Lawyers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

The DIFC Courts will freeze assets held anywhere in the world in support of proceedings running in another country, with no requirement that the parties or the assets connect to the DIFC. Three Court of Appeal decisions between 2023 and 2025 settled the jurisdiction, and Techteryx fixed the limit at whether the foreign judgment being pursued could be recognised here.

A dishonoured cheque becomes an executive instrument under Article 667 and enters the Execution Court without any prior judgment. The Federal Supreme Court confirmed in 2026 that executory force is not a final determination, so a drawer who can show the cheque was security for an obligation that never arose can have the executory formula cancelled.

An action to annul an onshore arbitral award must be brought within 30 days of notification, and Article 53 lists the eight grounds the challenging party has to prove. Nullity can also be raised as a defence to recognition, which carries no deadline, and a DIFC-seated award follows a separate route the DIFC Courts used for the first time in April 2026.