Does a DIFC will cover assets outside the DIFC?

Yes: it may designate assets across the emirate (and Ras Al Khaimah for guardianship). Since Law No. 2 of 2025, enforcement runs through the DIFC judge with Dubai Courts assistance outside the DIFC.

Does the registry draft the will?

No. The registry registers and safeguards; drafting falls to the testator, a portal template, or a registered draftsman.

Inheriting Dubai property: the DIFC will, official fee schedule, foreign owners

A Dubai property, no registered will: the risk nobody models

The acquisition is modelled to the dirham; the succession, almost never. For the non-Muslim foreign owner, a DIFC registration puts the estate back in the planner's hands.

31 August 20263 min readLa rédaction — Wealth Management · Global Real AssetsÉmirats arabes unis (Dubaï)Facts checked on 31 August 2026Evergreen reference

Key points

Without a registered will, UAE courts apply local default succession rules, Sharia-inspired — a devolution that can surprise the spouses and children of a foreign owner.
The DIFC Courts' wills registry is open to non-Muslims aged 21+ with UAE assets: full will (AED 10,000 single, AED 15,000 mirror), property will (AED 7,500 / AED 10,000), dedicated formats for financial assets or guardianship (AED 5,000 / AED 7,500).
Probate of a registered will proceeds before the DIFC Courts (application around USD 1,500); Dubai Law No. 2 of 2025 vests enforcement in the DIFC enforcement judge, with Dubai Courts assistance for assets outside the DIFC.
Registration is completed online or in person; the registry neither drafts nor advises — the text is prepared upstream, with a registered draftsman where needed.
For multi-asset estates, a foundation (DIFC or ADGM) avoids probate altogether by housing assets during lifetime — one step up in engineering, at a different order of cost.

What happens with nothing in place

The default scenario is not neutral: frozen accounts, devolution under shares the owner never chose, guardianship of minors decided by the court. None of this is an anomaly — it is the applicable law absent an election. The election exists; not making it is a choice, usually an involuntary one.

The DIFC will: a mechanism, not a talisman

Registration makes the document enforceable and its execution predictable: DIFC enforcement judge, Dubai Courts assistance outside the DIFC since Law No. 2 of 2025. The instrument's limits remain: it covers the UAE assets it designates, it needs updating (marriage, birth, disposal — amendments at AED 550), and it does not organise lifetime management.

Will or foundation: a matter of scale

One asset, a simple family: the property will often suffices. Several assets, co-investors, a continuity-of-management requirement: the foundation removes probate upstream — assets need not "pass" because they are already housed. The right tool is chosen on the inventory, not the brochure — a trade-off our Dubai structurings integrate from entry: succession is planned at acquisition.

General information, verified at publication date. Every succession calls for licensed advice.

Journal articles are published for general, educational purposes. They constitute neither legal, tax or financial advice, nor an offer. Every situation calls for the analysis of licensed advisers.