Bankruptcy or Insolvency
The UAE Cabinet has approved the new law of bankruptcy in September 04, 2016 and has been already signed and approved to continue in 2017. Lately, many companies and retail shops are closed and the owners have left the country with huge number of debtors and cases.
Therefore, the law of bankruptcy drafted which has been implemented in chapter No.5 of commercial transaction law.
The applicant who owns the company inside UAE can submit the request of bankruptcy after 30 days from their non-payment of entire dues in the court. The procedure of reviewing the matter of applicant is decided for each procedure how long the judge and experts will decide on matter anticipated approximately within 90 days. After the award is issued and confirmed the bankruptcy of the company the same judgment will be valid for a duration of 5 years.
The aforesaid law has adopted the law from Japan, Dutch and trusty from English law.
The law only applies for the companies, traders and businessmen who are registered in within UAE including sole establishment company, corporate company, and professional company however, free zone companies; DIFC and Abu Dhabi have their own procedure.
The applicant must submit a request of bankruptcy not later than 366 days of their pending dues.
The law has also considered individuals who cannot pay their debts and loan due to loss of their jobs and impact of the bankruptcy of the company which is call insolvency.
Many of the traders and businessmen raised questions regarding bounced cheques. Please note that the law of bankruptcy will not change the procedure and law of criminal cases with regard to the bounced cheque, however if the company has a case of bankruptcy in the court, we can hold the procedure of the criminal case for bounced cheque for sometime until the court decides the matter accordingly.
Moreover, please note that the foreign branches company who have registered within the UAE can also file a request for bankruptcy, although the mother company is not bankrupt.
After the court decides the bankruptcy of the company, the trusty will be appointed by the court for distributing the assets for the creditors.
Non- Muslim Wills
All Expats and Investors have right to register their Wills through the court notary public and DIFC. The Expats can decide with regard to the division of their assets including property, bank’s account, share of the company and etc.
In addition they can add the provision for appointment of the guardianship for their children in case of death. In case the Non -Muslim, Expat is died without having the wills, Sharia law will be applied on their assets and some of the inheritance will not receive their full rights as per the law of their country. We have two types of Wills, general and detailed wills.
Example for General wills: I appoint my wife to be guardianship of my child and be a decision maker for all of my assets. She can own them and have right to do whatever she mind.
Detailed will: I wish to give full right to my oldest daughter only with regard to my banks account in emirates NBAD. I wish to give full right to my son for my properties in Dubai only.
There is a different official charges will be applied when you have the detailed will for attestation.
Furthermore, DIFC allowed the Expat to include their RAK assets in their wills if any.
Expats have an option to register their wills through Notary public and DIFC. However, the wills should be translated into Arabic for registering in Notary public.
Yuvi Residence Project – Dheeraj East and Coast
The Master Developer of Yuvi Residence project located in Culture Village, Dubai is offering the investors a settlement regarding their invested amount amicably. According to the recent update of Land Department, it is confirmed that the project has been listed in the cancelled projects. Therefore, the special committee can only proceed with the matter through the liquidation process.
Returned Cheques in Sharjah
There is a new rule procedure announced in Sharjah Buhaira Police Station
If there is a criminal complaint filed against you in Sharjah Police Station with subject of the returned cheque with amount of above AED 50,000/- ;
The police has no more authority nor power to bail the accused or release him by bail –
The accused will be sent to the jail until his file is transferred to the judge in court and decided about his matter within same day. However it’s subject to the availability of the judge, his opinion or the public holidays.
We were informed that the same rules have implemented in Dubai too but as a lawyer, I have only faced it in Sharjah Buhaira police station few days ago.