Family
Maliki-based personal status for Sunnis, with a separate Shia code
Personal status for Sunni Muslims follows the 1984 code based on Maliki fiqh. Shia Kuwaitis have their own separate personal status law.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Personal status circuits, with separate Sunni and Ja'fari benches. Non-Muslims may have their own religious law applied.
- Deadline — 30 days to appeal a personal status judgment
Governing law
- Personal Status Law, Law 51 of 1984 — Sunni
- Law 124 of 2019 on Ja'fari Personal Status — Shia
In practice
Kuwait is the clearest Gulf example of formally parallel confessional family law: the 2019 Ja'fari code gave Shia citizens their own enacted personal status law rather than leaving them to judicial application of Ja'fari fiqh, so the applicable code turns on the parties' school. Marriage age is seventeen for men and fifteen for women. Custody usually rests with the mother for young children while guardianship remains paternal. Kuwaiti women cannot pass nationality to their children on the same terms as men, which produces practical statelessness problems that recur in family litigation.