How much is blood money in the UAE, and who pays it after a fatal accident?

Diya for a person killed by mistake is AED 200,000, for a man or a woman.¹

How much is diya in the UAE?

AED 200,000. Federal Decree-Law 1 of 2019 says in its first article that diya for a person who dies by mistake, “male or female”, is set at AED 200,000, and that the Cabinet may raise or lower it on the proposal of the Minister of Justice. It applies to every case without a final judgment.¹

Sources for Table 1

Emarat Al Youm, 1 February 2020,¹ and Al Bayan, 10 December 2019.²

Is diya for a woman the same as for a man?

Yes, since the 2019 decree-law. Before it, Emarat Al Youm reported, some courts calculated a woman’s diya at half a man’s, AED 100,000, while others paid the same amount.¹ The decree-law repealed the 1991 law and set one figure for both.¹

Who pays diya after a fatal road accident?

The insurer of the vehicle that caused the accident. The unified third party policy covers death of any person, including passengers, up to the value a court awards, with no upper limit.³ When a person covered by the policy dies, the insurer pays the benefit due to their heirs.³

Two caps apply. For the death of the insured’s or the driver’s own spouse, parent or child, the insurer pays up to AED 200,000 per person. The same AED 200,000 cap applies to the death of the driver of a rental car, a public transport vehicle or a driving school car.³

The insured and the driver who caused the accident are not covered by the third party policy at all. Their families depend on any personal accident cover they had.³

Can the family claim more than the diya?

Yes. The Civil Transactions Law lets a court, at the injured party’s request, award compensation on top of the diya or arsh where the death or injury caused material and moral harm that the diya or arsh does not cover.⁴ Spouses and relatives up to the second degree can be compensated for their own moral harm from a death.⁴ See compensation after a road injury.

What is arsh?

The Civil Transactions Law names arsh alongside diya as a payment due for an injury.⁴ In motor cover the unified policy scales disability by percentage: for the capped family members, a disability is paid as its percentage of AED 200,000, plus treatment costs.³

Does the driver still face a criminal case?

Yes. Diya and compensation are separate from the penalty. A driver who causes a death by fault faces prison and a fine of at least AED 50,000, or one of the two, rising to a minimum of one year and AED 100,000 in four listed cases.⁵ Civil liability does not affect criminal liability, and the penalty does not change the compensation.⁴

How does diya compare with work accident compensation?

If a worker dies from a work injury, the family receives 24 months of the worker’s basic wage, at least AED 18,000 and at most AED 200,000, from the employer.^6,7 See injured at work.

Ask the court handling the case, or the insurer, how the award will be split among the heirs.

The small print

The text of Federal Decree-Law 1 of 2019 is quoted from Emarat Al Youm’s report of 1 February 2020. Al Bayan reported the decree on 10 December 2019, with comments from a Dubai appeal court judge and lawyers.^1,2

The insurer’s obligations are Chapter One, clause 5 and Chapter Two, clauses 1 and 3 of the unified third party policy.³ Diya and arsh in civil claims are Article 259 of Federal Decree-Law 25 of 2025, the Civil Transactions Law in force since 1 June 2026. Moral harm to relatives is Article 254.⁴ Death by fault in a vehicle is Article 40 of Federal Decree-Law 14 of 2024.⁵ Work injury death compensation is Article 37(3) of Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021.⁶