The general assembly of Kuwait’s Court of First Instance has approved the allocation of judicial work for 2026/2027. It closes twenty-four circuits and redistributes a number of jurisdictions, with effect from 1 October 2026.
What it means for you
If you have a case still before one of the closed circuits, it is transferred to another circuit, chosen by the court’s technical office. Check with the registry of your court before your hearing date to find out where the file went and which circuit now holds it.
The circuits that close
Three Capital summary-appeal circuits (1, 2 and 3); three summary evidence-recording circuits (20, 21 and 22); two Hawalli misdemeanour and penal-order circuits (9 and 10); one Ahmadi misdemeanour and penal-order circuit (10); Capital summary circuit 5 together with evidence recording; three Capital family summary and interim circuits (14, 15 and 16); three Farwaniya family summary and interim circuits (14, 15 and 16); Hawalli family circuit 14; Mubarak Al-Kabeer family circuit 8; Farwaniya Jaafari family circuit 2; Hawalli Jaafari family circuit 4; Capital Jaafari family circuit 1; Capital rent circuit 9; and two Farwaniya rent circuits (12 and 13).
Jurisdictions that moved
Capital partial appeal takes appeals from the Capital summary circuits. Capital family circuit 13 takes filiation suits and name corrections. Felony circuits rule on renewals of pre-trial detention in the felonies and misdemeanours before them. Misdemeanour circuits issue penal orders on the day of the hearing, without adjournment. Criminal circuits hear challenges to travel bans, asset freezes and decisions to shelve an investigation. Administrative circuits take public-tender and public-procurement disputes.
A fixed hearing hour
Nine in the morning is now the standing time for all sessions of the Court of First Instance, its partial courts and the family courts. Where two circuits sit in one room, the senior judge’s circuit begins at nine and the second at eleven.
This comes on top of the transfer of the full labour circuits to Jahra and the full civil circuits from Farwaniya to Hawalli, which completes on the same date: the detail is here.
Photograph: an entity card designed by Kuwait One. Background from Wikimedia Commons, by succo, CC0 public domain.
Source: general assembly of the Court of First Instance, via Al-Seyassah, 28 September 2026.
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