The family forum that sits before any external process

A family disagreement may be raised long before it becomes a legal dispute, and where it is raised affects how far it travels. Federal Decree-Law No. 37 of 2022 on Family Businesses recognises two functions here, and they are easy to confuse: a forum where family matters are organised, and a body that considers a dispute and attempts reconciliation.

Article 18, headed Family Affairs Governance, carries the first. Family affairs may be regulated in relation to the family business through establishing and organising councils and committees such as the family association, the family council and the family office. The article lists the education and training of members and their work in the business, separation of the ownership and governance of family assets from that of the business, supervision of family investments, charitable works, and contribution to controlling conflicts of interest and to reconciliation. It states that these bodies consider disputes arising between family members and between them and partners. Article 18(2) leaves rules on the governance of the family business and the family to the Ministry.

Article 19(1) carries the second. The articles of association or the charter may include a provision forming a board of partners, family members or third parties to consider disputes and attempt to reconcile them, specifying its members, its powers and the mechanisms for managing its sessions and issuing its recommendations. Two consequences follow: the body exists only where the constitutional documents create it, and the federal text describes what it issues as recommendations.

Emirate material treats that output differently. The Abu Dhabi announcement of Resolution No. 3 of 2026 calls the internal body the Family Council for Dispute Settlement, and gives the emirate committees jurisdiction over grievances against its decisions, submitted within 30 days of issuance or notification, failing which they are deemed void.

The three-month period in Article 19(2) is the hinge between the two functions. Where the internal board is not provided for, where it has not reconciled the dispute within three months of its presentation, or where the parties have agreed not to refer their differences to it, the emirate committee takes the matter.

This is why a charter tends to be read alongside the articles of association rather than on its own. Article 6(1) sets out what a charter may cover, including rules for family ownership, goals and values, mechanisms for evaluating shares, profit distribution, the qualification of family members working in the business, and consideration of family disputes related to it. Article 6(3) provides that where the articles of association and the charter conflict, the provisions of the articles of association apply and any provision conflicting with them or with the Decree-Law is repealed from the charter. Article 6(4) provides for approval by a majority of the family council members, or of the family partners where no council exists, and Article 6(5) allows the business to deposit a copy in the register. Cabinet Decision No. 106 of 2023 covers charter registration. Article 22(1) addresses a different case: where the text of either document is absent or ambiguous, both are interpreted according to the common intention of the founders and partners.

Read together, Articles 19(1) and 6 indicate what a recorded provision of this kind covers:

• who sits on the body
• what powers it holds
• how its sessions are managed
• how its recommendations are issued
• whether the procedure appears in the articles of association, the charter or both, which under Article 6(3) determines which prevails

Practical material is published locally. The Dubai Centre for Family Businesses, which operates under Dubai Chambers, issued governance guidelines in July 2023 addressing the value of developing a family constitution, also known as a family charter or family protocols, and on 29 January 2025 published two toolkits. The first covers using genograms to map family and group relationships across generations. The second covers the key elements of a conflict resolution mechanism for family businesses, identifies the parties responsible for handling such situations, and includes a conflict resolution charter.

The two functions differ in what they produce. A body under Article 18 organises how family matters connect to the business. A board under Article 19 considers a dispute and attempts to reconcile it, after which the three-month period determines when an external route opens.

Sources, retrieved 11 August 2026: Federal Decree-Law No. 37 of 2022, Articles 6, 18, 19 and 22, from a UAE government legislation portal; Abu Dhabi Media Office, UAE Government Media Office, Dubai Chambers and Ministry of Economy and Tourism announcements.

This is educational content, written with law firms. It describes mechanisms and recommends none of them. Nothing here has been verified or endorsed by the programme as appropriate for any particular family, and a family should take its own legal advice on its own facts.