ABU DHABI // A woman who filed for divorce from her husband has been returned custody of their four children, despite not asking for it when they separated two years ago.
The Cassation Court ruled that the mother still had rights to their children before the divorce was finalised.
She filed for divorce after leaving the family home for two years, claiming damages after saying her husband had been physically abusive.
Her claims included that he provided a home for them, along with a housemaid and nursery fees.
She also asked that he pay her idda allowance for the time the divorce case was decided, children's expenses and Dh70,000 that she paid for the furniture in their house and its maintenance.
The husband filed a counter claim, arguing that his former spouse had left home without the children, therefore she had given up her right to custody.
Last August, the Court of First Instance ruled in her favour to divorce and awarded damages.
It gave her custody and ordered the father to hand over the Emirates ID cards for the children and their birth certificates, health cards and their other official documents.
She was ordered to return the allowances that she received for three of the children since July 2012, as they had not been staying with her.
The court ruled that although she may have left the home for two years there was no custody involved as no divorce proceedings were initiated at the time.
It upheld the decision of the Court of First Instance.
hdajani@thenational.ae
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Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia