Criminal Case Legal Assistance in Dubai

Distance is the first problem in a Colombian criminal case in Dubai. Your family and your usual advisers are a continent and eight hours away, and the process here will not pause while you reach them. After an arrest or a complaint, the police have about 48 hours to pass the file to public prosecution, and the version of events recorded in that time is hard to undo later. Say nothing of substance. Do not sign an Arabic document without a translation you trust. A consulate can check on your welfare, but it cannot act as your defence or secure your release. Only a UAE licensed advocate can do that, standing with you from the police station to the prosecutor to the courtroom. We act before the charge is fixed. We read the complaint, examine how the evidence was gathered, and put your account to the prosecutor while the direction can still change. The cases vary: a cheque that bounced, an argument that became a report, a business deal that turned into a complaint. Waiting only narrows your options. Take advice first, then let us speak for you. The opening days carry more weight than anything that follows.

Interpol Red Notice and Extradition

For many Colombian nationals, the first sign of trouble in Dubai is a Red Notice filed somewhere else. Start with what it actually is. Not an arrest warrant, but a request circulated through Interpol asking member countries to locate and hold you. The UAE decides for itself whether to act, and that decision is where a defence can be built. The stakes are immediate: detained at the airport, your passport taken, and an extradition process that stretches over months. The notices we handle for Colombian clients often stem from a commercial dispute reframed as fraud, or from a proceeding at home that would not withstand a fair hearing. We respond on two fronts together. In Dubai, we challenge the extradition request in the courts, examine whether a valid treaty applies, argue dual criminality, and expose any political or improper motive, which prohibits surrender. At the same time, we petition the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files in Lyon to have the notice removed at source. If you believe a notice may name you, do not board a flight to test it. Speak to us first and let us run discreet checks before you move.

Divorce

Divorce across two continents is mostly a fight about jurisdiction. Where you file shapes what you keep, and for a Colombian family split between Bogota or Medellin and Dubai, that choice is the whole game. For non-Muslim residents, the UAE now offers a civil personal status route with a no-fault divorce, and in some cases you can ask for the law of your home country to apply instead. The catch is enforcement. A Dubai ruling has to be recognised where your assets and children actually are, and a Colombian court will not simply rubber-stamp a foreign order. A settlement has to be designed to hold in both systems, or it is only half a settlement. We begin by mapping everything: property, accounts, and businesses on each side, and what matters most for you to protect. Then we tell you where filing gives you the strongest position, and we are honest when that is not the fastest option. Where children are involved, we move early on travel restrictions and account freezes, before the other side does. And we give you a realistic view of the outcome from the first meeting, not once costs have climbed.

Investment

Colombians are moving money into Dubai faster than ever, and speed is exactly where the mistakes hide. Before you put capital into a fund, a company, or an off-plan tower, the terms have to be tested against UAE law and against whatever you were told in the meeting. The two are often not the same. We work through the structure, the exit, and the security behind your money. We tell you whether your capital is truly protected, what happens if the promoter underperforms or vanishes, and where the fine print quietly transfers the risk to you. A return printed in a brochure is marketing, not a guarantee. There is a currency and transfer angle too. Bringing pesos into a dirham investment carries its own exposure, and how the holding is structured affects both your protection here and your reporting back in Colombia. We flag where you need advice from your accountant at home. If a deal has already gone wrong, act while the trail is fresh. We trace the money, secure what can be secured, and bring the claim through the Dubai courts or the right regulator. Check it before you fund it, not after.

Business

Emeralds and coffee built the trade between Colombia and the Gulf, and the paperwork did not always keep pace. Dubai is now a natural hub for Colombian exporters and traders, but the structure you set up on arrival will shape your options for years. Mainland or free zone, who owns what, and how control is shared are decided early and are painful to unwind. If you are trading commodities, gemstones, or coffee through Dubai, the contracts have to survive a UAE court, not just a handshake at origin. We draft and review your agreements so the terms protect you here, and we structure the company to match how you truly operate rather than a free-zone sales pitch. When a deal breaks down, and cross-border deals often do, we send the formal notice, take the claim to the right forum, and move fast to secure assets or block the other side from leaving before they settle. In trade, the party who acts first usually recovers most. We also tell you honestly when a dispute is not worth the cost of fighting. Sometimes the sharper move is a clean, enforceable settlement, and we will say so.

Real Estate

Dubai property can look simple next to Bogota's market, and that apparent simplicity is where the traps sit. Most purchases complete without drama, but the risk lives in the contract: a handover pushed back a year, a payment plan that loads the risk onto you, a joint purchase where no one recorded who owns what. We read the contract before you commit, confirm 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 acquiring and what obligations travel with it. When a purchase goes wrong, we step in. A developer refusing to hand over, a broker who disappeared with a reservation fee, a landlord holding a deposit against invented damage. We take it to the right forum, RERA, the rental committee, or the courts, and push to recover your money rather than let it sit frozen. For Colombian owners buying to hold or let, we also look at how the property passes on death, since UAE succession does not follow your home country's rules by default, and an unplanned estate here can trap the asset. Have it checked before you sign.

Frequently Asked Questions