Wills, Estate & Succession Planning

In the absence of a valid, registered will recognised by the relevant UAE authority, UAE-situs assets are generally distributed under the default Sharia-based inheritance framework set out in UAE Personal Status law, now consolidated under Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024. This applies fixed shares to specified categories of heirs, and it can apply to non-Muslim expatriates too in the absence of a registered non-Muslim will, producing a distribution that may not match what the family assumed or intended. Bank accounts are typically frozen pending the court's determination of the legal heirs, which adds a further practical delay for the family.

A DIFC will is a will registered with the DIFC Wills Service Centre, which operates under the Dubai International Financial Centre's common-law framework and applies English common-law principles of testamentary freedom. It is available to non-Muslims with UAE-situs assets — the testator does not need to live or work within the DIFC itself to use this route; what matters is that the assets being addressed (Dubai property, UAE bank accounts, shares in a UAE company) are UAE-situs. It allows the testator full discretion over how those assets are distributed, unlike the default framework.

Both serve a similar purpose — giving non-Muslims testamentary freedom over UAE assets — but they are registered with, and administered by, different authorities. The DIFC Wills Service Centre operates through the DIFC Courts framework and is commonly used for Dubai-connected assets. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) operates its own non-Muslim wills registration process, generally used where the assets or the testator's connection are centred on Abu Dhabi. The right route depends on where the relevant assets are actually situated and, in some cases, personal preference where either route could technically apply.

Yes. A Muslim testator can register a will formalising specific bequests within the limits Sharia permits — generally up to one-third of the net estate to beneficiaries who are not among the statutory heirs (for example, a charity, a stepchild, or a close friend). The remaining two-thirds of the estate is distributed according to the fixed inheritance shares set out under the Personal Status framework, regardless of what the will states. A Sharia-compliant will cannot override the fixed-share entitlements of statutory heirs beyond that one-third discretionary portion.

In most cases, yes, if you hold UAE-situs assets. A home-country will generally is not automatically recognised by UAE banks, the Land Department, or company registrars for the purpose of releasing or transferring UAE assets without going through a UAE-specific process. A properly drafted UAE will — coordinated carefully so it does not conflict with or inadvertently revoke the home-country instrument — gives your executor a direct, UAE-recognised route to administer UAE assets, rather than requiring a longer cross-border recognition process.

The will can name the intended beneficiary for a specific shareholding, but the actual mechanics of transferring shares to that beneficiary on death still run through the relevant authority's process — the DED for a mainland LLC, or the specific free zone authority for an FZE/FZCO, DIFC, or ADGM entity — and must be consistent with the company's Memorandum/Articles of Association and any shareholder agreement in place. PNPC reviews these constitutional documents as part of the will drafting process so the succession provisions are workable in practice, not just stated on paper.

A will takes effect on death. A Power of Attorney (POA) takes effect during your lifetime, typically to address incapacity or simply to authorise a trusted person to act on your behalf for specific matters — managing a bank account, signing on the business's behalf, or handling property matters — while you are alive but unable, or choose not, to act personally. In the UAE, a POA must be properly drafted and notarised through the relevant Notary Public process to be recognised by banks, the DED, or a free zone authority. Without one, family members generally cannot step in to manage your affairs during incapacity without a court process.

Yes. Guardianship nomination for minor children resident in the UAE is a standard and important component of estate planning here, and can be addressed within a DIFC will, an ADJD non-Muslim will, or other applicable will formats. Formally nominating a guardian gives the courts a clear, documented statement of the parents' wishes, rather than leaving that determination to be decided without any such record in the event both parents are deceased or incapacitated.

Yes, this is a well-documented practical consequence. UAE banks typically freeze the deceased's accounts on notification of death, pending confirmation of the legal heirs — either through a registered will's probate process or, in its absence, a court determination under the default inheritance framework. This freeze can prevent even routine household expenses from being paid from what may otherwise be a family's primary account, at exactly the point the family most needs access to funds.

Once the will is properly drafted and the client has confirmed the content, the DIFC Wills Service Centre's own execution and registration process is generally efficient, often completed within a matter of weeks. The overall timeline from first consultation to registered will more commonly depends on the drafting and structuring phase — particularly for clients with multiple company shareholdings or cross-border coordination needs — rather than the registration step itself.

It depends on the route. DIFC wills are typically drafted and registered in English, consistent with the DIFC Courts' common-law, English-language framework. Wills registered through the Dubai Courts Personal Status process, and Sharia-compliant wills for Muslim testators, generally require Arabic, often alongside a certified translation where the underlying document originates in another language. PNPC confirms the language requirement specific to the route chosen before drafting begins.

The DIFC Wills Service Centre framework is generally oriented toward individuals with UAE-situs assets, and residency status, nationality, and specific eligibility criteria should be confirmed for each client's situation rather than assumed. Someone who owns Dubai property or holds UAE company shares but does not reside in the UAE should raise this specifically at the initial consultation so PNPC can confirm the applicable route and any eligibility conditions relevant to their circumstances.

Under Sharia principles applied by the UAE's Personal Status framework, a Muslim testator can direct up to one-third of their net estate (after debts and funeral expenses) to beneficiaries of their choosing who are not among the statutory heirs — commonly used for a charitable bequest or a gift to someone outside the fixed-share heir categories. The remaining two-thirds (or the full estate if no such bequest is made) is distributed according to the fixed shares the law assigns to specific categories of heirs — spouse, children, parents, and others, depending on the family composition.

At a minimum: passport and Emirates ID copies for the testator, details of UAE bank accounts, property, vehicles, and any UAE company shareholdings, full details of intended beneficiaries and any guardian nomination for minor children, and a copy of any existing will in another jurisdiction. For business owners, we also request the relevant company's Memorandum/Articles of Association and any shareholder agreement.

A will governs what happens to your assets after death and only takes legal effect once you have died. A Power of Attorney governs who can act on your behalf during your lifetime — for banking, business, property, or medical matters — and stops having effect on your death (a POA does not survive the principal's death and cannot be used to administer the estate afterward). Most comprehensive UAE estate planning engagements address both, because they cover different risk periods: incapacity during life, and distribution after death.

Depending on the will route and the client's preference, a professional executor arrangement can be structured alongside, or instead of, a family member executor. Many clients choose a family member as primary executor with a professional advisor named to support the administration process, particularly where the estate includes business interests requiring specific handling. PNPC can discuss the appropriate executor structure for a given family and asset situation during the initial consultation.

Treatment varies by bank and account structure, and should be confirmed with the specific institution, but jointly-held accounts can in some cases offer the surviving holder more immediate practical access than a sole account frozen pending probate, depending on the bank's own policy and the account's terms. This is not a substitute for proper will and estate planning, but it is a practical consideration PNPC discusses with clients as part of broader estate structuring to reduce immediate cash-flow disruption.

PNPC generally recommends a review every two to three years, or immediately on any material life event — marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, a significant new UAE asset, a change in company shareholding, or the death or unavailability of a named executor or guardian. A will that has not been reviewed in many years is a common source of outdated provisions that no longer reflect the client's actual family or asset situation.

Generally no, and it is usually not designed to. A UAE will is typically scoped to UAE-situs assets — property, bank accounts, and company shares located or registered within the UAE — while assets in another jurisdiction, such as India or the UK, remain governed by a will (or the default succession law) applicable in that jurisdiction. PNPC structures the UAE will to work specifically alongside any existing home-country will, addressing UAE assets clearly without attempting to govern assets it has no practical jurisdiction over.

The family generally needs to approach the relevant UAE court to have the legal heirs determined and a succession certificate issued, applying the default inheritance framework in the absence of a registered will. This process typically takes considerably longer than administering a properly registered will and can involve additional documentation, translated and attested civil status documents from the deceased's home country, and court appearances. PNPC supports families through this process — coordinating documentation, liaising with the relevant court process, and helping the family understand the shares that will apply under the default framework.

Under a DIFC or ADJD non-Muslim will, testamentary freedom generally allows the testator to distribute UAE assets as they choose, which can include excluding a specific individual, subject to the specific route's rules and any applicable legal limits. Under a Sharia-compliant will for a Muslim testator, statutory heirs' fixed shares generally cannot be removed by the will beyond the one-third discretionary portion — meaning a Muslim testator cannot simply disinherit a statutory heir through a will under this framework.

A succession certificate is issued by the relevant UAE court confirming who the legal heirs of a deceased person are, and is typically required by banks and other institutions before releasing assets where there is no registered will providing a clearer, faster probate route. Even where a will exists, a formal court or registering-authority process (probate) is generally still required to give legal effect to the will's provisions and confirm the executor's authority to act.

Both. PNPC drafts and coordinates registration of the will during the client's lifetime, and supports the appointed executor and family through the probate or succession process with the relevant authority — DIFC Courts, ADJD, or Dubai Courts — when the time comes, including coordinating asset release, bank account unfreezing, and share transfer to named beneficiaries.

PNPC charges a fixed, agreed fee for the will drafting and registration engagement, scoped to complexity — the number of UAE assets, whether business succession structuring is involved, whether cross-border coordination with a home-country will is required, and whether a Power of Attorney is drafted alongside the will. The fee is confirmed in writing before any drafting work begins.

Yes. PNPC reviews existing wills — DIFC, ADJD, Dubai Courts, or Sharia-compliant — to confirm they still reflect the client's current assets, family situation, and wishes, and advises on whether an update, a fresh will, or a formal revocation and replacement is the appropriate next step. A review is often a lighter-touch and faster engagement than starting from a blank page.

No. The consequences of no registered will — a frozen bank account, an undetermined guardian for minor children, or an uncertain path for a modest company shareholding — affect families and business owners across a wide range of asset levels, not only high-net-worth individuals. PNPC scopes a proportionate engagement to the client's actual situation, from a straightforward personal will and guardianship nomination through to a full business succession structure for a multi-entity group.

For clients who hold assets, family, or business interests in both the UAE and India, PNPC coordinates the UAE will and succession structuring directly with our Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad teams working on any parallel India-side estate planning, so the two instruments are built with full visibility of each other rather than by two disconnected advisors. This is particularly relevant for NRI clients based in the UAE with Indian property, investments, or family succession considerations.

Wills can be drafted to address digital assets where the client holds them, though the practical mechanics of transferring access to a beneficiary — private keys, exchange account credentials, and platform-specific succession policies — require careful, specific drafting rather than a generic clause, since UAE courts and registering authorities do not yet have a fully standardised approach to this asset class in the way they do for bank accounts or property.

Without a registered will and clear succession provisions, a sole shareholder's company shares typically pass through the same default inheritance or probate process as any other UAE asset, which can create significant operational disruption — signatory authority, bank mandates, and day-to-day decision-making can effectively stall until the courts confirm the new legal owner of the shares. For businesses with ongoing operations, payroll, and client commitments, this delay carries real commercial risk beyond the personal estate matter itself.

PNPC can review and advise on shareholder agreement or Memorandum/Articles provisions addressing share transfer on death as part of a comprehensive succession engagement, working alongside the will drafting so both documents are consistent. Where a company's constitutional documents need amendment to properly support the intended succession outcome, PNPC scopes that as part of the broader engagement rather than treating the will in isolation from the underlying company documents.

In India, succession is generally governed by personal law based on religion (Hindu Succession Act, Muslim personal law, Indian Succession Act for others) with broad testamentary freedom for most communities through a registered or unregistered will. In the UK, common-law testamentary freedom is well established and probate is administered through the UK courts. The UAE's default framework applies Sharia-based fixed shares in the absence of a registered will, which is a materially different starting point for many expatriates — hence the importance of the dedicated non-Muslim will routes (DIFC, ADJD) that restore a testamentary-freedom approach for UAE-situs assets specifically.

The first step is an initial consultation covering your religion, nationality, family situation, and a full inventory of UAE-situs assets and any relevant business shareholdings. From that conversation, PNPC confirms the appropriate will route (or combination of routes), scopes the engagement, and provides a fixed fee in writing before any drafting begins.

Generally yes for UAE-situs assets, since the DIFC and ADJD non-Muslim will routes are not restricted to residents of Dubai or Abu Dhabi specifically — what typically matters is where the relevant asset is situated, though the practical registration and probate process may involve coordination with courts in the specific Emirate where an asset (such as property) is located. PNPC confirms the correct route and any Emirate-specific considerations at the initial consultation based on the client's actual asset locations.

If you retain UAE-situs assets — property, a bank account, or company shares — after relocating, the UAE will generally continues to be relevant to those specific assets regardless of where you subsequently reside. If all UAE assets are fully liquidated or transferred out before departure, the UAE will may no longer have a practical purpose, though this should be confirmed rather than assumed, particularly if any residual UAE relationship (a dormant account, an unresolved company matter) remains.

A template service or a self-drafted document does not verify which UAE route actually applies to your religion, nationality, and asset mix, does not cross-check the will against your specific company's constitutional documents for share succession, and does not coordinate with any existing home-country will to prevent conflict. PNPC is a practising professional services firm present in the UAE since well before most digital-only will services existed — we structure the will as part of a considered estate and succession plan, not a one-size-fits-all document, and we remain available to support the family through the actual probate process when it is needed.