Wills and Succession
Wills for Expatriate Property Owners in Dubai
Overview
"Expat" is a useful search term and a poor legal test. UAE succession law does not contain a category called "expatriate". What it contains are rules that turn on nationality, on religion in the specific contexts where the legislation makes it relevant, on where a person is resident, and on where property is located. Two people who would both describe themselves as expatriates in Dubai can be in materially different positions.
For a foreign national who owns immovable property in Dubai, the practical starting point is Article 17 of the Civil Transactions Law, promulgated by Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 and in force since 1 June 2026. Article 17(1) provides that succession is governed by the law of the deceased's nationality at the time of death. Article 17(5) provides that the law of the United Arab Emirates applies to a will made by a foreigner concerning immovable property located in the State. That is why the common assumption that a will made at home automatically settles the position for a Dubai apartment is not one we would act on without advice.
Alongside that sits Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status, which applies to non-Muslim UAE citizens and to non-Muslim foreigners in the State unless a party elects the law of their own country, and Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017, which establishes registers of wills of non-Muslims at the Dubai Courts and the DIFC Courts. Which of these bears on you is a question of fact before it is a question of preference.
Jurisdiction: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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Tell us what has happened, the documents you hold and the dates involved. Our Dubai legal team will review the details and explain the options that may be open to you.
"Expat" Is a Search Term, Not the Legal Test
Most content written for foreign nationals in Dubai treats "expat" as though it were a legal status with its own rulebook. It is not. When we advise on a will, the word never appears in the analysis. What appears instead are the facts the legislation actually attaches consequences to.
The practical effect is that generic advice aimed at "expats" is unreliable in both directions. It tells some readers they need something they do not, and it reassures others that they are covered when they are not. A British national resident in Dubai who owns one apartment, a French national living in Paris who owns two off-plan units here, and a UAE-resident owner whose property is held through a free zone company are three different problems.
The sections below set out the facts that do the work, and what each of them changes.
The Facts That Actually Decide Your Position
Five facts determine almost everything. We establish each of them before advising, and none of them can safely be inferred from the others.
- Nationality. Article 17(1) of the Civil Transactions Law provides that succession is governed by the law of the deceased's nationality at the time of death. Where a person holds more than one nationality, or has changed nationality, that has to be addressed rather than assumed.
- Religion, where the legislation makes it relevant. Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status defines its own scope by reference to non-Muslim status, and the registers of wills established by Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017 are registers of wills of non-Muslims. The DIFC Courts Wills Service is open to a person who is not Muslim and has never been Muslim. Religion therefore determines which routes are available, which is a narrower and more concrete point than the sweeping statements often made about it online.
- Residence. Whether you hold a UAE residence visa and where you are habitually resident affects practical matters and, in some contexts, the applicable regime. It is not, by itself, what determines succession to your property.
- Where each asset is located. Article 17(5) of the Civil Transactions Law addresses wills made by foreigners concerning immovable property located in the State. Immovable property in Dubai is therefore treated differently from a bank account in another country, and a single will drafted without regard to that distinction tends to under-perform.
- How each asset is held. Personally, jointly, or through a company. This changes what the will disposes of and how the transfer is later effected.
We record these findings in writing at the outset, so that the advice that follows is traceable to facts rather than to assumptions about what "expats" generally do.
Which Law Applies to Your Dubai Property
This is the question foreign owners most often ask, and the one most often answered badly. The accurate position, stated from the legislation rather than from summary:
- Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 promulgating the Civil Transactions Law came into force on 1 June 2026 and repealed Federal Law No. 5 of 1985. Article 17(1) provides that succession is governed by the law of the nationality of the deceased at the time of death. Article 17(5) provides that the law of the United Arab Emirates applies to a will made by a foreigner concerning their immovable property located in the State.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status, in force since 1 February 2023, applies to non-Muslim UAE citizens and to non-Muslim foreigners in the State, unless a party elects the application of the law of their own country. Article 11 deals with wills and with the position where none has been made.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 on Personal Status is the current federal personal status legislation, having replaced Federal Law No. 28 of 2005.
Two conclusions follow, and we state them carefully because both are frequently overstated in the other direction. First, it is not correct to say that a foreign owner can simply nominate the law of their home country and thereby remove UAE law from the picture in relation to immovable property here; Article 17(5) speaks directly to that situation. Second, it is equally not correct to say that a single religious or federal rule automatically governs all property in the UAE regardless of who owns it. The legislation sets out scope provisions and election mechanisms, and the outcome depends on which of them your facts engage.
Anyone who gives you a one-line answer to this question without asking about your nationality, your assets and your family has not answered it.
Non-Muslim and Muslim Testators: Where the Routes Differ
Religion matters in this area for a specific and identifiable reason: several of the instruments that create the practical routes define their own scope by reference to it.
- Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017 establishes registers of wills of non-Muslims at the Dubai Courts and at the DIFC Courts, and the court that later deals with a will follows the register in which it was recorded.
- The DIFC Courts Wills Service is open, by its published eligibility criteria, to a person who is not Muslim and has never been Muslim, who is at least 18 years old, and who either owns assets in the UAE or has minor children resident here. UAE residency is not required.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status applies to non-Muslim citizens and non-Muslim foreigners in the State, subject to a party electing the law of their own country.
For a Muslim testator, those particular registers and that particular statute are not the route, and the position is governed by the federal personal status legislation. We do not attempt to summarise that position in a paragraph on a web page, because it depends on the individual's circumstances and because a compressed summary would be more likely to mislead than to help. If you are a Muslim owner of property in Dubai, we advise on your position individually and by reference to the current legislation.
What we will not do, in either direction, is repeat the two claims that circulate most widely online: that religious succession rules automatically govern all property in the UAE regardless of the owner, or that registering a will with a particular court automatically displaces UAE law for every asset you own. Neither is an accurate statement of the legislation.
Where an Expatriate Can Register a Will in Dubai
Under Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017 there are two registers of wills of non-Muslims in Dubai: one maintained by the Dubai Courts and one maintained by the DIFC Courts. The register you choose determines which court will later deal with the will, so the decision is substantive.
The DIFC Courts Wills Service offers five will types, and the right one depends on the shape of your estate rather than on price:
| Will type | What it is designed for |
|---|---|
| Full Will | The broadest form, covering assets and, where relevant, guardianship of minor children |
| Guardianship Will | Appointment of guardians for minor children |
| Property Will | A defined number of properties, currently up to five |
| Business Owners Will | A defined number of shareholdings, currently up to five |
| Financial Assets Will | A defined number of accounts, currently up to ten |
The narrower forms are quicker and less expensive to register. They are the right answer for an estate that fits inside them and the wrong answer for one that does not, and the failure mode is quiet: the will is valid, but part of the estate falls outside it.
The Dubai Courts register is the alternative route under the same Dubai law. Which suits you depends on the composition of your estate, translation requirements, where your beneficiaries are and how the will is expected to be implemented. We give you the comparison and the reasoning; the choice is yours.
We do not publish registration fees here. Published fees change, and an out-of-date figure is worse than none. We confirm the current fee for your route in writing before you commit.
What a UAE Will Reaches, and What It Does Not
The most consequential misunderstanding we correct is about scope. A will registered in the UAE is not a global instrument, and a will made abroad is not automatically effective here.
- Immovable property in the UAE. Article 17(5) of the Civil Transactions Law is directed at wills made by foreigners concerning immovable property located in the State. This is the asset class where a locally registered will does the most work.
- Assets outside the UAE. Not automatically covered. What a UAE will reaches depends on what it says, what the applicable law permits and what the registering body accepts, and a foreign asset will in practice be dealt with under the law of the place it sits.
- Assets with a nominated beneficiary. Some insurance and similar arrangements pass by nomination rather than under a will. We identify these so that the two do not contradict each other.
- Assets held by a company. What passes under the will is the shareholding, not the underlying property.
Where you hold assets in more than one country, the correct approach is not to choose between a UAE will and a foreign will but to ensure that each is drafted with knowledge of the other. Two wills prepared independently in two jurisdictions can revoke or contradict one another, and the discovery usually comes at the worst time.
Property Held Personally and Property Held Through a Company
A large share of foreign-owned Dubai property is not held in a personal name. It sits in a mainland company, a free zone entity, or an offshore holding company. This changes the drafting entirely, and it is the point most often missed.
- Where the company is the registered owner, the property does not pass under your will. Your shares do. A clause purporting to leave "my villa" to a named beneficiary, when the villa is registered to a company, does not do what the testator intended.
- The corporate documents have to be consistent with the will. Articles of association, shareholder agreements and any pre-emption provisions can restrict how shares pass, and a will cannot override them by silence.
- The DIFC Business Owners Will exists for this situation and covers a defined number of shareholdings, currently up to five. Where the structure is larger or more complex, a different route is needed.
- Ownership eligibility. Under Dubai Law No. 7 of 2006 the right to own freehold property in Dubai is restricted by reference to the owner's status, with non-nationals able to own in the designated areas. Where an entity holds the property, whether it can continue to hold it after a transfer of shares is a question to settle before drafting, not after.
We verify how each property is actually registered rather than relying on how it is described. Our property due diligence and Dubai Land Department pages explain how that check is carried out.
Guardianship for Expatriate Parents
For foreign nationals with children living in the UAE, guardianship is frequently the reason a will becomes urgent rather than merely sensible. The concern is practical: if both parents die or are incapacitated, who cares for the children in the days immediately afterwards, and who cares for them thereafter.
- Interim and permanent guardians. We advise appointing both. The interim appointment covers the period before a permanent arrangement takes effect, which is when practical difficulty is most likely for a family with no extended family in the country.
- Guardians who live abroad. Common for expatriate families, and workable, but the arrangement has to anticipate the children leaving the UAE and the documentation that will require.
- A dedicated route. The DIFC Courts Wills Service offers a Guardianship Will, and guardianship can also be dealt with inside a Full Will.
- Financial provision. Whether the person caring for the children also controls the funds is a separate decision from who cares for them.
We state the limits honestly. A guardianship provision records your wishes in a form a court can consider. It does not remove the court's role in matters concerning children, and we do not present it as producing a guaranteed outcome. It is materially better than leaving no record, which is the alternative most expatriate parents are currently relying on.
Executors When Your Family Lives Abroad
Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017 requires a will registered under it to name an executor. For a foreign national, the choice of executor carries more weight than it would at home, because the person appointed will be dealing with UAE courts, the Dubai Land Department, UAE banks and possibly a company registrar, often from another country.
- Availability matters more than seniority. An executor who cannot travel, or cannot take time away from work, will struggle regardless of how suitable they seem on paper.
- Name a substitute. A will intended to last decades should not depend on one person remaining willing and able.
- Confirm willingness in advance. We ask that intended executors are approached before they are named.
- Powers expressed clearly. Sell, transfer, hold, distribute — expressed so that a bank or registry can act without a further application.
- Where the executor is also a major beneficiary, the tension is identified and addressed in the drafting rather than left to emerge later.
Non-Resident Owners: Property Here, Life Elsewhere
A significant group of foreign owners never lived in the UAE at all. They bought a unit as an investment, they visit occasionally, and their family and advisers are entirely abroad. The position for this group is often assumed to be simpler than it is.
- Residency is not a condition of the DIFC Courts Wills Service. Its published eligibility criteria require that the person is not Muslim and has never been Muslim, is at least 18, and either owns assets in the UAE or has minor children resident here. A non-resident owner of a Dubai apartment can therefore be eligible.
- Article 17(5) of the Civil Transactions Law does not depend on residence either. It is directed at wills made by foreigners concerning immovable property located in the State.
- Practical logistics are the real difference. Attendance, identification, legalisation of foreign documents and translation all take longer when the testator, the witnesses and the intended executor are outside the country. We plan for that at the start rather than discovering it at the registration appointment.
- An executor with no UAE connection will need clear powers and, in most cases, local assistance. That is a drafting decision, not an administrative afterthought.
Non-resident owners are also the group most likely to hold off-plan units. Rights under an off-plan purchase registered in the Interim Real Property Register are not the same as a completed registered title, and the drafting has to reflect what you actually hold. See our off-plan and booking page for how those rights are structured.
What Happens if You Die Owning Dubai Property Without a Will
There is no gap in the law. If you leave no will, your estate is distributed according to whichever regime applies to you, and that regime is identified by the rules described above rather than by your intentions.
For non-Muslims, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status addresses the position where no will has been made. What that produces on any given set of facts is something we advise on individually; we do not publish a distribution table on a web page, because the outcome depends on the family composition and on whether a party elects the law of their own country.
The consequences that matter most to families in practice are not always the distribution itself:
- There is no named executor, so someone has to be appointed before anything can be done.
- There are no guardianship provisions for minor children.
- Property, bank accounts and shareholdings each have to be dealt with through their own institution, with no single document authorising it.
- Documents from outside the UAE generally need legalisation and legal translation, which adds time at a point when the family has least capacity for it.
Where a death has already occurred, that is different work. Start with our inheritance lawyer in Dubai page, or property inheritance for the position on real property specifically.
Mistakes We See Most Often in Expatriate Wills
These are the recurring defects in wills that foreign owners bring to us for review.
- A home-country will assumed to settle the Dubai property. The most common of all, and the one Article 17(5) speaks to directly.
- Property described too loosely to be transferred. Registries act on identifiable assets, not on descriptions like "my apartment in Dubai".
- Company-held property left as though personally owned.
- A narrow will type chosen on price, then outgrown when a second property or account is acquired and the will is never revisited.
- Guardianship omitted by parents whose children live here and whose extended family does not.
- No substitute beneficiary or executor.
- Two wills in two countries never read against each other, with a revocation clause in one quietly undoing the other.
- A will drafted but never registered, leaving the family with a document and no route to use it.
- A will drafted against legislation that has since been replaced.
Reviewing an Existing Will After the Change in the Law
If you already have a UAE will, the case for reviewing it is stronger now than it has been for some years, because the underlying legislation has moved.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 promulgating the Civil Transactions Law came into force on 1 June 2026 and repealed Federal Law No. 5 of 1985, which had been the reference point for decades of advice.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 on Personal Status replaced Federal Law No. 28 of 2005.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status has been in force since 1 February 2023 and was itself a significant change for non-Muslims in the State.
A will drafted before these instruments is not automatically invalid, and we would not tell you that it is in order to sell a review. What we would say is that advice given by reference to repealed legislation should be re-examined rather than relied on, and that the exercise is short where the will turns out to be sound.
The same applies to changes in your own circumstances: marriage or divorce, a new child, buying or selling property, acquiring or disposing of a company interest, a change of nationality, the death of a beneficiary or executor, or a move to or from the UAE.
Where This Page Fits Alongside Our Other Wills Pages
Each page in this group answers a different question. We keep them separate rather than repeating the same material under different headings.
- This page — wills for expatriate property owners. How nationality, religion, residence and asset location determine your position as a foreign owner.
- Will drafting services. The drafting and registration process step by step, and the documents we need from you.
- Wills lawyer in Dubai. The legal framework for making a will in the UAE and the choices it presents.
- Inheritance lawyer in Dubai. Succession advice and disputes, including where a death has already occurred.
- Property inheritance in Dubai. How real property specifically passes on death and what the Dubai Land Department requires.
- Real estate lawyer in Dubai. Transactional and advisory property work, including the ownership structures that affect what a will can dispose of.
Official Legal Sources
Every legal statement on this page is taken from an official source. Where a proposition could not be verified against one, it is not stated. Legislation is reviewed periodically and the date of the last check is recorded below.
| Instrument or body | Relevance to this page | Official source |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 promulgating the Civil Transactions Law (in force 1 June 2026) | Article 17(1) succession by law of nationality at death; Article 17(5) UAE law and a will made by a foreigner over immovable property in the State; repeal of Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 | UAE Legislation portal |
| Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status (in force 1 February 2023) | Scope of application to non-Muslims and election of home-country law; wills and the position where no will exists | UAE Legislation portal |
| Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 on Personal Status | Current federal personal status legislation, replacing Federal Law No. 28 of 2005 | UAE Legislation portal |
| Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017 | Registers of wills of non-Muslims at the Dubai Courts and the DIFC Courts; the court that deals with the will follows the register | Dubai Legislation |
| Dubai Law No. 7 of 2006 concerning Real Property Registration in the Emirate of Dubai | Who may own freehold property in Dubai, and ownership by non-nationals in designated areas | Dubai Legislation |
| DIFC Courts Wills Service | Eligibility criteria including non-Muslim status, minimum age of 18 and no residency requirement; the five will types and their limits | DIFC Courts |
| Dubai Courts | Registration of non-Muslim wills through the Dubai Courts register and subsequent implementation | Dubai Courts |
| Dubai Land Department | Property registration records, the Interim Real Property Register and transfer of registered property | Dubai Land Department |
Legislation last checked against official sources: 28 August 2026. Jurisdiction: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
FAQs
Wills for Expatriate Property Owners — Frequently Asked Questions
In most cases involving Dubai property, yes, or at least your existing will needs to be reviewed against the UAE position. A foreign will is not automatically effective over immovable property located in the UAE, and Article 17(5) of the Civil Transactions Law, promulgated by Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, is directed specifically at wills made by foreigners concerning immovable property in the State. Even where a foreign will can be relied on, using it here typically requires legalisation, translation and a court process that a locally registered will is designed to avoid.
Article 17(1) of the Civil Transactions Law provides that succession is governed by the law of the deceased's nationality at the time of death. Article 17(5) provides that UAE law applies to a will made by a foreigner concerning immovable property located in the State. Alongside that, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status applies to non-Muslim citizens and non-Muslim foreigners in the State unless a party elects the law of their own country. Which of these bears on you depends on your nationality, your religion where the legislation makes it relevant, and where each asset sits. It is a question of fact before it is a question of preference.
No. UAE succession law does not have a category called "expatriate". The rules turn on nationality, on religion in the contexts where the legislation makes it relevant, on residence, and on where property is located. Two people who both describe themselves as expats in Dubai can be in materially different legal positions, which is why generic "expat will" advice is unreliable in both directions.
Not simply by naming it in the document, so far as immovable property in the UAE is concerned. Article 17(5) of the Civil Transactions Law addresses wills made by foreigners over immovable property located in the State. Separately, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status contains its own mechanism by which a party may elect the application of the law of their own country within that statute's scope. These are different provisions doing different work, and the position on your facts needs to be advised on rather than assumed from a headline.
Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017 establishes registers of wills of non-Muslims at the Dubai Courts and at the DIFC Courts. The court that later deals with the will follows the register in which it was recorded, so the choice of register determines more than administration. Which route suits you depends on the composition of your estate, translation requirements, where your beneficiaries are, and how the will is expected to be implemented.
No. The DIFC Courts Wills Service requires that the person is not Muslim and has never been Muslim, is at least 18 years old, and either owns assets in the UAE or has minor children resident here. UAE residency is not a condition, so a non-resident owner of a Dubai apartment can be eligible. What changes for non-residents is the logistics: attendance, identification, legalisation of foreign documents and translation all take longer.
Five: a Full Will; a Guardianship Will; a Property Will covering a defined number of properties, currently up to five; a Business Owners Will covering a defined number of shareholdings, currently up to five; and a Financial Assets Will covering a defined number of accounts, currently up to ten. The narrower forms are quicker and cheaper to register, and they are the right answer for an estate that fits inside them. The failure mode when they do not fit is quiet: the will is valid, but part of the estate falls outside it. We choose after reviewing your assets, not before.
Your shares in that company, not the property. Where a company is the registered owner, a clause leaving "my villa" to a named beneficiary does not achieve what was intended. The will has to dispose of the shareholding, the corporate documents have to be consistent with it, and any pre-emption provisions in the articles or a shareholders' agreement have to be taken into account. The DIFC Business Owners Will exists for this situation and covers a defined number of shareholdings, currently up to five.
Yes. The DIFC Courts Wills Service offers a dedicated Guardianship Will, and guardianship can also be dealt with inside a Full Will. We advise appointing both interim and permanent guardians, because the period immediately after a death is when practical difficulty is most likely for a family with no extended family in the country. A guardianship provision records your wishes in a form a court can consider; it does not remove the court's role in matters concerning children, and we do not present it as guaranteeing an outcome.
Not automatically. What a will reaches depends on what it says, what the applicable law permits and what the registering body accepts, and assets abroad are in practice dealt with under the law of the place they sit. Where you own property in more than one country, the right approach is not to choose between a UAE will and a foreign one but to have each drafted with knowledge of the other. Two wills prepared independently can revoke or contradict one another, and that is usually discovered at the worst possible time.
Your estate is distributed under whichever regime applies to you, identified by the rules above rather than by your intentions. For non-Muslims, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status addresses the position where no will has been made; what that produces depends on family composition and on whether a party elects the law of their own country, so we advise on it individually rather than publishing a table. The practical consequences often matter more than the distribution: no named executor, no guardianship provisions, and each institution having to be dealt with separately.
The routes differ, and for an identifiable reason. The registers established by Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017 are registers of wills of non-Muslims, the DIFC Courts Wills Service is open only to a person who is not Muslim and has never been Muslim, and Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 defines its scope by reference to non-Muslim status. For a Muslim testator the position is governed by the federal personal status legislation. We do not compress that into a paragraph here, because a summary would be more likely to mislead than to help; we advise individually by reference to the current legislation.
Yes. Rights under an off-plan purchase registered in the Interim Real Property Register are not the same as a completed registered title, and the will has to describe what you actually hold rather than what you expect to hold. Under Dubai Law No. 13 of 2008 a disposition of an off-plan unit is void unless registered in that register, which makes accurate identification of your registered interest part of the drafting work rather than a detail.
Yes, and the case is stronger now than it has been for some time. The Civil Transactions Law promulgated by Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 came into force on 1 June 2026 and repealed Federal Law No. 5 of 1985; Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 replaced Federal Law No. 28 of 2005; and Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 has been in force since February 2023. A will drafted before these is not automatically invalid, and we would not tell you it is in order to sell a review. But advice given by reference to repealed legislation should be re-examined rather than relied on.
We quote in writing after reviewing your assets and family position, and we confirm the current registration fee for your chosen route at the same time. We deliberately do not publish standard prices or turnaround times. Registration fees change, and a single-property will with one beneficiary is not comparable to a mixed estate held partly through companies with dependants in more than one country. A headline figure that ignores that difference is a marketing number rather than an accurate one.
Disclaimer
The information provided on this website is for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice or relied upon as a substitute for professional legal guidance. Visiting this website or contacting Dubai Property Lawyer does not establish a client-lawyer relationship. While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, we make no warranties or representations regarding the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the content herein. For personalized legal advice and solutions tailored to your specific circumstances, please consult with one of our qualified real estate financing lawyers