How to write a will in the UAE online: what to include

By MyHaven Team·Published 7 September 2026·7 minute read

A will is a short document that has to be complete. Most of the difficulty is not the writing, it is knowing what has to be in it and in what order. This guide sets out what a UAE will covers, what each part is for, and how the whole thing gets from a set of decisions to a registered document.

Before you write anything

Two lists make everything after this faster. Neither takes long, and doing them first is the difference between an afternoon and a fortnight.

1. What you own in the UAE. Property, bank accounts, vehicles, business shares, valuables, digital assets. Roughly what each is worth and where it is held.
2. Who is in it. Everyone you might name, with their full name exactly as it appears on their passport, date of birth, nationality and address. Beneficiaries, your executor, guardians, backups.

What a UAE will covers, section by section

A will registered through the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department follows the court’s own form, which runs in ten numbered sections. Knowing what each is for makes the document far less intimidating when you first read your draft.

You do not write these sections yourself. You answer questions about your family, your assets and your wishes, and the document is assembled in the court’s order from your answers. What matters is that you understand what you are approving when you read it back.

Executors, and why you name two

Your executor is the person who carries out the will: gathering the estate, settling debts, and distributing what remains to the people you named. It is an administrative job, not an honour, and it is real work.

• Choose someone organised and reachable. Willingness matters more than seniority. Ask them first.
• Name an alternate. Your first choice may be unable or unwilling to act when the time comes, and a will with one name in it depends on that name still working years from now.
• A beneficiary can be an executor. A spouse who inherits and also administers the estate is an ordinary arrangement.

Specific gifts and the residue

Distribution is written in two layers, and getting the difference clear is the single most useful thing to understand about your own will.

Specific gifts are named things going to named people. A property, a car, a particular account, a piece of jewellery. Because the thing has to be identifiable, the will carries its identifying detail: the title deed number for a property, the plate number for a car, the account number or IBAN for an account. That is why the questions about a gift ask for those details beside the gift itself.

The residue is everything else, which is usually most of the estate. It can go to one person, or be divided between several in shares that add up to one hundred per cent. You also say what happens if a beneficiary of the residue dies before you, because that is the gap that otherwise sends a family back to court.

A share left to a child under eighteen is held on trust until they reach eighteen rather than handed to a minor, which is the template’s own provision and applies whether the child receives a specific gift or a share of the residue.

Guardians for children

If you have children under eighteen, this is the section that matters most. A UAE will names an interim guardian who can act immediately, ideally someone already in the country, and a permanent guardian for the long term, who often is not. Naming both is the point, because the right long-term choice frequently cannot be at a school gate tomorrow morning.

Nobody can appoint themselves as guardian in their own will, so a couple naming each other will each see the appointment in the other’s document rather than in their own. The full picture, including who can take the role, is in guardianship for expat children in the UAE.

Translation, signing and registration

A drafted will is not yet a will. Three things turn it into one.

1. Translation. The court reads Arabic, so an English will is accompanied by a translation from a certified legal translator, carrying their stamp and signature. The two languages stay together in one document.
2. Signing. Under the ADJD route the will is signed in front of a notary on a video call. There are no witnesses to arrange. Have your original passport and Emirates ID in your hand rather than copies.
3. Registration.The will is entered in the register and you receive the court’s own copy. That is the moment it takes effect. The stage by stage version is in the ADJD registration guide.

A will registered with the ADJD covers your UAE assets across all seven emirates. Assets held in another country generally follow that country’s law, which usually means a separate will made there, written so the two do not contradict each other.

How the online flow does it

Doing this online is not a different kind of will. It is the same document, assembled from structured questions instead of a blank page.

• A short assessment establishes whether this route fits you and whether you need one will or a pair.
• The drafting questions walk through gifts, the residue, executors, guardians and the standard clauses, one screen at a time, only asking what your answers make relevant.
• A named case owner reads the draft, and a certified legal translator produces the Arabic. Your final bilingual will is ready within seven working days of you approving the draft.
• You read it in full and can ask for changes before anything is signed or registered.
• For registration, the MyHaven team can take it from there: uploading the will to the ADJD portal, guiding the fee payment and the appointment booking, and supporting you end to end until the court’s registered copy is back in your folder.

MyHaven does that for 699 AEDfor a single will, with the court’s registration fee paid separately to the court. The whole flow is described in how it works, and the figures are on the pricing page.

Where to start

Make the two lists at the top of this guide, then answer the assessment questions. It takes a few minutes and tells you what you need before you pay anything.

Related reading: mirror wills in the UAE for couples, ADJD vs DIFC if you are still choosing a registry, and the FAQ for everything else.

MyHaven is not a law firm and this guide is not legal advice. It explains how the process works so you can make your own decisions. What that means