- Divorce & Custody
- Doha
- Confidential
Divorce in Qatar — know where you stand before anyone files.
Whether you're thinking about it or it has already been started against you, the first weeks decide the children, the money and your right to stay. Send us the situation, confidentially. You'll know your position within the hour.
- Reply within the hour
- Confidential
- No obligation
- Arabic & English
- Licensed before the Court of Cassation
- 300+ cases since 2024
- Hundreds of families, in Arabic and English
- Nothing leaves the firm
Two situations. Two different first moves.
I'm thinking about divorce
Nothing has been filed. This is the moment with the most options — and the one people waste.
Get your position in writing.Children, money, home, residency: what the law gives you, and what it doesn't, before you say a word at home.
Gather the paper quietly.Marriage certificate, IDs and passports, bank statements, the tenancy, school records. Copies, not originals.
Decide the route.Agreed divorce, khula, or a case for divorce. Each has a different cost, speed and outcome for custody and money.
Don't announce it, move out, or send the message until you know what each of those does to your position.
It's been started against me
A filing, a summons, a lawyer's letter, or a message saying it's over. The clock is already running.
Don't sign, don't reply in writing.Not a settlement, not a "temporary" custody arrangement, not a message you'd regret in front of a judge.
Send us what you received.A photo of the paper is enough. We tell you what it is, what it asks for and the date that matters.
Protect the children and the money now.Interim maintenance, where the children stay, a travel ban if there's a risk — these can be asked for at the start, not the end.
Don't leave the home or the country with the children before you've spoken to us.
Three things not to do this week
Don't send the message.
The angry one. It will be read out in court.
Don't sign to make it stop.
A settlement, a custody "arrangement", a receipt. Signed under pressure, it is used against you for years.
Don't move the children.
Not to another home, not to another country, until you know what the law says about it.
What we fight for
Every file is different. These are the outcomes we build the case around — from the first message, not the last hearing.
If you're the mother
- Custody kept — and extended where the child's interest allows
- Maintenance for the children, set on his real means and actually paid
- Your sponsorship transferred, so you and the children stay in Qatar
- A travel ban on the children the moment there is a risk
- The deferred dower and compensation, claimed in full
If you're the father
- Guardianship kept: school, passport, travel, every document
- Visitation set clearly — and enforced when it is ignored
- Maintenance fixed on what you earn, not on what is claimed
- Custody moved to you where the law's conditions are met
- The children kept in Qatar while the case runs
Whichever side you're on, the agreement we draft or the judgment we win is built to be enforced — not just signed.
Who gets the children
Most parents lose ground here before anything is filed, because they assume custody means control. In Qatar it doesn't. Custody and guardianship are separate rights, and the gap between them decides schooling, travel and every document your child needs.
Custody and guardianship are not the same
CustodyWho the child lives with, day to day.
GuardianshipWho signs — school, passport, travel, bank, medical.
CustodyThe mother, by default, while the child is young.
GuardianshipThe father, by default — whatever the custody says.
CustodyYes. By age, by the court, or by something the custodian does.
GuardianshipRarely, and only by the court.
13a boy
15a girl
A mother's custody runs by default until a boy is 13 and a girl is 15. The court can extend it — a boy to 15, a girl until she marries — where that serves the child.
Those are the defaults, not the outcome. The court weighs both parents, and that is the part a case is won or lost on.
What costs a parent custody
Remarrying.
A mother who marries a man outside the child's close family can lose custody — and often does, because nobody told her the timing mattered.
Moving the child.
A new home, inside Qatar or out of it, without agreement or the court's leave. It is the most common own goal we are called about.
The home itself.
Health, conduct, who else lives there. The other side will put evidence in front of the judge. So should you.
Travel.
A court can stop a child leaving Qatar. Travel against an order and you risk the custody itself, not just the trip.
None of this is settled by the law alone. It is settled by what the court is shown, and when. Send us the situation and you will know within the hour which of these you are standing in, and what to do about it this week.
Why Al Faisal for a divorce
Discretion.
No names anywhere — not on the site, not in the videos. Nothing leaves the firm.
The truth, gently.
We tell you your real position, not the one you're hoping for. Then we fight for the best version of it.
Cassation-grade.
The agreement we draft or the case we file is built to hold if the other side pushes it all the way.
Arabic and English.
Hundreds of families, in both languages.
Family files are where people act fastest and think least — a message sent in anger, a child taken to the airport, a paper signed to end the argument. I've read the files those moments produce, years later. Come to us before the moment. It's the cheapest advice you'll ever take.
Faysel Al MohannadiCassation lawyer · 23 years of public service, Ministry of Interior & INTERPOL
Questions we get every day
An agreed divorce can be done in weeks. A contested case with custody and money runs for months, longer with appeals. The reconciliation stage comes first either way.
No. Before a divorce case proceeds, the Family Court's reconciliation office tries to bring the two sides to terms. Many divorces are agreed there — on custody and money as well — which is why we prepare you for it: what to agree, what never to agree, and what an agreement must contain to be enforced.
Specific sums under specific heads, not a split down the middle: maintenance for the children, paid by the father on his means; maintenance for the wife for the waiting period; the deferred dower; and compensation where a husband divorces without cause. Property stays with whoever owns it.
It depends on their ages, both parents' circumstances and the law's conditions. Custody and guardianship can be split. We'll tell you where you stand — honestly.
A divorce at the wife's request where she returns the dower, or part of it. It is faster than proving harm, and it changes the money, not the custody.
The court can order it. Timing matters. If you think travel is planned, message us today.
Yes, if you're resident. Qatar's Family Law applies to Muslims of any nationality; non-Muslims may ask for their own law on certain matters. Which law applies is the first thing we settle.
Not automatically. With custody, the law gives you a route to transfer sponsorship and stay. Many leave the country when they didn't have to. We handle it.
Usually yes, if you're resident and the marriage is documented. Which law applies is the first question.
No. Legal privilege covers everything you send us.
The consultation has one fixed fee, shown before you confirm a booking. If we take your case, the full fee is agreed in writing before we start.
Decide your position — before it's decided for you.
Send your situation, text or voice note. Confidential. Know your next step within the hour.
Is a child about to be taken out of the country? Call now.