Can You Sue for Unpaid Investment in UAE?

Can I Sue Someone Who Won't Return My Investment in the UAE?

If you're sitting on a signed agreement, an unanswered WhatsApp trail, and a partner who's gone quiet about your invest investment — yes, you have civil remedies in the UAE. The route depends on what you signed, where the money went, and whether there's any flavour of fraud.

Quick answer

You can sue in UAE civil courts to recover an unpaid invest investment under Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022 (the Commercial Transactions Law) or the Civil Transactions Law (Federal Law No. 5 of 1985), depending on whether the deal is commercial or civil. File in the Court of First Instance where the defendant resides or where the contract was performed. Court fees run roughly 6% of the claim value, capped at AED 40,000 in Dubai. If there's deception, a parallel criminal complaint for breach of trust or fraud is possible. Honestly, most clients wait too long.

What kind of claim do you actually have?

Three flavours, and they're not interchangeable.

Contractual claim. You handed over money under a written invest investment agreement — shareholding, profit-share, loan-with-return, whatever. The other side breached. You sue for the principal plus contractual interest (or 5% commercial / 9% under recent Cassation practice if the contract is silent and the deal is commercial). Article 246 of the Civil Code on good faith performance is your friend here.

Unjust enrichment. No clean contract, but they took your money and gave nothing. Articles 318–319 of the Civil Code. Harder to prove, lower ceiling on damages.

Fraud / breach of trust. They induced the invest investment with lies, or took the funds for a stated purpose and diverted them. That's a criminal matter under Articles 451 and 453 of the Penal Code (Federal Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021). A criminal conviction makes the civil recovery almost automatic.

In my experience, people pick the wrong lane. They run to the police when it's a pure contract dispute, or they file civil when there's clear fraud and a criminal route would freeze the defendant's accounts faster.

Where do you file and what does it cost?

Onshore Dubai: Dubai Courts, Court of First Instance. Court fee is 6% of the claim, capped at AED 40,000, plus around AED 2,000 in service and expert deposits. Abu Dhabi caps at AED 20,000. Sharjah is similar.

DIFC or ADGM: only if your contract has a written jurisdiction clause pointing there, or both parties opt in. DIFC Courts filing fees scale with claim value — check the published schedule, but expect 2–5% for claims above AED 500,000.

Timeline, realistic:

• First instance judgment: 6–12 months
• Appeal: 3–6 months
• Cassation (if granted): 6–9 months
• Execution: 1–6 months depending on whether assets exist

Watch out: the limitation period for commercial claims is 10 years (Art. 95 of the Commercial Transactions Law), but specific contracts — agency, brokerage, partnership disputes — can run shorter. Don't assume you have a decade.

What evidence actually wins these cases?

Judges want paper. The signed agreement, bank transfer slips showing funds moving from your account to theirs, and any acknowledgment — even a WhatsApp message saying "I'll pay you back next month" — translated and notarised.

What I tell clients to gather before the first hearing:

• Original signed contract (Arabic translation by a MOJ-licensed translator if it's in English)
• Bank SWIFT confirmations or local transfer receipts
• Email and WhatsApp threads, exported and notarised
• Any board resolutions, share certificates, or commercial licence extracts
• Witness statements — but Emirati courts weight documents far above oral testimony

If you only have a verbal agreement and a transfer slip, you can still sue. You'll lean on unjust enrichment and the burden shifts to them to explain why your money is in their account. Not impossible. Not easy either.

Can you freeze their assets while you sue?

Yes, and frankly this is where cases are won or lost. A precautionary attachment (حجز تحفظي) under Articles 252–256 of the Civil Procedures Law lets you freeze bank accounts, real estate, or vehicles before judgment — sometimes within 48 hours of filing.

You need:

1. A prima facie debt (your contract and transfer evidence)
2. A real risk the defendant will dissipate assets
3. A counter-guarantee, often 10–20% of the claim, deposited with the court

Get this wrong and the defendant moves money to a relative's account in week one. Then you win a paper judgment against an empty shell.

For criminal-track cases, a travel ban is available once the public prosecutor accepts the complaint. That tends to focus minds.

When is criminal the better route?

If they took the money for a specific stated purpose — "I'll buy this property and register it in our joint names" — and used it elsewhere, that's potentially خيانة أمانة (breach of trust) under Article 453. Police complaint, prosecution referral, then a criminal court order to repay.

If they induced the invest investment with fabricated documents, fake licences, or a non-existent project, that's fraud under Article 451.

The civil claim runs in parallel. You're not picking one or the other.

A word of caution: filing a criminal complaint that the prosecutor decides is really a civil dispute can backfire. The defendant can counter-sue you for malicious reporting under Article 276 of the Penal Code. So get advice before you walk into the police station with a contract dispute dressed up as fraud.

Practical sequencing

Send a formal legal notice through a UAE notary public — 7 to 14 days to pay. Cost: around AED 300. This is mandatory for some commercial claims and useful in all of them; it interrupts limitation and creates a paper trail of bad faith.

If they ignore it, file the civil claim and the precautionary attachment application together. Same day if possible.

If there's any criminal element, the police complaint goes in parallel — not after.

Don't try to do this through small claims or the Rental Disputes Centre unless the dispute genuinely fits those forums. It doesn't, for most invest investment matters.

Citations

^[1] Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022 on the Commercial Transactions Law ^[2] Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 on the Civil Transactions Law (Civil Code), Articles 246, 318–319 ^[3] Federal Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021 on the Penal Code, Articles 451, 453, 276 ^[4] Federal Law No. 11 of 1992 on Civil Procedures, Articles 252–256 ^[5] Dubai Courts published fee schedule — dc.gov.ae

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