Dubai cheque guide

Bounced cheque in Dubai: how execution works and how to check your case

The law on bounced cheques changed, and a lot of what people still repeat is out of date. This is how a bounced cheque is enforced in Dubai now, what it costs, how long the other side has to pay, and where to look a case up, whether you are holding the cheque or you wrote it.

By the Lexorii product teamChecked against the law 31 October 20269 minute read

We read the official texts of the Commercial Transactions Law and the Civil Procedure Code, the Central Bank’s guidance and the Dubai Courts service pages, and every point below names the article it comes from. This is general information, not legal advice on your cheque. We are not affiliated with Dubai Courts, and their pages are always the authority on fees and forms.

The short answer

A cheque that bounces because the account is short is no longer a crime on its own. The holder takes it straight to the execution judge, without suing first.
In Dubai you file it through the Cheque Execution service of Dubai Courts. A bounced rent cheque goes to the Rental Disputes Center instead.
Some things are still crimes: stopping a cheque without a lawful reason, closing or emptying the account, signing it so it cannot be cashed, and forgery.
To check a case, use the Dubai Courts case inquiry with the execution file number and year. A police or prosecution matter is checked on their own services.

1. What changed, and what is still a crime

For years a bounced cheque in the UAE meant a police complaint, then the prosecution, then a criminal court. That changed on 2 January 2022, and the rule carried into the current Commercial Transactions Law, which has applied since 2 January 2023.

Today a cheque that the bank has stamped as unpaid because the balance is missing or short counts as an executive document in its own right (Article 667). In plain terms, it already works like a judgment. You do not need to win a case first. You take the cheque to the execution judge and ask for it to be enforced, in full or for whatever is still unpaid.

Bad faith is still a crime, though. These acts carry criminal penalties:

What the person who wrote the cheque did	Law
Asking the bank not to pay before the cheque date, other than for a lost or stolen cheque or a bankruptcy	Article 675(1)(a)
Closing the account, withdrawing the whole balance, or deliberately getting it frozen	Article 675(1)(b)
Writing or signing the cheque on purpose so that it cannot be cashed	Article 675(1)(c)
Forging a cheque, or knowingly using a forged one	Article 676

The first three can mean prison of 6 months to 2 years, a fine of at least 10% of the cheque (and never under AED 5,000) up to double its value, or both. Forgery carries at least a year in prison and a fine of AED 20,000 to AED 100,000.

Two details people often miss:

Paying ends the criminal case. If the full amount, or the rest of it, is paid before forced execution starts, or before a final judgment, the criminal case under Articles 674 and 675 ends (Article 684).
A criminal case does not freeze the money claim. The holder can still execute the cheque and ask for compensation while a criminal case is running (Article 682).

2. Before you file: what to have ready

The original cheque, with the bank’s statement on it. The force of the cheque comes from the bank’s note that it was unpaid for a missing or short balance (Article 667). Keep the original safe.
The bank’s return memo or certificate giving the reason it was returned.
A certificate of your IBAN, which the Dubai Courts service asks for with the request.
ID, and proof you can act. Emirates ID for a person, a trade licence for a company, and a power of attorney if a lawyer or representative files.
Arabic. Documents in another language have to be translated into Arabic by a legal translator. Everything is uploaded as PDF, and you sign in with UAE PASS.

Three checks that save a wasted filing

Is Dubai the right place? Dubai Courts takes the cheque if it was issued in Dubai, or the bank it is drawn on or the debtor is based in Dubai.
Why did it bounce? Article 667 covers a cheque returned for a missing or short balance. A cheque returned for another reason, such as a stop order or a signature that does not match, does not fit those words, and may need a different route. Ask a lawyer which one applies.
Is it in time? A cheque has to be presented within 6 months of the date written on it, and cannot be presented before that date (Articles 648 and 649). Claims against the person who wrote it are barred 2 years after that 6-month window ends, but the law excludes someone who never had the funds or withdrew them (Article 670). Do not sit on a bounced cheque while you work out which applies.

If there was some money in the account, the bank has to pay what is there unless you refuse it. It notes the part payment on the back, hands you the original cheque and a certificate, and you can enforce the rest with that marked cheque (Article 648). Taking the part payment does not cost you the balance.

3. How cheque execution works in Dubai, step by step

File the request. On the Dubai Courts Cheque Execution service, fill in the execution statement asking for the execution formula to be put on the cheque, and upload your documents. A bounced rent cheque goes to the Rental Disputes Center instead, which also lists 1 working day to register it.
Pay the fees (see the next section) and receive the decision putting the execution formula on the cheque.
The debtor is served. The notice tells them what is owed and gives them time to pay. The Civil Procedure Code in force since 2 January 2023 says 7 days from service (Article 233). The Dubai Courts service page, written under the earlier rules, still mentions 15 days. Go by the date and period on the notice in your file.
The debtor pays, offers terms or disputes. They can pay in full, propose a settlement or instalments for the judge to accept or refuse, or file an objection (see section 6).
If they do none of that, enforcement starts. The execution judge can order an inquiry into the debtor’s assets and the attachment of what is found. Where there is evidence the debtor is hiding assets or trying to leave, the judge can act before the debtor is even served (Article 234). A travel ban needs a debt of at least AED 10,000 and serious reasons to fear the debtor will leave (Article 324). A debtor who can pay and still refuses can be ordered into detention (Article 319).

None of these measures is automatic. Each is a request the judge decides on, so a well-prepared file, with the debtor’s details and any assets you know about, moves faster.

4. What it costs at Dubai Courts

These are the fees listed on the Dubai Courts Cheque Execution service page. They change, so check the page before you pay.

Step	Listed fee
Putting the execution formula on the cheque	AED 50, plus AED 10 innovation and AED 10 knowledge fees
The execution request itself	2% of the cheque, or of what is left unpaid, with a minimum of AED 200 and a maximum of AED 5,000, plus the same two AED 10 fees
Serving the debtor (notification company)	AED 105
A travel ban request, if you make one	AED 300, plus the same two AED 10 fees

As a worked example, a cheque of AED 60,000 that bounced in full would mean an execution fee of AED 1,200 (2%), and any cheque of AED 250,000 or more hits the AED 5,000 ceiling. Lawyers’ fees are on top, and vary by firm.

5. How to check a bounced cheque case

The first question is which system the case is in. A Dubai cheque can sit in more than one, for example an execution file at the courts and an old police complaint.

Where it is	What it covers	Check it on
Execution file at Dubai Courts	The usual place for a bounced cheque in Dubai. Search with the file number, year and type.	Dubai Courts case inquiry
Rent cheque at the Rental Disputes Center	Execution of bounced rent cheques. The execution judge’s decisions are tracked on the RDC site.	rdc.gov.ae
Police complaint or financial circular	A criminal cheque complaint, or a circular issued for a financial case.	Dubai Police
Case with the prosecution	A criminal cheque matter while it is with the Public Prosecution.	dxbpp.gov.ae
Cheque case in Abu Dhabi	Abu Dhabi runs its own courts and its own cheque execution requests.	adjd.gov.ae

On Dubai Courts you need the file number and its year exactly as they appear on the court paper, and the right case type. Cheque execution files are their own type, separate from judgment execution. Our Dubai Courts case inquiry guide covers the lookup itself and what to do when a case does not appear.

Worried about a travel ban? Dubai Police has a Circulars and travel bans service, also in the Dubai Police app, and the UAE government portal lists the checks worth doing before you fly.

Each time you check, write down the date you checked and what changed: when the debtor was served, since that starts the clock to pay, whether an objection was filed, and which measures were ordered.

6. If you wrote the cheque

Paying is the cleanest exit. Paying the full amount, or the rest, before forced execution starts or before a final judgment ends a criminal case under Articles 674 and 675 (Article 684), and stops the execution costs from growing.
You can propose terms. Within the period on the notice you can offer a settlement or an instalment plan. The execution judge decides whether to accept it.
You can dispute it. Dubai Courts has an execution objections and disputes service for this. Typical grounds are that the cheque was only security, that the debt was already paid, or that the signature is not yours. There is a fee, and a dispute over the debt itself can require a deposit that is returned if you win. Check the current amounts on the service page.
A travel ban can be challenged through a grievance against the order (Article 324). The time limits for a grievance are short, so act as soon as you learn of the ban.

7. For collection teams: one cheque is a form, three hundred are a system

A firm doing recovery work rarely has one cheque. It has a client with forty cheques across three banks, some returned and some not presented yet, a few part-paid, each with its own six-month window, each turning into a claim, then a file, then measures. The cheque that slips is usually the one nobody entered: it was in the client’s envelope, never in the spreadsheet.

What a collections file needs to get right

Every cheque on record with its number, bank, date and the reason it was returned.
Returned and not-yet-returned cheques counted apart, since only a returned cheque opens the execution route.
The gap between the cheques on file and the amount claimed, flagged before anything is filed.
Part payments and instalments recorded as they land, so the balance in the file is the real one.
The client’s recovered money kept apart from the firm’s fee, always.

That is how debt recovery works in Lexorii. Each claim moves from intake through the demand letter, negotiation, litigation and judgment to enforcement, and every move is logged. Cheques sit on the claim with their own dates and return reasons. Instalment plans track what is due and what is late. Hearing dates come in from the linked court case, so a claim that was in court last week is not chased as dormant. Money recovered is shown as the client’s, never as firm revenue, and the client can follow progress on their portal. All of it works in Arabic and English.

Questions

Is a bounced cheque still a criminal case in the UAE?

Not when it bounced only because there was not enough money in the account. Since 2 January 2022 the holder enforces it through the execution judge instead (Article 667 of the Commercial Transactions Law). It is still a crime to stop a cheque without a lawful reason, to close or empty the account, to sign it so it cannot be cashed, or to forge one (Articles 675 and 676).

How do I check a bounced cheque case in Dubai?

Most bounced cheques in Dubai become an execution file at Dubai Courts, which you check on the Dubai Courts case inquiry with the file number and year. A rent cheque is followed on the Rental Disputes Center website. A criminal complaint is checked with Dubai Police, and a case with the prosecution on the Dubai Public Prosecution website.

How long does the debtor have to pay after a cheque execution is filed?

The Civil Procedure Code in force since 2 January 2023 gives the debtor 7 days from the date they are served (Article 233). The Dubai Courts service page, written under the earlier rules, still mentions 15 days. Go by the date and period stated in the notice in your own file.

What does cheque execution cost at Dubai Courts?

The Dubai Courts service page lists AED 50 for putting the execution formula on the cheque, then 2% of the cheque or of the unpaid balance for the execution request, with a minimum of AED 200 and a maximum of AED 5,000. Small knowledge and innovation fees and AED 105 for serving the debtor are added. Check the current amounts on the service page before you pay.

Can I get a travel ban against the person who gave me a bounced cheque?

You can ask for one. The Civil Procedure Code lets a judge ban a debtor from travelling where the debt is at least AED 10,000 and there are serious reasons to fear they will leave (Article 324). In an execution file the judge can order it even before the debtor is served if there is evidence they are trying to leave the country (Article 234). It is the judge’s decision, not automatic.

Where do I file a bounced rent cheque in Dubai?

With the Rental Disputes Center of the Dubai Land Department, through its File an Execution: Cheques service. It asks for the Ejari contract, the bounced cheque, the bank’s return memo and a bank letter with your IBAN, all in Arabic or legally translated.

What if the cheque was only given as security?

The person who wrote it can dispute the execution before the execution judge, arguing for example that the cheque was a guarantee and no debt is due, or that the debt was already paid. Courts look at what the cheque was really for, using the contract, the correspondence and the history between the parties. This is exactly where a lawyer earns their fee, on either side.

Sources

Checked on 31 October 2026. Article numbers refer to these texts.