DIFC Wills

What Really Happens Without a Will

For years the warning to every non-Muslim buying in Dubai was the same: die without a will and Sharia inheritance rules apply to your estate by default. That warning is now out of date, and repeating it does you a disservice. The law changed, but the reason to act did not.

Since Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status came into force on 1 February 2023, Sharia inheritance principles are no longer the automatic default for non-Muslims who die in the UAE. Two things can govern a non-Muslim estate instead. First, the law of your country of nationality, which the Decree-Law lets a non-Muslim elect for inheritance and wills. Second, and cleanest, a registered will that directs your assets exactly as you choose.

Where there is neither a will nor a clear home-law election, the Decree-Law now applies a civil, gender-equal intestacy default rather than Sharia shares: broadly, half the estate to the surviving spouse and the other half divided equally among the children, with no distinction between sons and daughters. If there are no children, the estate passes to the parents. Men and women inherit equally, a deliberate departure from the old default.

A Common-Law Will, Registered in Dubai

The DIFC Courts Wills Service is a joint initiative of the Government of Dubai and the DIFC Courts, formerly known as the Wills and Probate Registry. It lets a non-Muslim register a will under English-style common law, in English, so their assets pass and their children's guardians are appointed by their own instructions rather than any default formula. The Service issues a registration certificate that UAE courts recognise for enforcement.

It is open to non-Muslims whether or not they live in the UAE. The testator must be at least 21 years old, and the will can be registered in person or remotely through the DIFC Virtual Registry. Importantly, its reach is not confined to the DIFC free zone. Established in 2015 and extended UAE-wide in 2019, a DIFC-registered will can cover assets across the UAE, and a Full Will can cover worldwide moveable and immoveable assets.

The framework was reinforced by Dubai Law No. 2 of 2025, which is reported to confirm the DIFC Courts' exclusive probate jurisdiction over registered non-Muslim wills for Dubai assets. In plain terms, a DIFC will is widely regarded as the strongest position for enforcing succession over a Dubai-based estate.

One Full Will, or Five Targeted Ones

A helpful feature of the Service is that you can register a targeted will rather than a full estate plan. If your only UAE exposure is a couple of apartments, a Property Will does the job. If you want everything, everywhere, covered in one instrument, the Full Will is the comprehensive option. Here are the six registered types and what each one covers.

From Draft to Registration Certificate

Registration is straightforward. You can attend the DIFC Courts building in Dubai in person, or register remotely via the DIFC Virtual Registry over a video appointment, which is what makes the Service usable by overseas owners who never set foot in the UAE. The will is signed before, and witnessed by, the Registry, then lodged, and a registration certificate is issued.

Two structural points matter. First, your witnesses must be independent: they cannot be beneficiaries, guardians, or the spouses of any beneficiary or guardian named in the will. Second, you name an executor to administer the estate, and, if you have minor children, you can appoint guardians within the same will. Get those roles right and the document does its work without argument later.

Who Raises Your Children If You Can't

For most expat parents, the money is not the frightening part of dying abroad. The frightening part is the question of who looks after the children, and how quickly. A will answers it in advance, before a court has to.

A DIFC will, whether a dedicated Guardianship Will or the guardianship section of a Full Will, lets parents nominate who raises their minor children if both parents die. It provides for two kinds of guardian: an interim, or temporary, guardian who can act immediately and locally in the first hours and days, and a permanent guardian for the long term. That distinction is deliberate, because the urgent need and the lasting need are rarely met by the same person in the same moment.

Without a valid appointment, a UAE court decides guardianship. In the meantime children could be placed under the care of local authorities, and a chosen relative may face travel or custody complications, potentially unable to leave the country with the children while the matter is resolved. A registered appointment gives the court a clear, pre-authorised instruction to follow rather than a vacuum to fill.

Three Ways to Register, Compared

The DIFC Courts Wills Service is the best known route, but it is not the only one. A non-Muslim can also register through the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD), whose non-Muslim wills service is bilingual, fully online and notably cheaper, or through a Dubai Courts notarised will. Each opts out of any default formula. They differ on legal basis, language, reach, cost and enforcement strength.

The Estate-Planning Layer on Your Asset

If you have bought in Dubai as a capital-preservation play, a home for generational wealth rather than a quick trade, then a registered will is not an afterthought. It is the estate-planning layer that makes the whole thesis hold together, because an asset that cannot pass cleanly to the next generation is not really preserving anything.

The case is concrete. A registered will names the beneficiary of each freehold unit directly, rather than leaving a court to apply a statutory default or to prove and interpret a foreign law first. It avoids the intestacy delay and the asset freeze, so a surviving spouse is not locked out of accounts and cannot be blocked from selling, transferring or mortgaging the property while the estate is resolved. And because many Dubai buyers are non-resident overseas investors, the Virtual Registry lets a foreign owner secure a UAE-recognised will without ever living here.

It also removes ambiguity between co-owners and heirs. Joint ownership does not guarantee automatic survivorship, so a will makes succession explicit rather than contested. For a wealth-protection mandate, that is the whole point: the asset transitions predictably, on your terms, not through a slow and uncertain court-led process.

What Owners Get Wrong

Most of the risk here comes from confident but outdated beliefs. Five come up again and again, and each one leaves an owner exposed. Here they are, corrected.

The Questions Owners Actually Ask