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We assess the route, quantify the cost, assemble the evidence and prepare the online execution application. We are not a law firm, and a registered UAE advocate is required for most litigation.

AED 300Order on petition fee

6%Court fee on claim value

AED 40,000Court fee cap

2 Jan 2022Cheque law in force

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The routes

Five routes, ranked by speed

The instrument you hold decides the route. Before quoting for litigation we check what evidence already exists, because clients often hold more than they realise.

✓ Cheque execution — Where you hold a dishonoured cheque. Federal Decree-Law 14 of 2020, effective 2 January 2022, made the cheque itself an executive instrument. It goes straight to the Execution Court, with no substantive civil case, no proving the debt and no trial. This is the fastest recovery route in the UAE system.

✓ Payment order or order on petition — Available where the right of the creditor is in writing and payment is due, whether the credit is an amount or movable assets. It sits under Temporary and Summary Judicial Orders, for consolidated debt which has not been paid. Summary, with no full trial, and the Dubai Courts fee is AED 300.

✓ Civil case — For a debt that is disputed, or where there is no written instrument. This is the slow route. Below roughly AED 50,000 the economics rarely work, unless the point is deterrence.

✓ Labour claim — Wages and gratuity go to MOHRE first. Labour claims up to AED 100,000 are exempt from judicial fees at all stages. Nothing similar applies to commercial debt, and the labour limitation period is one year from when the right fell due.

✓ Rental claim — Landlord and tenant matters go to the Rental Dispute Centre, not the general civil route.

✓ A documented settlement — Often the better answer. A signed acknowledgment of debt with a payment schedule creates a written right, which restores the payment-order route if the debtor defaults again.

Court fees

Dubai Courts fees and the cap

These are Dubai Courts fees, not My Eloah fees. The cap matters: the AED 40,000 ceiling is reached at roughly AED 667,000 of claim value, so above that the court fee is effectively flat and large claims are proportionally far cheaper to file.

Service	Dubai Courts fee	Note
Order on petition / payment order	AED 300	Requires the right to be established in writing
Civil case, valued claim	6% of claim value	Minimum AED 500, maximum AED 40,000
Civil case, unvalued application	AED 12,001	Flat fee
Labour claim up to AED 100,000	Exempt	Exempt from judicial fees at all stages

Evidence

What the file has to contain

Dubai Courts runs a dedicated Cheque Execution service, and litigants complete the execution form online. The application will not complete without the items below.

✓ The drawer — Full details of the person who signed the cheque, including identity number and passport number, plus power of attorney details where anyone is acting through one.

✓ The beneficiary — Name of the beneficiary receiving the cheque amount, with ID number or passport number. For the recipient of the cheque value, an address and means of communication.

✓ The cheque and the dishonour — The reason the cheque bounced without disbursement, the date of the bounced cheque, the branch it was drawn on, the value of the cheque, the amount disbursed and the remaining amount. Keep the original cheque and the bank's return memo.

✓ The IBAN certificate — A certificate showing the international bank account number of the execution applicant, in PDF format. This is the item clients never have ready. The court pays recovered funds into that account, so we ask for it at the start.

✓ Arabic legal translation — Any document that is not in Arabic needs legal translation, and the translator must be registered with the Ministry of Justice. We arrange this. Translation is not included in the court fee.

✓ For the payment order route — Proof that the right is in writing: a signed contract, an acknowledged invoice, a confirmed statement of account, or an email admitting the debt.

Stages and timing

What each stage involves

We publish only the timings Dubai Courts states. The full Cheque Execution service card, including its conditions, channels and timings, has not been fully extracted, so it should be retrieved before a first filing rather than estimated.

Stage	What happens	Stated speed
Assess and screen	Check the limitation period, confirm whether a cheque or a written right exists, check that the debtor is still licensed and present in the UAE, screen the debtor for sanctions, and test whether there are recoverable UAE assets.	Before any spend
Assemble the file	Collect the evidence listed above, obtain the IBAN certificate, and arrange Ministry of Justice registered translation where needed.	Client-dependent
File	Access Dubai Courts eFiling or the Smart Services portal, complete the execution form, request the execution writ, upload the documents and pay the fee. We stop before submission and payment so the client confirms. Smart Petition allows petitions to be submitted digitally with real-time status tracking.	Cheque execution is the fastest route
Obtain the order or judgment	A payment order is summary, with no full trial. A civil case is slow and requires a registered UAE advocate to file pleadings and appear.	Payment order fast, civil case slow
Execute	The Execution Court can attach and freeze bank accounts, seize and sell movable and immovable assets, attach salary or receivables owed by third parties, impose a travel ban and block dealings in registered assets.	Not stated by the court
Track	Follow the case through Case Inquiry or the Smart Services tracker.	Ongoing

FAQ

Common Questions.

Federal Decree-Law 14 of 2020, effective 2 January 2022, decriminalised the ordinary bounced cheque for insufficient funds. It also made the cheque itself an executive instrument, so it goes directly to the Execution Court. Criminal liability survives for bad faith, such as ordering the bank to stop payment without lawful cause, closing the account or withdrawing funds before presentation, or signing so the cheque cannot be paid. Those matters are for a lawyer and the Public Prosecution, and we never advise threatening criminal proceedings to extract payment.

The bank must pay the available balance against the cheque unless the holder refuses. It then issues a certificate for the shortfall. That shortfall is enforceable for the remainder, and the execution application asks for the cheque value, the amount disbursed and the remaining amount.

The test is that the right of the creditor is in writing and the payment is due, whether the credit is an amount or movable assets. A signed contract, an acknowledged invoice, a confirmed statement of account or an email admitting the debt can satisfy it. The Dubai Courts fee is AED 300, which makes it very often worth pursuing. We check this before anyone quotes for a full civil claim.

A valued civil claim is charged at 6% of claim value, with a minimum of AED 500 and a maximum of AED 40,000. The cap is reached at roughly AED 667,000, so above that the fee is effectively flat. An unvalued application is AED 12,001.

Advocate fees, which are the largest item and are commercial and unpublished. Also legal translation, court-appointed expert fees, and execution and enforcement costs. Dubai Courts execution case fees were not verified separately from filing fees, so they should be confirmed on the portal before filing.

No. A judgment is not money, and execution is where cases die. We assess the route, quantify the cost, organise the evidence, arrange translation, prepare the online execution application and manage the client through it. We are not a law firm, and a registered UAE advocate is required for most substantive litigation, including precautionary attachment before judgment and any bankruptcy matter.

Talk to a consultant

Which route fits your unpaid invoice?

Tell us what you hold and who owes you, and we will map the stages and the court fees.

Tell us your situation and a consultant replies with what actually applies to you, what it costs and what we need from you to start.

Money owed to your business