The Amendment of travel documents Law and civil status issued by royal decree

On Thursday, December 18, 2019 corresponding to 4/20/1441 AH, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced, by Royal Decree No. (M / 7) the amendment of some texts and articles of the Travel Documents and Civil Status Law. The amendment included 6 articles of the Civil Status Law and these articles are: Article 30, (Article 33), (Article 47), (Article 50), (Article 53), and (Article 91). The most prominent new amendments contained in the decision are:

The Amendment of Article 30 of the Civil Status Law relating to the place of residence:

Where the amendment stipulated that the place of residence of the minor is the place of residence of his father in all cases and circumstances, and this amendment came after deleting the old text, which stipulated that the place of residence of the wife is the place of her husband when the ten years are between them, in the new text the decision emphasized that the minor’s place of residence is that of his father’s, and the text on the wife’s place of residence has been deleted.

Amendment of Article 33 regarding notification of birth:

The new amendment with respect to notification of birth introduced a text related to placing the mother in the list of those responsible for notification and giving her the right to be notified, as well as amending the age group of the reporting relatives so that the age of the reporting relatives would be 18 years, in addition to not limiting the notification mandate to male relatives only. In fact, female relatives are also allowed to report, and the notification is from relatives through the closest degree to the newborn, then the amendment expanded and a list of those charged with reporting who are not parents or relatives was established.

Amendment to Article 47 regarding notification of marriage, divorce, or Khula (divorce upon the request of the wife in Islam):

The amendment has made it more comprehensive, as it stipulated the absence of the responsibility to report in the event of a link between the Civil Status Department, the Court and the competent authority, after the notification was limited earlier to only the husband or wife or their parents or their relatives, where the new text is sufficient for the existence of an electronic link between the Civil Status Department and the competent court, with respect to reporting the fact of marriage, divorce, Khula or revocation.

Amendment to Article 50 regarding the Family Register:

The new amendment to Article 50 of the Civil Status Law in relation to the application for requesting and obtaining the notification in the family registry has permitted the wife also with the right of requesting and obtaining the notification in the family registry, whereas this procedure was previously restricted to be the right of the husband solely without the wife.

Amendment to Article 53 concerning reporting the death of a person:

The amendment also expanded with respect to the notification of the case of death to include females, after it was limited to males without females. The amendment also established a list of those charged with reporting the case of death, which included on that list an important element, which is adding the assets, descendants, spouse of the deceased or his adult relatives who have reached 18 years of age.

Amendment to Article 91 concerning guardianship of minor children:

The amendment with respect to this subject relates to the description of the head of the family as it was limited to the father or mother for minor children in the past. Additionally, the text regarding the husband as a guardian for his wife has been deleted. Therefore, the new amendment has limited the description of the head of the family to the father or mother for minor children. However, with respect to the husband and his wife, the husband does not represent the head of the family in relation to his wife. In the case of the relationship between husband and wife, the clause concerning the head of the family has been deleted. The parents together or the father or mother separately are defined as the head of family for minor children. This implies that the amendment has given the woman the right to be described as the head of the family in association with the father, in cases related to minor children.