If you hold assets in the UAE, whether that is property, a bank account, company shares or a vehicle, and you have not made a will covering UAE assets, what happens to them on your death is decided by rules you did not choose. A will made in your home country is not assumed to cover what you hold here. Before anything is drafted, a short list of practical questions needs an answer, because getting them right the first time is what makes the document worth doing at all.
We draft corporate and estate documents in Arabic and English and arrange their notarisation before a Dubai Courts notary. We are a document services provider, not a notary and not a law firm. The notarial act itself is performed by the notary, not by us.
Why a will from home is not assumed to cover assets here
This is the point people find hardest to accept, because it feels as though a will should simply travel with you. It does not. A will made in your home country was drafted against that country’s rules, in that country’s language, for that country’s institutions to read. Nothing about it tells a UAE bank, registry or court how to treat what you hold in the UAE.
That is why a will covering UAE assets is treated as its own document, drafted separately, even if you already have a will elsewhere. The two have to be read together without contradicting each other, which is one of the questions worth settling before drafting starts.
What a will is actually for
A will does three things, and the second and third are the ones people underestimate.
It says who receives what. That is the part everyone thinks of first.
It says who administers the estate. Without a named executor, somebody has to be appointed, and that process takes time, during which accounts may be inaccessible and assets cannot be dealt with.
It says who cares for children who are minors. For a family living away from their home country this is frequently the most important clause in the document, and it is the one most often left out because the conversation is uncomfortable.
A will is also a document that has to be found. A perfectly drafted will that nobody can locate does nothing, which is why what happens after signing matters as much as the drafting itself.
What to settle before you draft
None of the following needs a lawyer to answer, and having the answers ready shortens everything that follows.
| What to settle | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What you own here, and how it is held | Property, bank accounts and company shares are treated differently, and whether anything is held jointly changes who can act on it |
| What you own elsewhere | A will covering UAE assets sits alongside any will you hold in another country, and the two must not contradict or accidentally revoke each other |
| Who should receive what | Including what happens if a beneficiary predeceases you |
| Who administers it | And who is the alternative if that person cannot or will not act |
| Who cares for children who are minors | Immediate care and permanent care are frequently different people |
There is no single UAE will
This is the part that surprises people, and getting it wrong is expensive in a way that only becomes visible when it is too late to fix.
There is not one register. There are separate registration routes, run by different bodies, and they differ in who may use them, which assets they cover, which emirates they reach and what language they are made in. Which route applies to you is a question of fact about you and about what you own, not a matter of preference.
We set out the routes that apply to your situation before drafting anything, so the document is written for the route it is actually going to, rather than adjusted afterwards.
What to bring, and who has to attend
Attendance for a will follows the rule that applies to everything we arrange: the person the document concerns is the person who has to be in the room, and originals are shown to the notary rather than copies.
For a will covering UAE assets, what to bring is property documents, identity documents and passports. That lets the drafting be checked against what you actually hold before the appointment is booked, rather than discovering a gap on the day.
The published fee for a will covering UAE assets
Our fee is AED 4,000. The Dubai Courts fee is separate and passed on at cost.
That figure is higher than most of the other instruments we draft, and the reason is the work behind it rather than the length of the document. Establishing which registration route applies to you, and drafting to that route, is where the fee goes. It is also the instrument where a mistake tends to surface years later, when it is hardest to correct, which is why the questions above are worth settling properly the first time.
A will is not the only document worth knowing about
A will operates on death. It does nothing while you are alive, so it is not the instrument for someone who wants a person able to act for them if they become unable to act for themselves. A company power of attorney or a special power of attorney does that kind of work instead, and it is worth not confusing the two.
Registration is separate from drafting, too. A will that exists but is not registered where it will be looked for creates work and delay for the people who eventually have to deal with it. We tell you which route applies and what has to happen at registration, and we arrange what can be arranged. Where a registry requires you in person, we say so before you travel.
If you are also dealing with estate documents for someone who has already died, that is a related but different process, and it is worth reading separately rather than assuming the same document covers both.
Send us the draft you already have, or describe what the will needs to achieve if you do not have one yet, and we will tell you whether it will be accepted before you commit to anything through our contact page.
Questions people ask
Does a will made in my home country cover my assets in the UAE?
No, it is not assumed to. A will covering UAE assets is drafted as its own document, and it has to be read alongside any will you hold elsewhere without contradicting it.
How much does a will covering UAE assets cost?
Our fee is AED 4,000. The Dubai Courts fee is separate and passed on at cost. See the full fee schedule for our other instruments.
Is a power of attorney the same as a will?
No. A will operates on your death. A power of attorney operates while you are alive, for someone acting on your behalf. They do different jobs and are not substitutes for each other.
What do I need to bring to have a will drafted?
Property documents, identity documents and passports, so the drafting can be checked against what you actually hold before anything is booked.
Do I have to register the will myself?
We tell you which registration route applies to your situation and arrange what can be arranged. Where a registry requires you in person, we tell you before you travel, as part of the process we follow for every instrument.