Dubai Property Inheritance
The DIFC Wills Guide for Foreign Owners
Buying a Dubai apartment is a decision most investors research for months. What happens to it afterwards is a decision most never make at all. Here is how UAE succession law treats a non-Muslim owner, what a registered will changes, and exactly what the DIFC Courts charge.
You Bought the Title Deed. Who Inherits It?
Dubai has spent two decades making it straightforward for foreign nationals to buy freehold property. The registration is quick, the title is clean, the fees are published. What the process does not do is ask you what should happen to that asset if you die owning it. That question sits outside the transaction, and for a very large number of overseas owners it has never been answered.
The default answer is not nothing. Two instruments govern it. Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017, concerning the administration of estates and implementation of wills of non-Muslims in the Emirate of Dubai, applies to all wills and estates of non-Muslims in Dubai including the DIFC, and created a Register of Wills of non-Muslims at both the Dubai Courts and the DIFC Courts. Above it sits Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status, which sets out how a non-Muslim estate is dealt with when the owner left no instructions.
Under Article 11 of that decree-law, an individual may designate the beneficiaries of their estate in the UAE. Where they have not, the default applies: half of the estate passes to the surviving spouse and the remainder is divided equally among the children, with no differentiation between sons and daughters. Where there are no children, the decree-law provides for the estate to pass to the deceased’s parents and siblings. The decree-law also allows the heirs of foreign nationals to apply their home country’s inheritance law, unless a registered will provides otherwise.
Read that carefully and the real issue becomes visible. The default distribution is, for many families, close to what they would have chosen anyway. The cost of relying on it is not usually unfairness. It is delay, evidential burden, and the possibility of dispute at the worst possible moment — because someone has to establish which law applies, produce documents from another jurisdiction, and satisfy a court that the outcome is correct.
DIFC Wills Service at a Glance
Eligibility and scope
What a DIFC Will Costs in 2026
The DIFC Courts publish a fixed registration fee for every will type. Mirror wills are two matching wills registered together, typically by a married couple. These are court fees only; any lawyer, drafting professional or translator you engage charges separately.
| Will Type | Form | Single Will | Mirror Wills | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Will | Form 1 | 10 000 дирхамов ОАЭ | 15 000 дирхамов ОАЭ | All movable and immovable UAE property, plus guardianship appointments |
| Property Will | Form 3 | AED 7,500 | 10 000 дирхамов ОАЭ | Up to five UAE real estate properties or shares in properties |
| Guardianship Will | Form 2 | 5 000 дирхамов ОАЭ | AED 7,500 | Appointment of guardians for minor children only |
| Financial Assets Will | Form 5 | 5 000 дирхамов ОАЭ | AED 7,500 | Up to ten UAE bank or brokerage accounts |
| Business Owners Will | Form 4 | 5 000 дирхамов ОАЭ | AED 7,500 | Up to five shareholdings in UAE companies |
| Digital Assets Will | Form 6 | 5 000 дирхамов ОАЭ | AED 7,500 | Digital assets held by the testator |
| Booking fee | — | AED 500 – AED 2,000 | Non-refundable, varies by will type and single or mirror | |
| Modification | — | AED 550 | Service fee to amend a registered will | |
| Inspection | — | AED 375 | Service fee to inspect a registered will | |
| Withdrawal | — | No charge | Withdrawing a registered will | |
| Standing search | — | 1500 дирхамов ОАЭ | Per period, to monitor the register | |
| Copy documents | — | AED 7 / AED 3 | First copy, then each subsequent copy | |
Source: DIFC Courts published fee schedule, difccourts.ae, retrieved 11 August 2026. Court fees are subject to change — confirm the current schedule before payment.
Six Will Types, One Decision
Most Dubai property owners are choosing between two of these. The rest exist to cover specific situations at a lower fee than a full estate instrument.
Covers all movable and immovable property you own in the UAE at the time of death, whether or not it was listed when you registered, and can appoint guardians. The default choice for anyone with property plus accounts, or who expects their holdings to change.
Covers up to five UAE properties or shares in properties. Efficient if your Dubai exposure is purely real estate and your other affairs are already handled by a will in your home country.
Appoints guardians for minor children and nothing else. Guardianship appointments apply to minors in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah. Often registered alongside a separate asset will.
Covers up to ten UAE bank or brokerage accounts. Relevant to residents who hold salary, savings and investment accounts locally but own no UAE property.
Covers up to five shareholdings in UAE companies. Worth reviewing alongside any shareholders agreement, which may already dictate what happens to a stake on death.
Deals with digital assets held by the testator, a category the DIFC Courts added as holdings moved online. Priced in line with the other single-category forms.
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Two Registries, One Choice, and the Cost of Doing Nothing
How to think about the decision if you own Dubai property and have not yet registered anything.
Registries Available
Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017 created a Register of Wills of non-Muslims at the Dubai Courts and at the DIFC Courts. Under the law, jurisdiction over disputes about a registered will follows where it was registered. The DIFC route operates in English on common-law principles, which is why most foreign owners are directed to it.
Probate With a Will
The DIFC Courts describe the process as the executor presenting the death certificate, after which a Grant of Probate is normally issued within a matter of a few weeks where the case is straightforward. The registered will is what makes a case straightforward, because the court is applying instructions rather than reconstructing them.
Excuse for Delay
Residency is not required. Travel is not required. The DIFC Courts confirm that wills can be registered and modified online by video conference, with testators and witnesses attending from anywhere in the world. For an owner of a single Dubai apartment, the entire exercise costs less than one year of service charges on many units.
What Dubai Property Owners Should Actually Do
A short, ordered checklist that covers the majority of foreign-owner situations.
Start by listing what you actually hold in the UAE. One apartment held outright is a different problem from three properties, a joint account and a free zone company. The form you need follows directly from that list: five UAE properties or fewer and nothing else here points to a Property Will; a mixed estate points to a Full Will. Getting this right is the difference between AED 7,500 and AED 10,000, and more importantly between a will that covers everything and one that leaves a gap.
Check whether a mortgage changes the picture. A financed property carries an obligation as well as an asset, and lenders in the UAE typically require life cover on a home loan. Understanding how that interacts with your estate is worth a conversation before you register anything — our Dubai mortgage guide sets out how the financing side normally works.
Do not assume your home country will covers Dubai. Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 does allow the heirs of foreign nationals to apply their home country inheritance law, but that is a route to be proved, not a switch that flips automatically. A will registered in Dubai removes the argument entirely for the assets it covers.
Register for the property you own, not the property you plan to own. If you are still buying, complete the purchase first and register afterwards, or use a Full Will so that later acquisitions are captured without a fresh registration. Amending a registered will carries a AED 550 service fee, which is modest, but repeated amendments are avoidable with the right form at the start.
Keep the rest of your ownership admin in the same review. Succession is one of several things Dubai owners tend to postpone. The others are service charge budgeting, rent review timing and understanding what your unit is actually worth today. Our guides on Dubai service charges, the Smart Rental Index and rent increase rules и current prices by community cover those. If you are still deciding where to buy, the community-level detail for Пальма Джумейра, Дубай Хиллс Эстейт и Downtown Дубая is a better starting point than any market-wide average.
Finally, treat residency and succession as separate questions. Owning Dubai property can support a residence visa at defined thresholds, and that is worth planning for on its own terms — see our Golden Visa guide and the overview of Dubai residency visas. Neither a visa nor a title deed tells a court who should inherit. Only a registered will does that.
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The questions buyers and owners ask us most about this topic.
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