Q: My firm (based in Dubai) is owed AED 140,000 for providing manpower services to support catering operations for a Dubai-based business head office in Abu Dhabi. They have failed to pay my invoice since Sept 2017, we keep chasing them all but management changed and they don't bother to attend any emails or calls. What I'd like to do is recover my money with late fees and all legal fees. It's quite a long time now. They are a reputed group of companies and it seems they are not willing to pay. Please note that all documents are in place such as the agreement, invoices, and delivery notes. Any help or advice is appreciated, please.

Q: Hi, We are a technical & cleaning service provider. We worked on the facade cleaning of Hotel Apartments and submitted our invoice on the 18th of March 2018. As per our contract, we receive our payment within 15 days after the submission of the invoice. But this time we are chasing them for the 15 days period which was on April 4, 2018. Every time we ask, their finance department was replying that the signatory is not available. Yesterday, the 28th of July, we arranged a meeting with their GM and discussed everything with him. We were shocked that the GM said: "Go to the police, we will not pay you anything." I replied, "Why"? He said, "The management is not willing to pay anything to anyone". We have the contract with them, a copy of the submitted invoice, and photos of all work progress. Advise us, what should we do? Regards, S. S. H. Managing Director

Q: Dear Legal Experts, I have a client who had hired me for a film production project in 2020. He cleared some advance but then during the filming, some more services were added to the job and he owed me around USD 7000 after the filming was completed. However, despite several follow-ups, he finally refused to clear my payment citing damages made by models provided by us - which is baseless. I passed the case to a collection agency but there was no result as he is not responding to any communication. What should I do?

An interview-format article covering the topic of how to increase chances of getting your invoices paid in the UAE. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW.

An interview-format article covering the topic of payment orders in the UAE. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW.

The provisions of this law, promulgating UAE Civil Code, govern the civil transactions in the United Arab Emirates. The commercial transactions remain subject to the laws and regulations applicable in their regard.

The law promulgates UAE Civil Procedures Code (Civil Procedure Law) which governs civil procedures in the United Arab Emirates, including the prosecution before the courts, litigation and execution.

This Law applies to merchants, as well as to all acts of commerce carried out in the UAE by any person even though he be not a trader. Commercial matters regarding which specific Federal laws are issued shall be subject to the provisions of such laws, and to the provisions hereof which do not contradict with said laws.

The provisions of this law On Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions (Law of Evidence) govern evidence in civil and commercial disputes in the UAE.