A typical family with UAE assets holds a whole perimeter: an account with one of the classic UAE banks, an apartment in Dubai Marina, a stake in a free-zone company. What happens to that perimeter when the owner dies is usually something nobody in the family knows — and the default answer is unpleasant: the bank freezes the accounts, joint ones included, and distribution goes to court under rules the family did not expect.
What happens without a will
The first and most painful issue is liquidity. On learning of a client’s death, a UAE bank blocks the accounts until a court succession order; a joint spousal account is no exception, and powers of attorney die with the principal. The UAE does not recognise a right of survivorship: a joint account works as a tenancy in common, so the deceased’s share does not pass automatically to the survivor but is frozen and falls into the estate. A family living off a Dubai account is left without access to money for months. Status goes with the account: a dependant’s residence visa rests on the sponsor and is cancelled on his death, the grace period before departure or a change of sponsor runs from 30 to 180 days depending on the category of permit, and by Cabinet decree a widow and her children obtain one year’s residence from the date of the husband’s death without a new sponsor.
Then comes the substantive law. For Muslims, Sharia distribution in fixed shares applies — since 15 April 2025 under Federal Decree-Law 41/2024 on Personal Status, which replaced Law 28/2005. For non-Muslims, since 1 February 2023 Federal Decree-Law 41/2022 on Civil Personal Status governs: with no will, half of the estate goes to the surviving spouse and the other half to the children equally, regardless of gender; with no children — to parents and siblings.
A foreigner may instead elect the law of their citizenship — art. 1 para. 1 of Decree-Law 41/2022 expressly allows it, but electing is not enough. Foreign law in the UAE courts is a question of fact: the party invoking it must produce the complete, unabridged text with all amendments, legalised and translated by a translator accredited by the Ministry of Justice, and prove that it remains in force in its country of origin. Fail to produce it, produce it in part, or produce it for the first time on appeal, and the court applies UAE law. That is the settled position of the Dubai Court of Cassation (Appeals No. 720 of 13 August 2025, No. 1084 of 22 October 2025 and No. 1615 of 23 December 2025) and the direct command of art. 30 of the Civil Code (art. 28 in Law 5/1985).
That sounds tolerable, but procedure eats the entire gain: an intestacy case runs through court with translation and legalisation of every document — certificates, proof of kinship, foreign court orders. The apostille does not work here: the UAE is not party to the Hague Convention of 1961, and every foreign paper goes through full consular legalisation plus translation into Arabic by an accredited translator. Minor children are a separate story: guardianship is decided by the court, and the court’s view of a suitable guardian may not match the family’s plans.
The substantive defaults for non-Muslims have been civilised since 2023: half to the spouse, the rest equally to the children (Decree-Law 41/2022). Procedurally, intestacy still means frozen accounts, court, document legalisation and months without liquidity.
Three ways to put your wishes on record
A non-Muslim resident has three routes. First — a DIFC Will: an English-language common-law will registered with the DIFC Courts. Second — an ADJD will (Abu Dhabi Judicial Department): a bilingual English-Arabic document at AED 950 (AED 1,900 for a mirror pair), valid across all seven emirates. Third — a notarised will in the local courts, in Arabic. All three displace the defaults and fix your own distribution. They differ on six points:
| Route | Who may use it | Language | Registration fee | Reach | Probate and enforcement | Guardianship of minors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIFC Wills Service | non-Muslims who have never been Muslim, 18+, with UAE assets or minor children in the UAE | English | AED 10,000 Full Will (AED 15,000 mirror); AED 5,000–7,500 for single-asset wills | all emirates; worldwide assets with advice | DIFC Courts grant (USD 1,500); enforced by the DIFC Courts' enforcement judge, outside the DIFC through the Dubai Courts without review of the merits (Dubai Law 2/2025, arts. 31–32) | Guardianship Will; children resident in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah only |
| ADJD Civil Wills Office | foreign nationals regardless of religion | English and Arabic | AED 950 (AED 1,900 mirror) | all seven emirates | Abu Dhabi civil family court | — |
| Notarised will in the local courts | non-Muslim residents | Arabic | — | — | local courts, with translation and legalisation of foreign documents | — |
The table reduces the choice to two trade-offs. The DIFC route costs ten times the ADJD fee and in return gives an English document, a probate court of its own and enforcement of its orders without a fresh succession case in the local courts; the ADJD route is the economical answer for a family that can live with a bilingual document and an Abu Dhabi court, and it is the only one of the two open to a Muslim foreigner. The notarised local-court will is the fallback when neither registry fits. Where minor children live outside Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, the DIFC guardianship will does not reach them, which is a reason to check the ADJD route or the local courts for that part of the plan.
DIFC Wills: how it works
The Wills Service at the DIFC Courts is a registry for those who are not Muslim and have never been Muslim, aged 18 or over, with assets in the UAE or minor children living there. The design is modular, with six types: Full Will (all UAE assets), Property Will (real estate only), Business Owners Will (company shares), Financial Assets Will (bank and brokerage accounts), Digital Assets Will (crypto — with a non-custodial wallet secured on the Hedera blockchain) and Guardianship Will (appointment of guardians for minor children only). The guardianship will has its own geography: it reaches only children resident in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah.
Registering a single Full Will costs AED 10,000 — a flat fee regardless of asset value; a mirror pair for spouses costs AED 15,000, the Property Will AED 7,500 and AED 10,000 for a pair, and the remaining four registers AED 5,000 and AED 7,500; amendments are AED 550 and a grant of probate USD 1,500, which likewise does not vary with the size of the estate. Since 2019 a DIFC will may cover assets in all emirates and, with advice, worldwide. Dubai Law No. 2 of 2025 gave the DIFC Courts exclusive jurisdiction over claims relating to non-Muslim wills registered with them (art. 14(A)(4)) and placed the enforcement of those wills, inside or outside the DIFC, with the DIFC Courts' enforcement judge (art. 31(5)): probate orders are issued by the DIFC Courts, and where the assets lie outside the DIFC the Dubai Courts' enforcement judge executes the order at the DIFC judge's request without reviewing the merits (art. 32), so there is no second succession case in the local courts.
The DIFC Will is the premium route: AED 10,000, English language, common-law probate enforced through the DIFC Courts. ADJD is the economical one: AED 950, a bilingual document, all seven emirates. The choice turns on the asset mix and the language the family is prepared to live in during the procedure.
Matching the will to the assets
Real estate: the probate order is executed at the DLD; if the only UAE asset is an apartment, a Property Will suffices. Bank accounts: the bank unfreezes them against the grant of probate — name the banks in the will. Company stakes: Business Owners Will works for mainland and free zones, while for ADGM and DIFC structures a foundation is the alternative to a will — a foundation does not die with its founder. Crypto: the Digital Assets Will addresses the private-key succession problem. Minors: a Guardianship Will fixes the guardian — without it the question goes to court.
A foundation answers the question in advance rather than by will: the assets become the foundation’s property, so there is nothing to pass on the founder’s death. The DIFC foundation (Foundations Law No. 3 of 2018) states its firewall plainly: art. 13 para. 1 subjects every question of the foundation to DIFC law without reference to any other jurisdiction, art. 14 prevents a transfer of property to the foundation being set aside by reference to foreign law, art. 15 refuses recognition to foreign heirship rights, and art. 16 refuses it to foreign judgments given contrary to arts. 14 and 15; ADGM does the same in Part 7 of the Foundations Regulations 2017 (ss. 32–34).
Against art. 17 of the Civil Code this is not a counter-argument but a way round it: the firewall cuts off foreign claims, not UAE law, so a Dubai property is moved into the foundation on the Land Department’s terms. A memorandum between the DLD and the DIFC lets a foundation hold freehold, and a transfer from the beneficial owner into a foundation of which he is the founder is characterised by the department as a gift and charged at 0.125% of value instead of the standard 4% — at its discretion and case by case. An inheritance transfer of title attracts no percentage charge at all: the DLD takes a fixed AED 1,000 per property from the heirs, AED 250 for the new title deed and minor fees.
Fitting the UAE into the wider estate plan
The UAE is not part of Brussels IV, so a European choice of applicable law does not reach here: real estate follows lex rei sitae and procedure follows the local courts. The rule that does this is art. 17 of the Civil Code: succession follows the law of the deceased’s nationality at the date of death (para. 1), the substance and form of a will follow the law the testator chose and, failing a choice, nationality again (paras. 3 and 4), but para. 5 closes the construction: UAE law applies to a foreigner’s will concerning his real estate in the UAE.
A choice of English or Russian law does not reach a flat in Dubai Marina, and an English trust or a Russian certificate will not move it. For a non-Muslim, “UAE law” here means Decree-Law 41/2022 with its complete freedom of testation, so the property can be disposed of; what cannot be done is to do it with a foreign instrument, bypassing the local forum and the register.
Since 1 June 2026 the new Civil Code, Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 of 1 October 2025 (Official Gazette No. 809 of 14 October 2025), has been in force and has repealed Law 5/1985: art. 17 kept its number, its five-paragraph structure and para. 5 verbatim, and only para. 2 changed — the estate of a foreigner who dies without heirs now becomes a charitable endowment rather than State property. A home-country will can formally be recognised, but translation, legalisation and time make it a poor key to a Dubai bank.
The working scheme is parallel wills: a local one (DIFC or ADJD) for UAE assets, coordinated with the wills of other jurisdictions so that a later will does not revoke the earlier ones. The UAE has no inheritance tax, but the heirs’ tax treatment is set by their own jurisdictions, and US or UK assets in the portfolio carry their own exposure regardless of the Emirati will. The full toolkit is in succession planning; asset-specific pieces — accounts and real estate.
Q/A
Does a surviving spouse take the whole non-Muslim estate without a will?
No. Under Federal Decree-Law 41/2022, the surviving spouse takes one half and the children divide the other half equally without a sex distinction. If there are no children, the balance passes among parents and siblings in the statutory sequence.
Can a Muslim foreigner register a will with ADJD?
Yes, if the person is not a UAE citizen. The current Abu Dhabi Civil Wills Office page expressly allows a foreign national to register regardless of religion; that differs from the DIFC Wills Service, where the testator must be non-Muslim and must never previously have been Muslim.
Can any adult register a DIFC Will?
No. The DIFC Wills Service requires a testator to be at least 18, to be non-Muslim and never previously Muslim, and to own UAE assets or have minor children residing with them in the UAE. Guardianship provisions are also subject to additional territorial conditions.
Does the DIFC Full Will fee rise with the value of the estate?
No. Under the current DIFC Courts tariff, registration is a fixed AED 10,000 for one Full Will and AED 15,000 for mirror wills. That is the registration charge only: drafting, later amendments and probate are separate services and may carry separate costs.
Will a foreign-law clause govern an apartment in Dubai?
No. Article 17(5) of the new UAE Civil Transactions Law expressly applies UAE law to a foreigner’s will concerning immovable property in the State. A foreign will may require recognition, translation and local procedure, but a governing-law clause does not displace that rule.