Why Every Expat in the UAE Needs a DIFC Will

You’ve lived in Dubai for a few years now. You built a career, saved money, maybe bought an apartment, maybe opened a company. All of it for your family.

There’s one question almost nobody asks in advance: what happens to all of it if something happens to you?

Most people don’t know. Their wives, husbands and children find out later, through frozen accounts, court hearings and months of waiting.

The answer depends almost entirely on one thing: whether you made a Will that actually works in the UAE. Because the Will you signed back home may not be the document that decides.

Clients come to us confident.

Usually, no.

Private international law works on a simple principle: assets located in a country are dealt with under the rules of that country. Your apartment in Dubai answers to UAE law, not to German, Indian, British or American law.

This is not a technicality. Article 17 of the UAE Civil Transactions Law provides that UAE law governs the disposal by a foreigner of real estate situated in the State, and the 2022 civil personal status reforms expressly preserved that article. Your London or Moscow Will may be entirely valid at home and still not be the instrument that determines who receives your Dubai property.

Even where a foreign Will is relevant, your family cannot simply hand it to a bank. It has to be notarised and legalised in the country of origin, attested in the UAE, and translated into Arabic by a sworn translator. Then it goes before a local court, which decides what weight to give it.

While that runs, everything stops. Bank accounts stay frozen. The apartment cannot be sold or transferred. A company with a single owner and signatory stops trading. Minor children have no legally appointed guardian, and when one is appointed, the court chooses, not you.

The apartment

A European professional lived in Dubai for years and bought an apartment for around AED 1.5 million. Married, one son. He had a Will at home leaving everything to his wife. He believed the matter was handled.

When he died, his widow went to transfer the property into her name. She was told the apartment formed part of an estate and that a court order was required.

The proceedings ran for seven months. The foreign Will did not settle the question; it became one more document to be assessed. She eventually received a share, not the whole apartment she had expected. For seven months she could not sell it, mortgage it, or do anything with it at all.

It was money her husband had spent a decade accumulating for exactly this moment. And at that moment, the family could not reach it.

The company

A businessman held one hundred per cent of a free zone company. Sole shareholder. Sole director. The only person who signed anything or moved money.

He had no UAE Will.

His accounts were frozen within days. The free zone authority would not register any change of shareholder without a court order. The company could not pay suppliers, could not pay salaries, could not sign new contracts.

Clients left. Staff left. Creditors filed claims. The court process took ten months.

The family inherited a company. It was worth a fraction of what it had been on the day he died.

There is a belief that circulates in every expat group chat in Dubai: die here without a Will and your estate is carved up under Sharia. For non-Muslims, that has not been the default position for over three years.

Since 1 February 2023, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status has applied to non-Muslims living in the UAE. Article 11 does two things.

First, it confirms that you may leave a Will covering all of the property you own in the UAE, in favour of anyone you choose.

Second, it sets out what happens if you don’t. Half of the estate passes to your surviving spouse. The other half is divided equally among your children, with no distinction between sons and daughters. If you have no children, that second half passes to your parents, or is split between a surviving parent and your brothers and sisters.

This was a genuine reform and it is worth knowing about. But look closely at what it gives you: a fixed statutory formula, applied by a court, after you are gone.

Why the default formula is not a plan

It recognises only four categories of person. Spouse, child, parent, sibling. A partner you never married is not an heir. A stepchild is not an heir. A child you raised but never legally adopted is not an heir, and UAE law does not treat adoption the way most home jurisdictions do.

It says nothing about which asset goes to whom. Your spouse and children become co-owners of the apartment, the company shares and the brokerage account in fixed proportions. If they later disagree about whether to sell, that is a dispute, not a plan.

It does not appoint a guardian for your minor children. That decision goes to a court that never met you.

It does not appoint an executor. Somebody still needs authority to deal with the banks, the Land Department and the free zone registry. Until a court names that person, nobody has it, and nothing moves.

And your own family can displace it. Under Article 11, the heirs of a foreign national may ask for the law of the deceased’s home country to be applied instead, unless a registered Will provides otherwise. That sounds like useful flexibility. In practice it is a lever. Where heirs disagree, one of them can pull it, and the estate stalls while the court works out which law governs and what that law actually says.

The problem is not that the law is unfair. The problem is that it gives every family the same answer. A Will gives you yours.

Let us be precise here, because there is a great deal of loose talk on this point.

When a UAE bank is notified that an account holder has died, it freezes the account. This happens whether or not you have a Will. A Will is not a bypass. Joint accounts are normally frozen too. The widespread assumption that a joint account simply passes to the survivor does not hold in the UAE.

The account is released when the bank is shown a succession order or grant of probate from the competent court, identifying who is entitled to the funds and who is authorised to collect them.

So the real question is not whether the freeze happens. It is how long it lasts.

Without a registered Will, the court must first establish who the heirs are, which law applies, and whether the foreign documents your family produces are authentic. Marriage certificates, birth certificates and any foreign Will must be notarised, legalised, attested and translated. Each step takes weeks. Each is a point at which the file can be returned for correction. Months is the normal outcome, not the worst case.

With a registered DIFC Courts Will, the position is different. The Will is already on the register. It is already in English, with no Arabic translation required. It sits within a common-law framework with a dedicated probate registry, and its validity is not the thing being argued about. The executor you named applies to the DIFC Courts, and a probate order issued there is enforceable across the UAE without a separate action in the local courts. Weeks rather than months is a realistic expectation.

What protects your family in the first month

A Will shortens the freeze. It does not eliminate it. If your household would struggle with no access to the main account for six to eight weeks, plan for that separately.

• Keep a working account in your spouse’s sole name, funded with three to six months of living costs. It is their asset, not yours, so it does not form part of your estate.
• Check how your life insurance pays out. A policy with a properly named beneficiary generally pays outside the estate, and far faster than probate.
• If you own a company, give at least one other person bank signing authority. Otherwise the business stops trading on the day you do.
• Leave an accessible record of accounts, policies, properties and digital assets. Families routinely lose money for no reason other than that nobody knew an account existed.

Dubai operates a separate court system for the International Financial Centre, the DIFC Courts. They are common-law courts, they work in English, and since 2015 they have maintained a dedicated Wills register for non-Muslims.

A DIFC Courts Will lets you replace the statutory default with your own instructions. You decide who receives the apartment. You decide who receives the company shares, and in what proportions: equal, unequal, or weighted towards one person for reasons only you know. You appoint the executor who Will carry it out. You appoint guardians for your children.

Since the 2019 rule changes, a DIFC Will can cover assets located anywhere in the UAE, not only Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah. Guardianship provisions remain limited to minor children resident in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah.

There are five Will types: a Full Will covering everything you own in the UAE; a Property Will for up to five UAE properties; a Financial Assets Will for UAE bank and brokerage accounts; a Business Owners’ Will for shareholdings in up to five UAE companies; and a Guardianship Will dealing only with children.

Drafting and registration typically take two to three weeks. Registration can be completed virtually, from anywhere in the world.

1. Inventory what you own in the UAE.
   Real estate: address, name on the title, any mortgage. Bank accounts: which institutions, approximate balances, which are joint. Company shareholdings: percentage, free zone or mainland, who your partners are. Digital assets: crypto holdings and where the keys are.
2. Decide who receives what.
   Be specific. Not “my family” but named individuals, with percentages or identified assets. Vagueness is what gets Wills challenged.
3. Appoint executors.
   A primary executor who Will handle everything, and a substitute in case the first cannot act. They do not need to live in the UAE.
4. If you have children, appoint guardians.
   A permanent guardian, who may be abroad, and an interim guardian physically present in the UAE who can make immediate decisions until the permanent guardian arrives. Note that DIFC guardianship provisions apply to minor children resident in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah.
5. Use an accredited draftsman.
   Not simply any lawyer. Someone listed on the DIFC Courts Register of Will Draftsmen. The register is public and the list is short. This matters because a badly drafted Will, internally inconsistent, or inconsistent with how your assets are actually held, can be challenged, and a challenged Will can leave your family exactly where they would have been with no Will at all.

If you own assets in the UAE. If you have a spouse, a partner or children. If you care what happens to what you have built.

If you arrived last month and own nothing here yet, you can wait until you buy property or take a shareholding.

If you have been here five or ten years, you are already late.

Does my Will from my home country cover my Dubai apartment?
Not automatically. UAE law governs the disposal by a foreigner of real estate situated in the UAE. A foreign Will may still be relevant to other assets, but it must be legalised, attested and translated into Arabic, and then survive review by a local court, a process measured in months rather than weeks.

What happens if I die in the UAE without any Will?
For a non-Muslim, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 applies. Half of the estate passes to the surviving spouse and half is divided equally among the children, regardless of gender. With no children, it passes to parents and siblings. A court applies that formula. It does not appoint the executor or guardian you would have chosen.

Is Sharia law still applied to non-Muslims?
Since February 2023 it is no longer the default for non-Muslims. But the civil default that replaced it is still a fixed statutory formula rather than your instructions, and the heirs of a foreign national may apply to have home-country law used instead unless a registered Will provides otherwise.

Who can register a DIFC Courts Will?
Any non-Muslim aged 21 or over who owns assets in the UAE, or has minor children resident in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah. You do not need to be a UAE resident, and your executors and guardians do not need to live here either.

What types of DIFC Will are available?
Five: Full, Property (up to five UAE properties), Financial Assets (UAE bank and brokerage accounts), Business Owners’ (shareholdings in up to five UAE companies), and Guardianship.

Does a DIFC Will cover assets outside Dubai?
Yes. Since the 2019 rule changes it can cover assets located anywhere in the UAE. Guardianship provisions remain limited to minor children resident in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah.

Do I have to be in Dubai to register?
No. Registration can be completed virtually from anywhere in the world, with two witnesses, before the Registrar or an Authorised Officer.

Will my bank accounts still be frozen if I have a DIFC Will?
Yes. Accounts are frozen on notification of death regardless of what Will exists. What a registered DIFC Will changes is how quickly they are released, weeks rather than months, because the Will’s validity is not in question and the probate order is enforceable across the UAE without a separate local court action.

How long does it take to put a DIFC Will in place?
Two to three weeks in a straightforward case: drafting and review, then a registration appointment. Estates involving companies, trusts or significant overseas assets take longer.

Can I change my Will later?
Yes. A DIFC Will can be amended or revoked at any time. Review it after marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, a property purchase or a change in company ownership.

My spouse and I both want Wills. Is one document enough?
No. One Will cannot cover two people. Couples register mirror wills, two separate documents in substantially matching terms.

I own a company in a free zone. What happens to it?
If you are the sole shareholder and signatory, the free zone authority Will generally not register any change without a court order, and the bank Will not release company funds meanwhile. A Business Owners’ Will, combined with a second authorised signatory, is what keeps the business trading.

What about crypto and other digital assets?
Entitlement is one problem; access is another. A Will can direct who inherits, but nobody can recover a wallet without the keys. Digital assets need both a testamentary provision and a secure, retrievable record of access.

Do I actually need a lawyer for this?
There is no legal requirement to use one. But a poorly drafted Will can be challenged, and a challenged Will can leave your family in the same position as no Will at all. If you use an adviser, use one listed on the DIFC Courts Register of Will Draftsmen.

A first consultation takes thirty minutes. We look at your situation, identify which assets need to be covered and which instrument fits, and answer your questions. You do not need to come to the office.

Email: info@emiraldlegal.ae
Phone / WhatsApp: +971 58 986 0944

Emirald Legal Consultants advises on succession, Wills, family foundations and asset protection for individuals and families living in the UAE and the wider Middle East.