When You Need an Inheritance Lawyer in Dubai
An inheritance lawyer in Dubai is usually needed for one of two reasons: someone wants their estate to pass the way they intend and is not sure the current arrangements achieve that, or someone has died and the family cannot deal with the assets until a court says who takes what.
Both run on the same framework. Succession is governed by the Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024) for Muslims, and by the Civil Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022) for non-Muslims unless they elect their home-country law — with Article 17 of the Civil Transactions Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025) governing which law applies, and applying UAE law specifically to a foreigner’s will over immovable property in the State. In Dubai, wills of non-Muslims may be registered at the Dubai Courts or the DIFC Courts under Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017.
Because this is a property practice, real estate is where most of our succession work sits — but an estate rarely contains only property, and the rest of it is dealt with in the same proceedings.
Jurisdiction: Dubai, UAE.
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Overview
This page covers succession advice and inheritance disputes in Dubai: which framework applies to an estate, making and registering a will, obtaining a succession or probate order, what happens where there is no will, assets other than real estate, what an executor or estate representative actually does, and how disputes between heirs are resolved. It is written for people planning their estate and for families administering one. The sources are the Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024), the Civil Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022), the Civil Transactions Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025) and Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017. Real estate in the estate is dealt with in more depth on our property inheritance page. Nothing here decides an individual estate: outcomes depend on the deceased’s status, the documents and where the assets are.
Which Succession Framework Applies
The starting point is Article 17 of the Civil Transactions Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, in force since 1 June 2026, which repealed the 1985 Civil Code): succession is governed by the law of the deceased’s nationality at the date of death, but paragraph 5 applies UAE law to a will made by a foreigner concerning immovable property located in the State.
Alongside that, the Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024, which replaced Federal Law No. 28 of 2005) governs succession for Muslims and where at least one party is Muslim. The Civil Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, in force since 1 February 2023) applies to non-Muslim UAE citizens and non-Muslim foreigners in the State unless they elect the law of their home country.
What follows from that is estate-specific. Two generalisations to avoid: that Sharia principles automatically govern every estate in the UAE whatever the deceased’s religion, and that electing a foreign law or registering a will elsewhere automatically displaces UAE law for everything. Real estate in particular has its own rule, set out on our page on property inheritance in Dubai.
Making a Will and Where It Is Registered
A will is what allows an estate to pass by choice rather than by default. Under Article 11 of the Civil Personal Status Law, a non-Muslim covered by that law may leave a will over the entire property they own in the State in favour of whomever they choose.
In Dubai, Law No. 15 of 2017 provides for registers of non-Muslim wills at both the Dubai Courts and the DIFC Courts, and the court where the will is registered is the one that issues the order implementing it. The DIFC Courts’ published requirements are that the testator is not Muslim and has never been Muslim, is at least 18, and owns UAE assets or has minor children resident here; registration is electronic, with two witnesses aged 18 or over.
Drafting and registration are covered on our wills lawyer page, and the process itself on our will drafting page.
Obtaining a Succession or Probate Order
Almost nothing in a UAE estate can be dealt with until a court with jurisdiction has issued an order. Banks will not release accounts, the Land Department will not register a transfer, and a company’s register will not be updated, on the strength of a death certificate alone.
The sequence is: the death certificate, legalised and translated where issued abroad; the documents establishing the family relationships or the registered will; the application to the court with jurisdiction; the order identifying the heirs or implementing the will; and then presentation of that order to each institution holding an asset.
Where the will was registered at the DIFC Courts, the implementation order comes from there; where it was registered at the Dubai Courts, or where there is no will, the Dubai Courts route applies. Establishing which of those applies before filing anything saves the most time.
Where There Is No Will
Without a will, the court establishes the heirs and the estate is distributed under whichever framework governs the deceased.
For non-Muslims under the Civil Personal Status Law, Article 11 provides that half the estate passes to the surviving spouse and the other half is divided equally among the children regardless of gender; where there are no children, parents and siblings inherit in a defined order. For Muslims, and where at least one party is Muslim, distribution follows the Personal Status Law.
The practical consequence is that assets are usually inherited in undivided shares. A single apartment, a single company shareholding or a single account ends up owned in percentages by several people, and any dealing with it then requires all of them. Where minors are among the heirs, additional protections apply to dealings with their share.
Assets Other Than Real Estate
An estate in Dubai rarely contains only property, and each class of asset releases differently:
- Bank and brokerage accounts. Typically frozen once the bank is notified of the death, and released against the court order. Joint accounts are not automatically survivorship accounts here — the terms of the account govern.
- Company shares. What passes is the shareholding, subject to the constitutional documents and any shareholder agreement. Where the company owns property, this is how the property effectively moves.
- End-of-service benefits and pensions. Dealt with by the employer or scheme under its own rules, alongside the estate.
- Vehicles and personal assets, transferred against the order through the relevant authority.
- Assets outside the UAE, which are governed by the law and procedure of the country where they sit. A UAE order does not administer them automatically.
The UAE does not levy inheritance tax. That does not mean an estate has no tax exposure elsewhere: assets in other countries, and heirs resident in other countries, may be within another jurisdiction’s tax net. Tax advice is taken separately and from an adviser qualified in that jurisdiction — it is not something this page or this practice offers.
Estate Administration: What Actually Has to Be Done
Between the order and the distribution there is a period of administration, and someone has to run it — an executor named in a will, or a representative appointed by the court.
In practice that means identifying and securing the assets, notifying banks and institutions, keeping property outgoings paid, dealing with tenants and mortgage instalments, settling liabilities, and then distributing what remains and registering the transfers. Where the estate contains a business or a tenanted property, it also means keeping something running rather than simply holding it.
Two things go wrong most often. Liabilities are dealt with too late, so service charges, mortgage instalments and utility accounts accumulate against an estate that could have paid them. And assets are distributed informally between family members before the order is obtained, which then has to be unwound.
Inheritance and Estate Disputes
Disputes in Dubai estates tend to fall into a small number of categories:
- Whether a will is valid, properly registered, or covers the asset in question.
- Who the heirs are, where family circumstances are contested or a foreign document is disputed.
- What is in the estate — assets said to have been transferred before death, or held in someone else’s name.
- What an executor or representative has done, or failed to do, during administration.
- Whether jointly held assets form part of the estate.
- Disagreement about selling, keeping or valuing an indivisible asset such as an apartment or a shareholding.
These are decided by the court with jurisdiction over the estate. They are not Rental Disputes Settlement Centre matters, even where the asset is a tenanted property — that Centre’s jurisdiction is landlord and tenant, not succession. Where an estate holds a let property, it can find itself in both forums at once for different issues.
Most estate disputes are better resolved by agreement than by judgment, because the cost comes out of the same estate the parties are arguing over. Where agreement is reached, recording it properly and registering the resulting transfers is what makes it final.
Documents Needed for a Succession Matter
- Death certificate, legalised and translated into Arabic where issued abroad.
- Any will, and evidence of where it was registered.
- Passport and identity documents for the deceased and every heir.
- Marriage certificate and birth certificates establishing the family relationships, legalised and translated as required.
- Title deeds or Oqood entries for any real estate, and the current register position.
- Bank statements and account details, and any brokerage or investment account records.
- Company licence, constitutional documents and share register where the deceased held shares.
- Mortgage or finance documents, and any life cover attached.
- Tenancy contracts and Ejari certificates for let property.
- Powers of attorney for heirs who will not attend in person.
- Details of liabilities — loans, credit facilities, service charges, unpaid utilities.
Legalisation of foreign documents is usually the longest step and is worth starting first. The death certificate, the identity of the heirs and any will are the three items that determine how quickly anything else can move.
How We Work on a Succession Matter
Planning. We establish which framework applies to you, look at what you actually own and how each asset is held, and check whether any existing will — foreign, Dubai-registered or DIFC-registered — does what you believe it does, particularly for UAE real estate. Where it does not, that is generally correctable while you are alive.
Administration. We identify the court with jurisdiction, assemble and legalise the documents, obtain the succession or implementation order, and then work through the institutions holding each asset until the estate is distributed and the transfers registered.
Disputes. Where heirs disagree, we set out the realistic positions and the cost of pursuing them before anything is filed, because in an estate both sides are usually funded by the same assets.
Where an heir is outside the UAE, a power of attorney drafted for the specific steps allows the matter to run without travel.
Related pages
- Property inheritance in Dubai — real estate in an estate, and transfer of title.
- Wills lawyer in Dubai — making a will.
- Wills for expatriate property owners — the non-Muslim and foreign-owner route.
- Property investment structures — company-held property and succession.
To discuss an estate, send us what you hold — the death certificate, any will and a list of the assets is enough to start.
Official Legal Sources
- Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 promulgating the Civil Transactions Law — UAE Legislation; in force 1 June 2026, repealing Federal Law No. 5 of 1985. Article 17.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 issuing the Personal Status Law — UAE Legislation; replaces Federal Law No. 28 of 2005.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status — UAE Legislation; Articles 1, 11 and 13.
- Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017 on administration of estates and implementation of wills of non-Muslims — Dubai Legislation.
- DIFC Courts Wills Service — eligibility, will types and registration.
UAE succession legislation has changed materially in recent years and court procedures are updated from time to time. Where a distribution rule, an eligibility requirement or a date matters to a decision, check it against the official source or ask us to confirm the current position.
Common Mistakes in UAE Estate Planning
- Assuming a foreign will covers UAE real estate. Article 17(5) applies UAE law to a foreigner’s will over immovable property in the State. This is the most frequent and most expensive assumption.
- Choosing a template will that does not match the assets. A property will covering up to five properties does not deal with company shares or bank accounts; several template wills used side by side tend to leave gaps between them.
- Ignoring how the asset is held. Property owned through a company passes as shares, governed by the constitutional documents — a will over “my property” may not reach it.
- Treating a joint account or joint ownership as automatic survivorship. The account terms and the register govern, not an assumption imported from another country.
- Leaving legalisation of foreign documents to the end. It is normally the longest step and it can run in parallel.
- Distributing assets informally before the order is obtained, which then has to be unwound.
- Never revisiting the will after buying property, forming a company, marrying, divorcing or having children.
Inheritance Questions We Are Asked Most Often
Either when you want your estate to pass a particular way and are not confident the current arrangements achieve that — especially if you own UAE real estate or hold assets through a company — or when someone has died and the family cannot deal with the assets until a court order is obtained.
Article 17 of the Civil Transactions Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025) points to the law of your nationality at death, with UAE law applying to a foreigner’s will over immovable property in the State. Alongside it, the Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024) governs Muslims, and the Civil Personal Status Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022) governs non-Muslims unless they elect their home-country law. Which combination applies is estate-specific.
The UAE does not levy inheritance tax. That does not mean an estate is free of tax exposure elsewhere — assets in other countries, and heirs resident in other countries, may fall within another jurisdiction’s tax rules. Tax advice is taken separately from an adviser qualified in that jurisdiction; it is not something we provide.
Under Article 11 of the Civil Personal Status Law, a non-Muslim covered by that law may leave a will over the entire property they own in the State in favour of anyone they choose. For Muslims, distribution follows the Personal Status Law. The Article 17(5) rule on immovable property applies alongside this, so the position for real estate specifically is worth checking rather than assuming.
The court establishes the heirs and distribution follows the applicable framework. Under the Civil Personal Status Law, half passes to the surviving spouse and half is divided equally among the children regardless of gender, with parents and siblings inheriting in a defined order where there are no children. Assets are generally inherited in undivided shares, so any later dealing needs all the heirs.
Typically the bank freezes accounts once it is notified of the death and releases them against the court order. Joint accounts are not automatically survivorship accounts in the UAE; the terms of the account govern. This is one of the reasons obtaining the order early matters — ongoing costs still have to be met while it is pending.
It depends on whether there is a registered will, whether all heirs are identified and available, whether foreign documents need legalisation, and what the estate contains. Legalisation abroad is often the longest single step. Anyone quoting a fixed period without seeing the documents is guessing.
No. An heir can be represented under a power of attorney notarised and legalised for use in the UAE and translated into Arabic, provided it covers the specific steps — the succession proceedings, dealings with banks and institutions, signing at the Land Department and any sale.
The shares form part of the estate, not the property itself. The Land Department register does not change on a shareholder’s death. What passes is the shareholding, subject to the company’s constitutional documents and any shareholder agreement — which is why those documents matter as much as the will where property is held this way.
An executor or court-appointed representative is answerable for what they do with estate assets during administration, and disputes about that are among the more common estate claims. Keeping records of what was collected, paid and distributed is the practical protection.
The court with jurisdiction over the estate. It is not a Rental Disputes Settlement Centre matter, even if the apartment is tenanted. In practice these disputes are usually better resolved by agreement, because the litigation is funded from the same asset the heirs are arguing about.
Not automatically. Assets outside the UAE are governed by the law and procedure of the country where they sit, and a separate process is normally needed there. Estates with assets in more than one country are worth planning as a whole rather than jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
Yes, and it is one of the most commonly missed steps. Buying UAE real estate, forming a company, marrying, divorcing or having children all change what a will needs to do. A will drafted before any of those events may still be valid and still fail to achieve what its maker intended.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws and regulations may vary based on location and individual circumstances. Dubai Property Lawyer makes no warranties regarding the accuracy of this information and assumes no liability for any reliance on the content herein. For specific legal advice, always contact a qualified attorney from Dubai Property Lawyer.