Kuwait Personal Status Law No. 51 of 1984

Law No. 51 of 1984 Concerning Personal Status is one of the principal laws governing personal and family status matters in the State of Kuwait. It regulates marriage and its legal effects, divorce and separation, lineage, custody, maintenance, wills, inheritance, and other family-related matters.

Table of Contents of the Personal Status Law

Book One: Marriage

This Book regulates marriage from its preliminary stages through the legal consequences arising from the marital relationship. Its principal subjects include:

• Engagement and preliminaries to marriage

• Essential elements of marriage

• Conditions of the marriage contract

• Legal capacity of the spouses

• Guardianship in marriage

• Compatibility between spouses

• Conditions stipulated in the marriage contract

• Types of marriage and their legal effects

• Dowry (Mahr)

• Household furnishings and marital property

• Spousal maintenance

• Marital residence and obedience

• Matrimonial claims and disputes

Dissolution of Marriage

The Law regulates the termination of the marital relationship and the legal consequences arising from it. Its principal subjects include:

• General provisions governing separation

• Divorce (Talaq)

• Khul' divorce

• Judicial divorce for failure to provide maintenance

• Judicial divorce due to Ila'

• Separation on grounds of harm

• Separation due to absence or imprisonment

• Annulment due to defect

• Annulment due to difference in religion

• Provisions concerning missing persons

• Legal effects of separation

• Waiting period (Iddah)

• Compensation resulting from separation

Birth and Its Legal Effects

This section addresses matters relating to children and the family relationships resulting from marriage, including:

• Establishment of parentage

• Parentage within a valid marriage

• Parentage arising from an invalid marriage or intercourse by mistake

• Acknowledgment of parentage

• Denial of parentage and Li'an

• Parentage claims

• Breastfeeding (Rada'ah)

• Child custody

• Maintenance of relatives

• Guardianship over the person

Book Two: Wills

This Book regulates wills, the conditions governing their validity, and their implementation. Its principal subjects include:

• Definition of a will

• Essential elements and conditions of a will

• Invalidity of a will

• Revocation of a will

• Acceptance and rejection of a will

• Provisions concerning beneficiaries

• Provisions concerning bequeathed property

• Wills concerning usufruct and benefits

• Wills involving periodic payments

• Increase in the property subject to a will

• Competing wills

Book Three: Inheritance

This Book regulates the transfer and distribution of an estate among heirs. Its principal subjects include:

• General provisions on inheritance

• Grounds of inheritance

• Inheritance by prescribed shares

• Inheritance by residuary entitlement (Ta'sib)

• Exclusion and reduction of inheritance rights (Hajb)

• Redistribution of the residue (Radd)

• Inheritance by distant kindred

• Acknowledgment of lineage and its effect on inheritance

• Inheritance rights of an unborn child

• Provisions concerning missing persons

• Provisions concerning intersex persons

• Inheritance of a child born outside marriage and a child subject to Li'an

• Settlement and withdrawal from an estate (Takharuj)

Final Provisions

The final part of the Law contains supplementary provisions concerning its application, including:

• Intervention of the Public Prosecution in certain personal status proceedings

• Miscellaneous provisions relating to the implementation of the Law

Number of Articles

Kuwait Personal Status Law No. 51 of 1984 consists of 347 Articles, distributed among the various Books, Chapters, and Sections regulating family and personal status matters.

The general structure is as follows:

• Marriage and related matters: Articles 1–212

• Wills: Articles 213–287

• Inheritance: Articles 288–336

• Final Provisions: Articles 337–347

Disclaimer: The information provided on this page is intended for general legal information and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should refer to the official text of the legislation and any amendments currently in force and obtain professional legal advice where necessary.