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The Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 promulgating the Civil Transactions Law resets the age of legal majority in the UAE to 18 Gregorian years when it takes effect on 1 June 2026. Individuals who reach this age with full mental capacity and without interdiction will gain complete civil capacity to exercise rights including independently entering contracts managing assets and opening bank accounts without a guardian the legislation states. This replaces the prior threshold of 21 lunar years which corresponded to roughly 20.5 Gregorian years because lunar years are shorter officials explained in reports leading up to the change. The law explicitly defines majority as completion of 18 Gregorian years and extends to a range of civil responsibilities previously requiring older ages.
The reform first announced in 2025 aims to strengthen the ability of young people to handle financial affairs independently while creating unified standards throughout civil criminal and labour legislation Arabian Business reported in May 2026. Those who have reached 18 already hold rights to marry engage in full-time work and drive and the civil update may broaden these further in areas such as potential adjustments to the legal drinking age a Time Out Dubai summary carried by Lexis Middle East on 14 May 2026 noted. The government has stressed that the shift supports consistency with comparative legal systems and eliminates discrepancies from the use of different calendar measures in prior rules.
A related provision within the same law lowers the age at which minors can manage their financial assets from 18 lunar years to 15 Gregorian years. This adjustment is intended to encourage entrepreneurship and increase youth participation in economic activities by reducing barriers to independent financial decision-making. The change aligns with broader efforts to integrate younger residents more fully into commercial and innovative sectors according to the decree’s accompanying explanations.
Arabian Business further detailed that the law enables 18-year-olds to operate bank accounts in their own name without any requirement for legal guardianship removing a previous administrative step. It brings civil capacity into closer harmony with juvenile justice labour regulations and criminal responsibility frameworks already applied at 18 in those domains. The UAE legislation platform lists the decree as having been issued on 1 October 2025 and published in the Official Gazette on 14 October 2025 setting the stage for its June 2026 enforcement.
The new Civil Transactions Law supplants Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 with updated articles covering legal capacity contract stipulations and rules on domicile and third-party benefits. One article specifies that every person attaining majority enjoys full rights to conduct civil transactions while another requires that an elected domicile be established only in writing. Additional clauses allow contracts to benefit future or undetermined persons provided they can be identified when the obligation is performed the official text shows.
Implementation of the decree follows a period of preparation across government entities and the private sector to adapt to the revised capacity rules. The adoption of a single Gregorian benchmark for age calculations removes earlier ambiguities that arose from mixed calendar references in legal documents. The UAE legislation portal provides the complete decree for reference confirming the precise wording on majority and related provisions.
