Source: Emarat Al Youm – Dubai
The Dubai Civil Court of First Instance ordered a man to return more than AED 2.26 million to his former wife after it was proven that she had contributed her own funds toward the purchase of a villa registered solely in his name during their marriage. The man later sold the property and kept the proceeds, refusing to acknowledge her financial contribution or her share of the profits from the sale.
The case arose following a dispute between the two parties after the end of their marriage. The woman stated that during the marriage she obtained bank financing and transferred amounts totaling AED 922,000 to her former husband’s account in installments, based on an agreement between them to purchase a villa in which she would have a share. However, he registered the property solely under his name and later sold it without giving her any portion of the sale proceeds or profits.
Her claims were not limited to recovering the transferred funds; she also requested half of the profits generated from the villa’s sale, in addition to compensation for the financial and emotional damages she suffered.
The man, however, rejected the claim, arguing that the amounts he received were unrelated to the villa purchase and were instead repayment of a previous debt or family support. He also attempted to link some of the transfers to other transactions outside the dispute, denying that any agreement existed for a partnership in the property.
Due to the conflicting claims, the court appointed an accounting expert to examine the transfers, correspondence, and financial documents.
The expert’s report concluded that the woman had indeed transferred AED 922,000 to her former husband’s account and that he had acknowledged receiving the funds. However, he failed to provide any banking records or written agreement proving his claim that the amounts were repayment of a debt or payment for another property.
The expert also identified several factors supporting the former wife’s account, including the timing of the transfers coinciding with the stages of purchasing the villa, the fact that the funds came from bank loans obtained specifically during that period, and emails showing her involvement in following up on the villa’s handover procedures, utility arrangements, and relocation. These were considered strong indicators linking the funds to the disputed property.
In its reasoning, the court explained that merely transferring money to the husband’s account does not grant him the right to retain it unless he proves a valid legal basis for doing so. The court emphasized that the defendant acknowledged receiving the amounts but failed to provide evidence proving that they represented repayment of a debt or any previous obligation, leaving him legally obligated to return them.
The court noted that the existence of a marital relationship at the time of the transfers constituted a moral barrier preventing either spouse from demanding written agreements or formal documents from the other. Therefore, evidence through circumstances and other forms of proof was permissible, particularly in family transactions based on mutual trust rather than ordinary commercial procedures.
The court further confirmed that the evidence was not limited to bank transfers alone, but consisted of a complete set of supporting circumstances, including the timing of the payments, the source of the funds, the wife’s involvement in managing the villa’s affairs, the husband’s acknowledgment of receiving the money, and his failure to prove a legitimate reason for keeping it. These factors convinced the court that the parties had actually agreed to share ownership of the property, even though it was officially registered solely in the husband’s name.
Accordingly, the court ordered the husband to repay AED 922,000 representing the amounts transferred by the wife, in addition to AED 1.19 million representing her share of the villa’s sale profits, bringing the total to AED 2.112 million.
The defendant was also ordered to pay legal interest at a rate of 5% on the amount from the date the lawsuit was filed until payment, and interest on the compensation amount from the date the judgment became final, in addition to court fees, expenses, and attorney’s fees.