Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi family courts have issued over 75,000 rulings in the four months since the start of September 2018, revealed the Business Intelligence Platform of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

The Saudi justice system has recently witnessed major developments in digitization that have abridged procedures and fast-tracked decisions in a number of courts including family courts.

The ministry has also started pilot implementation of the paperless court project at the Riyadh Family Court, following digital integration between the first instance courts and appellate courts (paperless appeal), which helped reduce 30 days of procedural time and speed up decisions on cases.

The rulings were issued on various types of cases, including marriage and divorce, alimony, custody and visitation, inheritance, endowments and wills, and minors' cases.

As for the statistics per region, Makkah topped the list with 22,348 rulings; followed by Riyadh with 17,091; the Eastern Province with 9,771; Madinah with 5,345; and Asir with 5,251 verdicts.

Meanwhile, there was a 27 percent increase in the number of rulings issued by the general courts in Saudi Arabia between Sept. 11 and Dec. 7, compared to the same period of last year, the Business Intelligence revealed.

In the first quarter of the current Hijri year (1440), the general courts issued 49,951 judgments, compared to 39,211 issued in the first quarter of last year.

Riyadh topped other regions with 13,710 rulings, followed by Makkah with 12,350 rulings. The general courts in the Eastern Province issued 6,718 rulings, in Asir 3,853, in Madinah 3,244 and in Qassim 2,494.

Other significant figures came from Tabuk with 2,116 rulings, Jazan, 1,472 and Hail, 1,441.