Law No. 21 of 2024 replaced four articles of the family property law at once. What matters most to an owner: the contract now has seven conditions of validity instead of six — registration in the register of the Department of Economy and Tourism was added, and without it the contract is not valid. The Tribunal stopped being a future body 'to be formed by the Ruler' and acquired a name and a founding instrument. The manager's powers went from seven to ten, and one of the new ones is obtaining approvals to lease out the family's real estate.
Verified against official sources on 2026-09-15: the texts of Law No. 21 of 2024 and Law No. 9 of 2020 come from the Dubai Legislation Portal (dlp.dubai.gov.ae). Both versions of Articles 2, 6, 17 and 23 were read and compared line by line. The portal notes that the English version is a translation and that the Arabic text prevails in case of conflict. This is not legal advice: a specific structure is judged on its own documents.
The family property contract is a rare instrument: it lets a family hold assets in undivided shares and set out in advance who manages them. We worked through Law No. 9 of 2020 from its own text. Four of its articles have since been replaced.
The instrument is Law No. (21) of 2024 Amending Law No. (9) of 2020 Regulating Family Property in the Emirate of Dubai, issued by the Ruler of Dubai on 4 September 2024 and in force on the day of issuance.
Article 1 replaces Articles 2, 6, 17 and 23 of the original law. Here is what actually changed, read against both versions.
1. There are now seven conditions of validity
This is the most practical change: a contract that fails Article 6 is not valid.
| Requirement | Before (2020) | Now (2024) |
|---|---|---|
| all parties are members of a single family | yes | yes |
| a shared business or a common interest | yes | yes |
| each partner's share determined in the contract | yes | yes |
| the parties own the property or may dispose of it | yes | yes |
| attested by a Notary Public under Law No. 4 of 2013 | yes | yes |
| registered in the register of the Department of Economy and Tourism | — | yes |
| the contract does not conflict with public order | yes | yes |
The new requirement reads:
"The Family Property Contract must be registered in the designated register maintained by the Department of Economy and Tourism (the "DET"), in accordance with the relevant procedures and rules approved by the DET Director General." — Law No. (21) of 2024, Article 6 as replaced
Before the amendment, notarisation alone was enough. The contract now has a second mandatory address — a departmental register, and it is kept not by the Land Department, even though the subject of the contract is often real estate. Worth remembering for anyone looking for a "register of family contracts" at the DLD.
2. The Tribunal stopped being a future body
In the 2020 version the definition read like a promise:
"Tribunal: A special tribunal formed by the Ruler to settle any disputes arising from Family Property Contracts." — Law No. (9) of 2020, Article 2
In the 2024 version the body has a name and a founding instrument: the Tribunal for Settlement of the Disputes of Family Businesses and Family Property in the Emirate of Dubai, formed pursuant to Administrative Resolution No. 14 of 2023. That is not cosmetic: a reader of the earlier version could not tell whether the body existed at all.
This is the sixth separate door in the row we have been assembling from primary sources: the Rent Disputes Settlement Centre, the tribunal for unfinished projects, the Council for brokerage agreements, the tribunal for cheques in real estate transactions, and the committee on jurisdiction conflicts between DIFC and Dubai courts.
The definition of family property itself keeps the same composition: movable and immovable property, copyright and related rights, industrial property rights, trademarks and other rights that are the subject of the contract. The industrial-property items are worded slightly differently, but the categories are the same; "family" still covers the spouse and blood relatives and in-laws up to the fourth degree.
3. The manager now has ten powers
Seven items became ten. What is new:
- proposing investment opportunities and projects aimed at growing the family property (the new first item);
- opening and managing bank accounts as representative of the family property;
- obtaining licences, permits and approvals from the relevant government entities for activities related to utilising the family property;
- obtaining approvals enabling partners to lease out and manage the real property that forms part of the family property.
What was broadened:
- representation: from "before third parties" to "before judicial authorities, Government entities, and third parties";
- the ground for asking the Tribunal to remove a partner and sell their share to the others: from "fails to meet his obligations under this Law and the Contract" to "under this Law, the other legislation in force in the Emirate, or the Contract".
And the framing of the list changed: the earlier version granted the powers "without prejudice to the provisions of the Family Property Contract", the new one "unless otherwise agreed in the Family Property Contract". The list now reads as a set of default rules the contract may displace.
4. The disputes article got shorter — and that calls for care
The earlier Article 23 described both the body and its formation: the Tribunal is formed by a resolution of the Ruler from among experts in legal, financial and family-business management fields, it has exclusive jurisdiction in the Emirate over such disputes, and the forming resolution determines the appointment procedure, the functions and the legal effects of its judgments.
The new version is short: subject to Article 3 of Resolution No. 14 of 2023, the Tribunal hears all disputes arising from family property contracts in accordance with the procedures and rules it adopts.
The words about exclusive jurisdiction do not appear in the replaced Article 23. What Article 3 of Resolution No. 14 of 2023 says we have not read, so we claim neither that exclusivity was preserved nor that it was removed: that is a question for the text of the resolution.
What we do NOT claim here
- The contents of Resolution No. 14 of 2023 forming the Tribunal. From the law we know only its name and that Article 23 refers to its Article 3.
- The procedure, timing and cost of registration in the DET register. The law leaves these to rules approved by the Department's Director General; we have not read them and quote no figures.
- The fate of contracts concluded before 4 September 2024. Law No. 21 contains no transitional provisions, and we will not invent them.
- The contents of the federal instruments in the preamble — the family businesses law No. 37 of 2022 and the trusts law No. 31 of 2023, and Decree No. 45 of 2022 on the Dubai Centre for Family Businesses. They are named as grounds of issuance; we quote none of their rules.
- The rest of Law No. 9 of 2020. This law replaced Articles 2, 6, 17 and 23 only; the fifteen-year term, appointment of a manager by two-thirds and the pre-emption over a share are covered separately from the 2020 text.
Sources
- Law No. (21) of 2024 Amending Law No. (9) of 2020 Regulating Family Property in the Emirate of Dubai — Dubai Legislation Portal: issuance by the Ruler of Dubai on 4 September 2024 and entry into force on the day of issuance; replacement of Articles 2, 6, 17 and 23 of the original law (Article 1); the replaced Article 2 defining the Tribunal by reference to Administrative Resolution No. 14 of 2023 and defining family up to the fourth degree; the replaced Article 6 with seven requirements, including registration in the register of the Department of Economy and Tourism under rules of its Director General and attestation by a Notary Public under Law No. 4 of 2013; the replaced Article 17 with ten powers of the manager, including proposing investment projects, bank accounts, obtaining licences and approvals, approvals for leasing out the real property, representation before judicial authorities and government entities, and the broadened ground for removing a partner; the replaced Article 23 referring to Article 3 of Resolution No. 14 of 2023; preamble references to Federal Decree-Laws No. 37 of 2022 and No. 31 of 2023, Law No. 4 of 2013 on Notaries Public, Law No. 20 of 2021 on the Department of Economy and Tourism, and Decree No. 45 of 2022.
- Law No. (9) of 2020 Regulating Family Property in the Emirate of Dubai — Dubai Legislation Portal, the earlier wording of the replaced articles: Article 2 defining the Tribunal as a body to be formed by the Ruler; Article 6 with six conditions of validity; Article 17 with seven powers of the manager and the phrase "without prejudice to the provisions of the Family Property Contract"; Article 23 with formation of the Tribunal by resolution of the Ruler from among experts and the statement of exclusive jurisdiction in the Emirate.
