In force
Saudi Personal Status Law
نظام الأحوال الشخصية
The Personal Status Law covers marriage and engagement, spousal rights, maintenance, lineage, separation (divorce, khula and annulment), custody, guardianship, missing persons, wills, and estates and inheritance.
- Articles
- 252
- In force
- 252
- Amended
- 0
- Issued
- 6/8/1443 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم (م/73) وتاريخ 1443/8/6هـ · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (429) وتاريخ 1443/8/5هـ
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Personal Status Law by topic
Engagement5 articlesMarriage Contract and Its Conditions31 articlesDowry15 articlesSpouses' Rights8 articlesMaintenance27 articlesLineage12 articlesDivorce27 articlesKhul' (Divorce by Wife's Request)10 articlesAnnulment of Marriage17 articlesWaiting Period (Iddah)13 articlesCustody and Visitation13 articlesGuardianship and Wardship over a Minor35 articlesBequest (Will)30 articlesInheritance and Heirs' Shares47 articlesInheritance of Distant Kindred and Takharuj15 articlesFinal Provisions7 articles
Articles of the Saudi Personal Status Law
الباب الأول: الزواجArticles 1–43
- Article 1The article defines the engagement as a request for marriage and a promise of it, a stage that precedes the marriage contract and is not itself a marriage.
- Article 2The article gives both the suitor and the fiancée the right to withdraw from the engagement.
- Article 3The article treats everything one fiancé gives the other during the engagement as a gift, unless the suitor states it is dowry (mahr) or custom treats it as such.
- Article 4The article sets the fate of engagement gifts on withdrawal: a person who withdraws for a reason attributable to him cannot take back his gift, the other may recover his or hers, and nothing is recovered on death.
- Article 5The article lets the suitor or his heirs recover what he handed over as dowry (mahr) if the contract is not concluded, with an option for the fiancée if she bought items with it for the marriage.
- Article 6The article defines marriage as a contract with pillars and conditions that creates rights and duties between the spouses, aimed at chastity and founding a stable family.
- Article 7The article defines seclusion (khalwa) as the spouses being alone in a place where no person of discernment is with them.
- Article 8The article requires the marriage contract to be documented by the spouses or one of them, lets any interested person request proof of an undocumented marriage, and regulates documenting a non-Muslim's marriage.
- Article 9The article bars documenting the marriage contract of a person under 18, and lets the court permit the marriage if the person has reached puberty and his or her interest is established.
- Article 10The article gives a person who married under 18 with the court's permission capacity to litigate in everything relating to the marriage and its effects, provided he or she is of sound mind.
- Article 11The article lets the court permit the marriage of a person who is insane or mentally impaired at the request of his guardian, on condition of a medical report, the other party's acceptance and a proven interest.
- Article 12The article sets the two pillars of the marriage contract: the spouses, who are a man and a woman, and offer and acceptance.
- Article 13The article sets five conditions for a valid marriage contract: identifying and consent of the spouses, the guardian's offer, two witnesses, and no prohibition between the parties.
- Article 14The article makes the man's suitability (kafa'a) for the woman a condition for the contract's enforceability, not its validity, and gives affected relatives up to the third degree a right to object.
- Article 15The article explains that marriage is concluded by the guardian's offer and the husband's acceptance in the express wording of marriage, or by writing or an understood gesture where speech is impossible.
- Article 16The article requires offer and acceptance to correspond expressly, be joined in one session in fact or in law, and be immediate, neither conditional nor deferred to the future.
- Article 17The article sets the order of a woman's guardians in marriage, deals with guardians of equal degree, and bars a guardian, even the father, from marrying her off without her consent.
- Article 18The article requires a marriage guardian to be male, of sound mind, of age and of the woman's religion, failing which guardianship passes to the next guardian.
- Article 19The article lets the court, at the woman's request, transfer guardianship over her marriage to the next guardian if her guardian cannot attend or cannot be notified.
- Article 20The article gives the court power to marry off a woman whose guardian, even her father, prevents her from marrying her suitable match whom she accepted, on her request or an interested person's.
- Article 21The article requires a marriage witness to be a man who is of age, of sound mind, hears and understands the offer and acceptance, and is Muslim if the husband is Muslim.
- Article 22The article specifies who is permanently prohibited for marriage by kinship: ascendants, descendants, descendants of the parents, and the first generation of descendants of grandparents.
- Article 23The article sets who is permanently prohibited to a man by affinity, and provides that intercourse outside a valid marriage causes this prohibition too.
- Article 24The article permanently prohibits a man from marrying a woman against whom he performed li'an before the court, even if he later retracts his claim.
- Article 25The article provides that what is prohibited by breastfeeding is what is prohibited by kinship, provided it occurs in the first two years and reaches five certain, separate feedings.
- Article 26The article lists seven cases of temporary prohibition of marriage, including marrying a woman in her waiting period, combining more than four wives, and combining two sisters.
- Article 27The article makes spouses bound by their conditions, and a condition gives a right to annul the marriage only if it was written in the marriage document or acknowledged by both spouses.
- Article 28The article allows the party who stipulated a condition in the marriage contract to request annulment at any time if the other does not fulfill it, without compensation if the breach is by the husband.
- Article 29The article makes the marriage contract void if it includes a condition contrary to its continuation or if it is made in exchange for another marriage, and voids only the condition if it contradicts the nature of the contract.
- Article 30The article divides marriage into two types: valid marriage, and invalid marriage, which includes the void marriage and the defective marriage.
- Article 31The article provides that a marriage contract is valid whenever its elements and conditions are met, and that it produces its effects from the time it is concluded.
- Article 32The article sets out the cases in which a marriage contract is void: a missing element, a missing condition of validity, or stipulating one of the two conditions in paragraph (1) of Article 29.
- Article 33The article explains that a void marriage produces no effect before consummation, and sets out what follows after consummation: the waiting period, prohibition arising from marriage ties, and the dower of equivalent women, under its conditions.
- Article 34The article provides that the court annuls a defective marriage, sets its effects before and after consummation, and applies its effects to a void marriage after consummation if the spouses did not know its ruling.
- Article 35The article allows spouses to enter into a new marriage contract meeting all elements and conditions, without a court judgment annulling the previous defective or void contract, subject to documentation procedures.
- Article 36The article defines the dower as the money a man pays to a woman by reason of the marriage contract.
- Article 37The article provides that anything that can be considered money can be a dower.
- Article 38The article provides that the dower belongs to the woman and that she is not compelled to dispose of it in any way.
- Article 39The article allows deferring all or part of the dower, and sets when it is delivered when deferral is not stated and when a known term, an unknown term, or no term is stated.
- Article 40The article provides that the dower is owed under a valid marriage contract, confirmed in full by consummation, seclusion or death, and that a woman divorced before consummation is entitled to half the named dower or a consolation gift.
- Article 41The article sets out three cases in which a woman is entitled to the dower of equivalent women: silence about naming a dower, its exclusion in the contract, or a defective named dower.
- Article 42The article sets out the spouses' mutual rights, and obliges the husband to provide maintenance and treat wives equitably, and the wife to obey in a reasonable manner and nurse the children unless there is an impediment.
- Article 43The article allows the wife to refuse to move in and consummate the marriage until she receives her advanced dower and the husband prepares a suitable residence, with her right to maintenance, and explains the effect of her agreeing to move in before receiving it.
الباب الثاني: آثار عقد الزواجArticles 44–75
- Article 44The article provides that each person's maintenance is from his own money, except the wife, whose maintenance is on her husband even if she is wealthy, and that the maintenance of a person of unknown parentage who has no money is on the State.
- Article 45The article provides that maintenance is a right of the person maintained and includes food, clothing, housing and basic needs according to custom and the relevant legal provisions.
- Article 46The article provides that maintenance is assessed taking into account the condition of the person maintained and the means of the person providing maintenance.
- Article 47The article allows maintenance to be paid in cash, and treats making money available in kind or as a benefit as a form of maintenance.
- Article 48The article allows maintenance to be increased or reduced as circumstances change, does not hear such a claim before one year from the judgment except in exceptional circumstances, and applies the adjustment from the date of the judgment.
- Article 49The article provides that continuing maintenance for the wife, children and parents is due from the date the claim is filed and is a preferred debt ranking ahead of all other debts, unlike past maintenance.
- Article 50The article refers claims for maintenance to the provisions regulating them, and allows the court, where needed, to award temporary maintenance without the other party's attendance while hearing a claim for continuing maintenance.
- Article 51The article provides that a wife's maintenance is owed by her husband under a valid marriage contract if she makes herself available to him in fact or by operation of law, subject to Article 43.
- Article 52The article provides that the wife's right to maintenance is forfeited only by payment or release, and that a claim for her maintenance for a past period exceeding two years from the date the claim is filed is not heard.
- Article 53The article provides that maintenance is owed to a woman in her waiting period after a revocable divorce until the period ends, and not to one in her waiting period after an irrevocable divorce unless she is pregnant, in which case she is entitled until she gives birth.
- Article 54The article denies maintenance to a woman in her waiting period after the husband's death unless she is pregnant, in which case it is from the money of the unborn child and then from its heir, and affirms her right to reside in the marital home during the waiting period.
- Article 55The article provides that the wife's right to maintenance is forfeited if she prevents herself from her husband, or refuses to move to the marital home, spend the night there or travel with him, without a legitimate excuse.
- Article 56The article provides that the wife resides with her husband in the suitable marital home, unless she stipulated otherwise in the marriage contract.
- Article 57The article regulates who may live with the spouses in the marital home: the husband's parents and children subject to no harm to the wife, the wife's children under conditions, and mutual consent if the spouses share the home.
- Article 58The article makes the father alone responsible for the maintenance of a child who has no money, where he is wealthy or able to earn, extending for a son until his peers can earn and for a daughter until she marries.
- Article 59If a wealthy father does not provide maintenance or is absent with no money to spend from, the mother if wealthy or another person provides it as a debt owed by the father, and a claim for recourse exceeding one past year is not heard.
- Article 60The article makes a child's maintenance, upon the father's death, disappearance or insolvency, owed by the child's wealthy relatives who inherit from him in proportion to their shares of inheritance, subject to Article 59.
- Article 61The article obliges the father to pay the wage for nursing his young child during the two years if the mother is unable to nurse or is no longer his wife, and treats the wage as maintenance.
- Article 62The article obliges wealthy children, adult or minor, to maintain their non-wealthy parents in full or to supplement it, in proportion to their inheritance, even if the parents are able to earn.
- Article 63A child who maintained his parents may recover from his siblings only if he intended to recover at the time of providing maintenance, and only for what exceeds his share; a claim for a period exceeding 180 days is not heard.
- Article 64The maintenance of anyone entitled to it who is unable to earn is owed by his wealthy heirs in proportion to their shares of inheritance from him, without prejudice to the provisions on maintenance of children and parents.
- Article 65If several persons are entitled to maintenance and the person obliged cannot maintain them all, the wife's maintenance comes first, then the children, then the parents, then relatives, the nearest first.
- Article 66A relative's maintenance lapses with the passage of time, unless someone not obliged maintained him intending to recover, and a claim for recourse for maintenance exceeding 180 days from the date the claim is filed is not heard.
- Article 67A child's lineage to his father is established only by birth within a valid marriage contract, by acknowledgment or by evidence, and his lineage to his mother is established by proof of birth.
- Article 68A child's lineage to his father is established if he is born during a valid marriage or after it ends before the maximum pregnancy period of 10 months passes, unless it is proved that the spouses could not have met.
- Article 69The article sets six conditions for establishing lineage by acknowledgment of paternity, even during a terminal illness, including that the child's lineage is unknown and the relationship is proved by DNA testing.
- Article 70The article allows the court to order DNA testing in exceptional cases, in a dispute over lineage or at the request of a competent body, provided the child's lineage is unknown and the age difference allows it.
- Article 71A woman's acknowledgment does not establish a child's lineage to her current or former husband, except by the husband's acknowledgment under Article 69 or by evidence of birth within a valid or defective marriage.
- Article 72If lineage is established under Article 67 of the law, a claim to deny it is not heard.
- Article 73A man may deny the lineage of a child established by birth within the marriage contract only through li'an, by a claim filed within 15 days of learning of the birth, with no prior acknowledgment of his paternity.
- Article 74The court hears a li'an claim after DNA testing if the woman agrees, and continues without it if she does not agree; if the man swears and the woman refuses, the court rules without her oaths.
- Article 75Li'an results in negation of the child's lineage, taking into account the DNA test result; lineage is restored if the man retracts his denial, even after the judgment, and his denial is not accepted afterwards.
الباب الثالث: الفرقة بين الزوجينArticles 76–115
- Article 76The article sets out the cases in which separation occurs between spouses: divorce, khul', annulment of the marriage contract, the death of either spouse, and li'an.
- Article 77The article defines divorce as dissolution of the marriage contract by the husband's will by words indicating it.
- Article 78The article divides the words indicating divorce into explicit words, being the word divorce and its derivatives, and implicit words, which could mean divorce or something else and take effect only if the husband intended divorce.
- Article 79Divorce takes effect by speech or by writing, and when unable to do either, by an understood gesture.
- Article 80Divorce does not take effect in these cases: by a person who is not of sound mind or not acting voluntarily, a person whose mind was lost by choice, a person in extreme anger, and divorce during menstruation, postnatal bleeding or a purity period with intercourse, if the husband knows.
- Article 81A divorce made conditional on doing or not doing something takes effect, unless it was meant to urge, prevent, confirm or deny without intending divorce, and breaking an oath by divorce or by prohibition takes effect only if divorce was intended.
- Article 82A challenge to the validity of a divorce is not accepted in the cases in Articles 80 and 81 once the divorce has been documented in accordance with the legal procedures.
- Article 83Any divorce accompanied by a number in words or by gesture, or repeated in one session, takes effect as only one divorce.
- Article 84A husband may authorize another, male or female, to pronounce divorce, and his claim to have withdrawn a documented authorization is not accepted after the agent pronounces the divorce, unless he documented the withdrawal before it took effect.
- Article 85The article divides divorce into revocable, which ends the marriage only when the waiting period ends, and irrevocable, which ends it at once, being either a minor or a major irrevocable divorce, each with its own effect.
- Article 86Every divorce in a valid marriage is revocable, except a divorce completing the three, by which the woman is separated by a major irrevocable divorce, and a divorce before consummation or seclusion, by which she is separated by a minor irrevocable divorce.
- Article 87A husband who has revocably divorced his wife may take her back until the waiting period ends, and he cannot lose this right by waiving it.
- Article 88Taking a wife back is valid by an explicit statement, spoken or written, by an understandable gesture if the husband cannot do either, and intercourse during the waiting period counts as taking her back.
- Article 89Taking a wife back is valid only if it is immediate: it may not be made conditional on something or set for the future.
- Article 90The husband must register the divorce with the competent authority within 15 days at most from the time the divorce becomes irrevocable, without affecting the wife's right to sue to prove the divorce.
- Article 91If the husband does not register the divorce under Article 90 and the wife is unaware of it, she is entitled to compensation of at least the minimum maintenance from the date of the divorce to the date she learned of it.
- Article 92In a revocable divorce the husband must register taking his wife back within 15 days if he registered the divorce, and failing to register it while the wife is unaware has consequences.
- Article 93The wife's statement in a claim of divorce or taking back is not accepted unless she provides evidence proving what she claims.
- Article 94The wife's statement that her divorce waiting period ended before she was taken back is accepted, provided the period is one in which the waiting period would normally be able to end.
- Article 95The article defines khul as a separation between the spouses at the wife's request and with the husband's consent, in return for compensation given by the wife or by someone else.
- Article 96Khul is valid when both spouses, having full legal capacity, agree to end the marriage contract, without the need for a court judgment.
- Article 97Khul takes place by any spoken or written wording, or an understandable gesture, that indicates separation; it is a termination of the marriage contract, an irrevocable separation of the lesser degree, and not counted among the three divorces.
- Article 98Khul takes place whatever the wife's condition, including during her menstruation, postpartum bleeding, and a period of purity in which her husband had intercourse with her.
- Article 99Khul does not take place without compensation; if a husband separates from his wife by khul with no compensation, it is not khul and the provisions on divorce apply.
- Article 100Whatever may be regarded as property may serve as compensation in khul, but the compensation may not be the waiver of any of the children's rights or of their custody.
- Article 101If the compensation for khul is the dowry, the wife is bound only to hand over what she received of it, and the remainder is waived even if it was deferred.
- Article 102The article requires khul to be registered by the spouses or one of them under the regulating provisions, and allows any interested person to request that khul be proved by any means of proof.
- Article 103Every separation between spouses by court judgment counts as a termination (faskh), is an irrevocable separation of the lesser degree, and is not counted among the three divorces.
- Article 104Either spouse may request termination of the marriage because of a harmful or repellent defect in the other that prevents marital relations, unless the requester knew of it at the contract or showed consent to it after learning of it.
- Article 105The article sets what happens to the dowry when a marriage is terminated because of a defect in one spouse, depending on when the defect arose and whether termination came before or after consummation or private seclusion.
- Article 106A wife who has not yet been consummated with may request termination if her husband does not pay her immediate dowry within a period of up to 30 days set by the court; if the marriage has been consummated, the dowry remains a debt.
- Article 107The court terminates the marriage at the wife's request if her husband refuses to provide maintenance, if maintenance cannot be collected from him, or if he claims inability to pay it, even if she knew of this before the contract.
- Article 108The court terminates the marriage at the wife's request if her husband harms her to a degree that makes continued married life in kindness impossible, provided the harm is proved.
- Article 109If the harm is not proved, discord continues and reconciliation is not possible, each spouse chooses an arbitrator from his or her family, or the court appoints them, for an arbitration period of up to 60 days.
- Article 110The two arbitrators hear the spouses, investigate the causes of discord and make an effort to reconcile them, and a spouse's refusal to deal with them does not affect their work.
- Article 111If the arbitrators cannot reconcile the spouses, they decide on separation with or without compensation, provided the compensation the wife pays does not exceed the dowry, and they submit a reasoned report to the court.
- Article 112The court terminates the marriage if the wife requests it before consummation or private seclusion, the husband refuses to divorce her or agree to khul, she returns what she received of the dowry, and reconciliation is not possible.
- Article 113The court must terminate the marriage at the wife's request if her husband swears not to have intercourse with her for more than 4 months and does not retract, or refrains from intercourse for that period without a legitimate excuse.
- Article 114Unless the absence is for work, the wife may request termination if her husband, whose domicile or residence is known, is absent for at least 4 months, even if he has property from which maintenance can be collected, after he is warned and given up to 180 days.
- Article 115The wife may request termination if her husband is missing or absent and his domicile and residence are unknown; the court rules only after a period it sets of not less than one year and not more than two years from the date he went missing or absent.
الباب الرابع: آثار الفرقة بين الزوجينArticles 116–135
- Article 116The article defines the waiting period (idda) as the fixed period during which a woman may not marry because of a marital separation or the equivalent.
- Article 117The waiting period is required on death in a valid marriage contract even before consummation, and in cases other than death if the separation occurs after private seclusion or consummation in a valid contract, subject to Articles 33 and 34.
- Article 118The waiting period starts from the divorce, khul or death; in judicial separation it starts from the date of the judgment, or from when a disputed divorce is established in court, and the woman may marry only after the waiting period ends or the judgment becomes final, whichever is later.
- Article 119The waiting period of a woman whose husband has died is 4 months and 10 days, even before consummation, subject to Article 120 on pregnant women.
- Article 120The waiting period of a pregnant woman whose marriage ends by death or otherwise is the delivery of her pregnancy, once the pregnancy has exceeded 80 days.
- Article 121The article sets the waiting period of a non-pregnant woman whose marriage ends otherwise than by death: three menstrual periods for women who menstruate, and three months for a woman past menstruation or who has not menstruated.
- Article 122If the husband dies while the woman is in the waiting period after a revocable divorce, she moves to the widow's waiting period, and what has passed is not counted.
- Article 123If the husband dies while the woman is in a waiting period after khul, termination or an irrevocable divorce, she completes her waiting period without a death waiting period, unless the divorce was during a death-illness and without her request, when she observes the longer of the two.
- Article 124The article defines custody (hadana) as protecting a person who cannot manage for himself from what harms him, raising him and attending to his interests, including education and medical treatment.
- Article 125The article requires three conditions in a custodian: full legal capacity, the ability to raise, protect and care for the child in custody, and freedom from serious infectious diseases.
- Article 126The article adds special conditions: a female custodian must not be married to a stranger to the child unless the child's interest requires otherwise, and a male custodian must be a mahram relative of a female child and have a woman fit for custody living with him.
- Article 127Custody is a duty of both parents while the marriage lasts; if they separate it goes to the mother, then the father, the mother's mother, then the father's mother, and the court may depart from this order in the child's interest.
- Article 128The right to custody is lost if one of the conditions in Articles 125 and 126 is missing, if the custodian moves to a place with the intention of residing that harms the child's interest, or if the person entitled stays silent for more than a year without excuse.
- Article 129A custodian who is a parent may not take the child abroad for more than 90 days a year, and a custodian who is not a parent for more than 30 days a year, without the required consent.
- Article 130A person whose right to custody has been lost may apply to the court to request it again if the cause of the loss has ended.
- Article 131If no one entitled requests custody, the mother is obliged to take it when the child is not over two, and the father when the child is over two, with the other parent obliged if the first is absent.
- Article 132If the parents do not exist and no one entitled accepts custody, the court chooses whomever it sees as fit among the relatives of the child in custody or others, or one of the qualified bodies.
- Article 133A mother's right to custody is not lost merely because she left the marital home over a dispute or otherwise, unless the interest of the child in custody requires otherwise.
- Article 134The parent who does not have custody may visit the child, have the child visit and take the child along as the parents agree, and the court decides if they differ; in specified cases the court may designate a relative entitled to visit.
- Article 135At 15 the child in custody may choose to live with either parent, custody ends at 18, and it continues for a child who is insane, mentally impaired or confined by illness.
الباب الخامس: الوصاية والولايةArticles 136–168
- Article 136The article defines a minor as a person who has not attained full legal capacity, whether by losing it completely or having it diminished, and anyone treated as such under the regulating provisions.
- Article 137The guardian is the father or whomever the court appoints, and the executor is whomever the father appoints when unable to act or after his death; each takes charge of the minor's affairs and represents him.
- Article 138The article divides guardianship over a minor into guardianship of the person and guardianship of property, and both may be combined in one person.
- Article 139Guardianship of a minor's property belongs to the father, then the father's executor, then whomever the court appoints.
- Article 140A guardian of the person or property must have full legal capacity, be trustworthy and be able to carry out the requirements of guardianship, and a guardian of the person must share the religion of a Muslim ward.
- Article 141Whoever is appointed executor or guardian must not be a likely source of harm to the minor's interest, including not being convicted of a crime of dishonor, declared insolvent, removed from another guardianship, or an enemy of the minor.
- Article 142Guardianship and executorship are unpaid, unless the testator fixes a customarily acceptable fee for the executor, and the court may, at the guardian's or executor's request, award a reward for specific work or a fee counted from the date of the request.
- Article 143The court removes the executor or guardian if one of the conditions in Articles 140 and 141 fails, or if he neglects the duties of the executorship or guardianship or is unable to perform them.
- Article 144The provisions of Part Five of the Law do not affect the powers of the General Authority for Guardianship over the Property of Minors and Those Treated as Such.
- Article 145A father may appoint an executor over his minor children, or over a child who comes after him, as the text says.
- Article 146The executor is bound by what is entrusted to him in the will, except what conflicts with the provisions of Islamic Sharia or the laws.
- Article 147A testamentary guardian or court-appointed guardian may be male or female, an individual or a legal entity, and one person or several, subject to Articles 17 and 18.
- Article 148Article 148 sets how guardianship works with several guardians: they act jointly if named in one will or in wills whose order is unknown, and the last one named takes it if the father appointed one person and then another.
- Article 149The court may add one or more persons to a guardian who is unable, needs help, or where this serves the minor, and may remove the guardians or any of them in the minor's interest.
- Article 150Guardianship takes effect only on the guardian's acceptance, and beginning his duties is implied acceptance; an interested person may ask that he be put on notice, and the court may give him up to 30 days.
- Article 151The father may remove a guardian at any time and the guardian may step down during the testator's lifetime; if the testator is deceased or lacks full capacity, the guardian must apply to the court to step down.
- Article 152If a minor has no guardian or his guardian is removed, the court appoints a guardian over his property after hearing his mother, unless the court itself appoints her as guardian over his property.
- Article 153The court may appoint a temporary guardian for a minor for a fixed period or for a specific task, when the interest of the minor requires it.
- Article 154The court may remove a guardian it appointed if the minor's interest requires it; the guardian may ask to step down, and the court may accept the request or postpone it, taking the minor's interest into account.
- Article 155The testamentary guardian and the court-appointed guardian must manage and look after the minor's property in a way that serves the minor's interest.
- Article 156The testamentary guardian or court-appointed guardian must deposit the minor's money in bank accounts in the minor's name, without prejudice to the powers of the General Authority for the Guardianship of Minors' Property.
- Article 157The article sets out eight cases in which testamentary guardianship and guardianship end, including the minor reaching the age of majority with sound mental faculties, his death, and the removal or death of the guardian.
- Article 158If a minor reaches the age of majority with reduced legal capacity or is not trusted with his property, the guardian must apply to the court to consider whether the guardianship continues.
- Article 159When his task ends, the testamentary guardian or court-appointed guardian must hand over the minor's property, accounts and documents to the person concerned within 30 days at most.
- Article 160If a testamentary guardian or court-appointed guardian dies, his heirs, or anyone who takes possession of his estate or part of it, must notify the competent authority to protect the minor's rights.
- Article 161The article defines the absentee as a person whose domicile and residence are unknown and whose financial affairs cannot be managed for a period set by the court, and the missing person as an absentee whose life or death is unknown.
- Article 162If an absentee or missing person has no agent, the court may appoint a guardian to manage all or some of his property.
- Article 163The court-appointed guardian must take an inventory of the absentee's or missing person's property and manage it under the provisions on managing the property of minors.
- Article 164Being missing ends when the missing person is established to be alive or dead, or when a court judgment treats him as deceased.
- Article 165In all cases the court must take what is necessary to find out whether the missing person is alive or dead before ruling that he is deceased.
- Article 166The court rules that a missing person is deceased at an interested person's request if evidence of death exists; otherwise after 4 years from notification if his death is not likely, or one year from disappearance if it is likely.
- Article 167The date of the ruling that a missing person is deceased is treated as his date of death, unless his true date of death is established later.
- Article 168If a missing person is ruled deceased and then appears alive, he recovers his property that still exists in kind from the heirs, and his wife returns to his marriage unless she married another man who consummated the marriage.
الباب السادس: الوصيةArticles 169–196
- Article 169The article defines a will as a disposition of property by way of gift that takes effect after the testator's death.
- Article 170The article provides that a will is valid whether it is absolute or restricted.
- Article 171A will is carried out from the testator's estate after paying the costs of preparing the deceased for burial and settling his debts, subject to Article 190 of the Law.
- Article 172Any ownership-transferring disposition by a person in a death-illness has the rule of a will if it is a gift; if it is an exchange involving favoritism, the amount of favoritism has the rule of a will.
- Article 173The article sets four pillars of a will: the formula, the testator, the beneficiary and the subject of the bequest.
- Article 174A will is concluded by words indicating it, spoken or written, and if the person is unable to do either, by an understandable sign.
- Article 175The article allows the testator to amend his will, or withdraw from all or part of it, by words or by an act indicating that.
- Article 176The article requires that for a will to be valid, the testator be of age and of sound mind.
- Article 177Having several wills is not a withdrawal from the earlier one unless stated; the article also covers how a shortfall is shared when the one-third limit cannot cover the wills, and how a specific bequest is divided.
- Article 178The article provides that a will is valid in favor of anyone who may validly own the subject of the bequest, whether Muslim or non-Muslim.
- Article 179A will in favor of an heir is not carried out unless the other heirs approve it after the death, it is carried out in the share of those who approve, and the beneficiary's status as heir is judged at the time of the testator's death.
- Article 180The article lists the cases in which a will is valid: for a specified existing person or a known unborn child, for a category, for a legal person whose rules allow acceptance, for a mosque or waqf, and for charitable purposes.
- Article 181The article explains when a will becomes binding depending on the beneficiary: on acceptance after death, on acceptance by the guardian, on death alone, or on approval by the competent body.
- Article 182The article gives the beneficiary with full legal capacity, and whoever represents a minor, a legal person, a mosque or a waqf, the right to reject the will in whole or in part under set rules.
- Article 183The article provides that acceptance or rejection of a will need not be immediate on death, and allows a request to the court to put a silent beneficiary on notice with a period of no more than 30 days.
- Article 184If the beneficiary dies after the testator's death and before accepting or rejecting the will, the right to accept or reject passes to his heirs, each in proportion to his share in it.
- Article 185If the body for which the will was made ceases or no longer exists before taking ownership, the will is spent, with the court's approval, on the nearest similar body.
- Article 186Whoever carries out a will for an unlimited category may use discretion in distributing it, giving precedence to the needy, without being bound to cover everyone or divide equally unless the will provides otherwise.
- Article 187The article sets how a will is distributed when there are several beneficiaries with no specified shares: one share for each specified individual and one share for an unlimited category.
- Article 188The article sets three conditions for the subject of a bequest: if specified, it must belong to the testator; it must exist or be possible to exist; and it must be lawful.
- Article 189The article allows the subject of a bequest to be a tangible thing, a benefit or a right of value, undivided or specified, and an undivided bequest covers all of the testator's property at the time of his death.
- Article 190A will is carried out within one-third of the estate; what exceeds one-third depends on the heirs' approval and is carried out in the share of those among them who approve it.
- Article 191The article allows a will for more than one-third from someone with no heir, and for more than the share of the husband or wife if there is no heir besides them.
- Article 192The article explains how a will of the benefit of a thing is counted against one-third: by the value of the thing if perpetual, absolute or for life, and by the value of the benefit if temporary.
- Article 193The article sets the cases in which a bequeathed benefit returns to the owner of the thing, and gives a perpetual or absolute bequest of a benefit to a body not expected to cease the rule of a waqf.
- Article 194If a will is of an undivided share and the estate includes a debt or absent property, the beneficiary takes his share from what is present, then from whatever becomes present later, unless otherwise agreed.
- Article 195A beneficiary of an amount equal to an heir's share is entitled to the share of the specified heir, or of the heir with the smallest inheritance if none is specified, added to the base of the problem, with the shortfall falling on all the heirs.
- Article 196The article lists five cases in which a will is void: the testator's withdrawal, the death of a specified beneficiary before him, his rejection of it, a killing that bars inheritance, and the loss or entitlement of the specified subject of the bequest.
الباب السابع: التركة والإرثArticles 197–245
- Article 197The article defines the estate as what a person leaves after his death of property and financial rights.
- Article 198The article orders the rights relating to the estate: preparing the deceased for burial, then settling debts giving precedence to those tied to a particular item, then carrying out the will, then dividing the rest among the heirs.
- Article 199The article requires for entitlement to inheritance: the death of the person leaving the estate in fact or by court judgment, the heir's life after him in fact or by estimation, and the existence of a cause of inheritance and the absence of its bars.
- Article 200The article bars from inheritance anyone who killed the person he inherits from intentionally and unlawfully or quasi-intentionally, or caused or ordered it, and lets one who killed by mistake inherit from the estate but not the blood money.
- Article 201The article provides that separation between spouses during life bars inheritance between them, except for a revocable divorce during the waiting period and a divorce during a death-illness not requested by the wife.
- Article 202The article provides that there is no inheritance between people of different religions, subject to the provisions on wills in the Law, particularly Article 178.
- Article 203The article provides that there is no inheritance between people who died at the same time or when it is not known which of them died first.
- Article 204The article sets the ways of inheriting: by fixed share, by residuary share, by both, or by blood relationship, and defines a fixed share as a share set by Sharia and a residuary share as a share not set.
- Article 205The article defines the inheriting descendant as one entitled to inherit from the deceased's descendants, namely the son and his children however far down, and the daughter, excluding anyone related through a female.
- Article 206The article defines the inheriting ascendant as one entitled to inherit from the deceased's parents' side, namely the father and his fathers, and the mother and grandmothers.
- Article 207The article sets out the shares in inheritance, which are six: two-thirds, one-half, one-third, one-quarter, one-sixth and one-eighth.
- Article 208The article lists the heirs entitled to fixed shares: the husband, wife, father, mother, paternal grandfather, grandmother, daughter, son's daughter, full sister, paternal half-sister, maternal half-brother and maternal half-sister.
- Article 209The husband inherits one-half of his wife's estate if she has no heir descendants, and one-quarter if she has.
- Article 210The wife inherits one-quarter of her husband's estate if he has no heir descendants and one-eighth if he has, and several wives share in the single wife's fixed share.
- Article 211The article sets out the father's share in his child's estate: one-sixth as a fixed share with a male heir descendant, one-sixth plus the remainder with only female heir descendants, and the remainder as residuary with none.
- Article 212The article defines the grandfather who inherits as one whose line to the deceased includes no female; he inherits where there is no father, like the father, and excludes siblings.
- Article 213The article sets out the mother's share: one-sixth with an heir descendant or two or more siblings, one-third otherwise, and one-third of the remainder where the heirs are the two parents and one spouse only.
- Article 214The article identifies the inheriting grandmothers and gives them one-sixth where there is no mother, shared among them, with the nearer excluding the more remote, and the father does not exclude his mother or his father's mother.
- Article 215A daughter inherits one-half if alone and two-thirds if there are two or more where the deceased has no son; with a son she shares the remainder as residuary, the male receiving twice the female's share.
- Article 216The article regulates the son's daughter's inheritance: one-half or two-thirds on two conditions, one-sixth alongside a daughter inheriting one-half, or the remainder as residuary with a son's son of her degree or lower.
- Article 217The article sets out the full sister's inheritance: one-half or two-thirds on three conditions, the remainder with a full brother as a residuary through another, or the remainder alone as a residuary together with a female heir descendant.
- Article 218The article sets out the paternal half-sister's inheritance: one-half or two-thirds, one-sixth alongside a full sister inheriting one-half, the remainder with a paternal half-brother, or the remainder alone with a female heir descendant.
- Article 219A maternal half-brother or half-sister inherits one-sixth if alone and one-third if there are two or more, provided the deceased has no male ascendant heir and no heir descendant.
- Article 220Where there are several maternal half-siblings, male and female, they divide the one-third equally, with no male receiving more than a female.
- Article 221The article defines exclusion as depriving a person in whom a cause of inheritance exists of all or part of the inheritance.
- Article 222A person in whom a bar to inheritance in Articles 200 and 202 exists does not exclude others, whereas a person excluded by deprivation or reduction does exclude others if the cause of exclusion exists.
- Article 223The article divides residuary heirs into three types: residuary in their own right, residuary through another, and residuary together with another.
- Article 224Residuary heirs in their own right are the male heirs by kinship except the maternal half-brother, and their lines are ranked: descendants, then ascendants, then siblings, then paternal relatives.
- Article 225Residuary heirs through another are the daughter with the son, the son's daughter with the son's son, the full sister with the full brother, and the paternal half-sister with the paternal half-brother, the male receiving twice the share of a female.
- Article 226Residuary heirs together with another are the full or paternal half-sister with the daughter or the son's daughter; the sister is then treated like a brother in taking the remainder and excluding other residuary heirs.
- Article 227A residuary heir in his own right takes the whole estate if alone, the remainder after the fixed shares if with an heir by fixed share, and is excluded if the fixed shares exhaust the estate in all cases.
- Article 228Among residuary heirs, precedence goes first to the preferred line under Article 224, then the nearer degree, then the stronger kinship; equals share, and a full relative is stronger than a paternal one.
- Article 229A residuary heir through another and a residuary heir together with another take what remains of the estate after the fixed shares if with an heir by fixed share, and are excluded if the fixed shares exhaust the estate.
- Article 230If the shares of the heirs entitled to fixed shares exceed the estate, the problem is subject to proportional reduction and all their shares are reduced in proportion to their fixed shares.
- Article 231If the fixed shares do not exhaust the estate and there is no residuary heir, the remainder is returned to the heirs by fixed share other than the spouses in proportion to their shares, and to one of the spouses if there is no other heir.
- Article 232The article defines the distant kindred as every relative of the deceased who inherits neither by fixed share nor as a residuary heir.
- Article 233The article divides the distant kindred into three lines, fatherhood, motherhood and descent, and specifies the relatives within each line.
- Article 234The distant kindred inherit if there is no heir by fixed share or as a residuary heir, or if one of the spouses is present alone with no other heir by fixed share or as a residuary heir.
- Article 235Each of the distant kindred inherits by being placed in the position of the heir through whom he or she is related, as to inheritance and exclusion, with no difference between the male and female share.
- Article 236If the lines of the distant kindred are the same, the more remote is excluded by the nearer to the deceased, and if their lines differ, the remote inherits with the near.
- Article 237If the deceased has no heir by fixed share, as a residuary heir or by blood relationship, the estate or what remains of it takes the ruling of property whose owner is unknown.
- Article 238A missing person's share of his decedent's estate is reserved on the assumption he is alive; if he appears alive he takes it, and if he is judged dead before the decedent, the share returns to those entitled among the heirs at the time of the judgment.
- Article 239If the missing person is declared dead and his estate is distributed to his heirs, and he then appears alive, the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article 168 of the Law apply.
- Article 240The unborn child is preserved the more favorable of the two shares on the basis of an approved medical report on the number of fetuses, the other heirs are given the lesser of the two shares, and the remainder is distributed after the birth.
- Article 241If some competent heirs acknowledge a person who shares in the inheritance or one who excludes an heir, and the others deny it, the acknowledged person's inheritance is established by evidence; otherwise he shares in the acknowledging heir's entitlement only, if he is an heir.
- Article 242A person who is not attributed to his father but whose mother is known, and a person whose lineage is denied, inherit from the mother and her relatives, and the mother and her relatives inherit from them.
- Article 243The article defines withdrawal from the estate (takharuj) as an agreement by an heir or legatee to leave his share of the estate or part of it in return for a known thing, and requires it to be documented before the competent authority.
- Article 244Withdrawal is permitted if the estate is known to all those withdrawing or is unknown and cannot be known within a normally short period, and one who did not know the position may request its annulment if the estate could be known shortly.
- Article 245The article explains the effect of withdrawal: the heir withdrawn in favor of takes the withdrawing heir's place, and the withdrawing heir's share is divided among the others according to their shares or in proportion to what each paid, depending on the source of the consideration.
الباب الثامن: أحكام ختاميةArticles 246–252
- Article 246Those responsible for enforcing the Personal Status Law must keep confidential the information they learn through their work, so as to protect the sanctity of the family and its secrets.
- Article 247The article adopts the Hijri calendar for calculating all the periods in the Personal Status Law.
- Article 248The provisions of the Personal Status Law apply to all claims in which no final judgments had been issued before it came into force.
- Article 249All judgments and decisions issued before the Personal Status Law came into force are considered valid under the provisions that were in force before it.
- Article 250The Minister of Justice prepares the regulations necessary for the Personal Status Law, and they are issued by order of the Prime Minister.
- Article 251Where the Personal Status Law has no provision, the provisions of Islamic Sharia most suitable to this Law's preferences apply.
- Article 252The Personal Status Law applies after 90 days from the date of its publication, and repeals all provisions that conflict with it.
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