since UAE succession does not follow a UK will by default. Have it checked before you sign.

Frequently Asked Questions