Guide · updated 02.09.2026 · 12 min read · Lucent Legal team

Business Partner Locked You Out and Drained the Company Account in the UAE: The First 72 Hours

The company card declines, there's a new lock on the office door, and online banking says "access restricted". Your partner took the money and shut you out. The first three days decide whether a court still finds that money in the accounts.

Day one: what to capture while you still have access

Collect the evidence before someone deletes it.

• Company bank statements for the whole disputed period — export everything the bank still lets you see.
• Screenshots of the lockout: "access denied" in banking, disabled email, closed CRM and accounting systems.
• WhatsApp and email threads — export whole conversations, not individual messages.
• Changed locks justify a police report. The filing routes are covered in our guide on filing a police report in Dubai.
• Fresh certified copies of the trade licence and MOA from the licensing authority — in Dubai that's DET, formerly DED.

A police report about the locks closes two gaps at once. It dates the lockout and kills the later claim that nobody was ever shut out.

What a bank will actually do, and what it won't

A bank will not freeze the company account because you asked it to. It follows the signature mandate: whoever is on it controls the money. Changing signatory rights takes a notarised shareholders' resolution registered with the licensing authority. One partner cannot do that alone when the documents require two.

Send the letter anyway. It dates the moment the bank learned of the dispute and goes into the client file. Ask for one thing: no transactions without two signatures until the dispute is resolved.

Freezing an account is a court act, and the bank executes it. Compliance and KYC blocks are a separate track that banks impose on their own. How an attachment lands on an account is covered in our guide on frozen accounts and salary attachment.

Legal notice to the partner, and what DET can do

The notice goes out on day two, not in month two. A legal notice pins down your demand with an amount and a deadline. Without it the dispute reads as two annoyed people arguing by message. What to write and how to serve it is in our guide on sending a legal notice in the UAE.

DET covers two needs. First, certified copies of the licence and MOA, which the court and the bank will both want. Second, it stops a manager being swapped unilaterally, because that change runs through a notarised shareholders' resolution.

DET also runs a B2B commercial complaints service: a fee of AED 2,020, a 10-day process, ending in a binding document. The conditions are tight — the respondent must hold a DET licence, and cases about banks, cheques and fraud are refused, as are free zone companies. A fight between two co-owners of the same company is not what this channel is built for; it handles disputes with a counterparty.

Freezing the accounts before you sue: precautionary attachment

This is the main instrument of the first 72 hours. The application goes to the summary judge without notice to the other side. A decision usually comes within 48 hours, under Articles 247–251 of Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022.

Then a hard calendar starts. You have 8 days from the attachment order to file the substantive claim — miss it and the attachment is forfeited. After a final judgment, enforcement must follow within 30 days or the measure lapses.

Bank accounts, shares, vehicles and receivables can be attached. Residential property, essential goods, tools of a trade and wages cannot. Security is at the judge's discretion — a bank guarantee or a letter of indemnity — and there is no fixed tariff.

The court fee on the substantive claim is calculated on the claim value; the calculation and filing steps are in our guide on how to file a court case in the UAE. What happens when you hold a judgment and the money still doesn't move is in our guide on enforcing a UAE court judgment.

What the Commercial Companies Law No. 32/2021 gives you

Your rights as a shareholder don't depend on who holds the office keys.

An LLC manager answers to the company, the partners and third parties for fraud, abuse of power, breach of the law or the MOA, and gross negligence. That's Article 84 of Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021, and a clause waiving that liability is void. Article 83 hands the manager broad authority in the first place, which is where the imbalance in these fights comes from.

A shareholder can demand a copy of the last audited accounts and the auditor's report in writing. The company has 10 days from the request under Article 27 of the same law. A refusal becomes evidence in itself.

The general assembly can remove a manager. One law firm's analysis puts the threshold to requisition a meeting at 10% of capital; other sources say 20% and 25%. At 50% you clear it on any reading.

Selling a stake runs through Article 80: the other partners get 30 days to buy first, and a price dispute goes to an appointed expert.

The criminal route: breach of trust

Money taken out of a company account falls under Article 453 of the Penal Code, Federal Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021. The article punishes misappropriating, using or dissipating money and movable property received by way of deposit, lease, pledge, loan for use or agency. The penalty is one month to 3 years and a fine of AED 100 to AED 30,000. A partner in jointly owned property is expressly treated as an agent, which is why the complaint works.

You file with Dubai Police: the app, the website, a station or a Smart Police Station. The Public Prosecution decides whether a case opens, not the officer at the desk.

The refusal comes worded as "this is a civil dispute". That happens when the money left on a disputed but explainable basis: a profit distribution, a supplier payment, repayment of a founder's loan. The criminal angle appears where money was held on trust and taken with intent.

The 50/50 deadlock: buyout, liquidator, dissolution

The law has no ready-made deadlock mechanism, so the exit sits in one of three places.

First, the MOA and the shareholders' agreement. An arbitration clause sends the dispute to DIAC, and the court will then refuse to hear the merits. Buyout mechanics are covered in our guide on a business partner dispute in the UAE.

Second, a court-appointed liquidator. Under Article 678 of the Civil Transactions Law, any interested party can ask the court to appoint a liquidator to wind up and divide jointly owned property. For a 50/50 partnership this is often shorter than arguing which Commercial Companies Law article governs forced dissolution.

Third, judicial dissolution under the Commercial Companies Law. Sources disagree on the article number — both 302 and 303 appear — so the fit to your case needs a lawyer. The closing procedure itself is in our guide on liquidating a company in the UAE.

On timing, without varnish: first instance takes 12–24 months, and 2–4 years with the appeals. Arbitration runs 12–24 months by the same sources. A negotiated buyout beats every one of those routes.

What not to do in return

A mirror response turns you from the injured party into a co-defendant.

• Don't change the locks back or force your way into the office — you'll collect a police report of your own.
• Don't pull money out "to save it". That is the exact offence you were about to report your partner for.
• Don't delete messages or documents. Missing emails get read against whoever had access.
• Don't sign away the manager role or your stake without a lawyer. That signature closes off claims permanently.
• Don't wait on interim measures. There's nothing to attach on an empty account.

Topic: Closing a Business in the UAE 2026

This material is for information only and is not legal advice. UAE law changes — a lawyer will assess how it applies to your situation.