Sattam bin Khalid Law Firm handles marriage, divorce, custody, maintenance, inheritance, guardianship and trusteeship cases in strict confidence, respecting each family's privacy. Our office is in Jeddah and we appear before personal status courts across the Kingdom.
The firm has handled more than 300 cases before the Personal Status Court.
Talaq is by the husband's will, khul' is at the wife's request with the husband's consent in return for compensation, and annulment (faskh) is by court judgment on a ground set out in the Law.[1]
The husband must document a divorce before the competent body within fifteen days of it becoming final, and khul' must be documented too. Divorce is documented online through the Najiz portal.[1][2]
A conciliation request can be filed online through the Ministry of Justice's Taradhi platform to end the dispute by amicable settlement.[3]
The claim is filed as a statement of claim through Najiz; in matrimonial, custody and visitation matters a woman may sue in her own town or the defendant's.[4][5]
A judgment ordering maintenance, housing, access to a child, handing a child to its custodian or the separation of spouses is subject to expedited enforcement.[5]
Talaq is dissolution of the marriage by the husband's will; khul' is separation at the wife's request with the husband's consent in return for compensation; annulment (faskh) is separation by court judgment.
Khul' and annulment are a minor irrevocable separation and do not count towards the three divorces (Articles 77, 95, 97 and 103 of the Personal Status Law).[1]
The Law sets grounds, including the husband's refusal to maintain her or the impossibility of obtaining maintenance from him, harm that makes continued married life impossible, and his absence or disappearance for specified periods.
If harm is not proven but discord continues and reconciliation fails, two arbitrators are appointed to reconcile for not more than sixty days (Articles 107, 108, 109, 114 and 115).[1]
Custody goes to the mother, then the father, then the maternal grandmother, then the paternal grandmother, then as the court decides in the child's interest; the court may depart from this order in the child's interest (Article 127).
A child who has turned fifteen may choose which parent to live with unless their interest requires otherwise, and custody ends at eighteen (Article 135).[1]
One condition for a female custodian is that she is not married to a man unrelated to the child, unless the child's interest requires otherwise; where the child is not yet two, custody stays with the mother even if she marries such a man.[1][6]
A custodian who is one of the parents may not take the child outside the Kingdom for more than ninety days a year without the other parent's consent (Article 129).[1]
Maintenance covers food, clothing, housing and basic needs according to custom; ongoing maintenance for a wife, children and parents is due from the date the claim is filed (Articles 45 and 49).
A claim for a wife's maintenance is not heard for a past period of more than two years before the claim was filed (Article 52), and the court may order temporary maintenance while the case is pending (Article 50).[1]
A father must maintain a child who has no means; it continues for a son until he reaches the point at which his peers can earn a living, and for a daughter until she marries (Article 58).
Under the Regulation a son is not treated as able to earn until he has turned eighteen, and not in a way that conflicts with completing his education.[1][6]
The Alimony Fund pays maintenance to a person who holds a judgment for it that has not been carried out for a reason other than insolvency, then steps into the beneficiary's place to claim from the judgment debtor.
Judgments ordering maintenance are subject to expedited enforcement.[7][5]
The heirs' document is issued online through the Ministry of Justice's Estates platform; personal status courts divide an estate where there is a dispute or a share belonging to an endowment, a will, a minor or an absent person.[8][5]
Judicial costs do not apply to claims and applications before personal status courts, except applications for cassation and for reconsideration (Article 2 of the Judicial Costs Law).[9]
A lawyer's fees and how they are paid are set by agreement between lawyer and client (Article 26 of the Code of Law Practice); they vary with the type of case and the work involved.
Contact us with your situation for an estimate that fits it.[10]
Courts received more than 151,000 personal status (family) cases in 2025.
Ministry of Justice (data reported by Saudi Gazette) · 2025Divorces in Saudi Arabia totalled 57,595 in 2020, up 12.7% from 2019.
General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) · 2020The general divorce rate was 2.18 per 1,000 population aged 15 and over in 2020, and 3.64 per 1,000 among the Saudi population.
General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) · 2020The Alimony Fund paid out more than SAR 78 million to more than 23,000 beneficiaries during 2024.
Ministry of Justice – Alimony Fund (reported by Okaz) · 2024This page is general information about Saudi law, not legal advice, and makes no promise of any outcome. Laws and regulations change; consult a lawyer before you act.
Contact us with a short outline of your situation and we will explain the appropriate legal step.
