Will for British expats in the UAE

By MyHaven Team·Published 31 October 2026·6 minute read

A UK will is not automatically recognised by a UAE court, so most British expats with assets here keep their UK will for the UK and add a UAE will, registered with the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, for everything in the UAE. Written properly, the two sit side by side without cancelling each other. This guide covers how to set that up, what changed in UK inheritance tax in April 2025, and what your family deals with if you die while living here.

The short answer

Your UK will is still valid in the UK. It is just not ready to use here. Before a UAE court could act on it, your family would need a UK grant of probate, attestation by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the UAE embassy, a certified Arabic translation and a court application. The steps are set out in is a foreign will valid in the UAE. Meanwhile, accounts in your sole name stay frozen.

A UAE will registered with the ADJD avoids that. It is already in the court’s register, in English and Arabic, and it covers assets in all seven emirates, so it works for a villa in Dubai as well as an account in Abu Dhabi.

It also decides who inherits. Under Article 11 of Federal Decree-Law 41 of 2022, the law for non-Muslim residents, you can leave everything you own in the UAE to whoever you choose by will. Without a will, your spouse takes half and your children share the other half equally. If you would rather everything passed to your spouse first and to the children after both of you, that has to be written down. Article 11 also lets an heir ask the court to apply a different law, unless there is a registered will to the contrary. The full default rules are in UAE inheritance law for expats.

The “revokes all previous wills” trap

A UK will usually begins with a clause revoking all earlier wills and codicils. That line is harmless when you only have one will. With two, it is an easy way to undo your own planning without noticing.

• The UAE will is already limited. A will on the ADJD’s form says it concerns your estate in the UAE only, and that it revokes earlier wills only as far as they touch UAE assets. Signing it leaves your UK will intact.
• The UK will may not be. If you update your UK will after making the UAE one, and the new UK will revokes “all previous wills”, it can appear to cancel your UAE will. Tell your UK solicitor that a UAE will exists and ask for the revocation clause and the scope of the UK will to be limited to assets outside the UAE.

Check the gifts in both documents at the same time. Two wills that each leave “everything” to different people are an argument waiting to happen.

Executors in the UK and in the UAE

Each will names its own executor, and it helps if each one lives where the assets are.

Two points from the UK government’s probate guidance are worth knowing. In England and Wales, the original will goes to the probate registry with the application and becomes a public record. And where there is more than one will, the guidance says to send in the most recent one, which is one more reason to make sure your wills say clearly which country each one covers.

UK inheritance tax since April 2025

From 6 April 2025, the UK replaced domicile with a residence test for inheritance tax. This is a pointer only; your own position depends on your tax history, so ask a UK tax adviser.

• Based abroad. GOV.UK says that if you are based abroad, inheritance tax is only paid on your UK assets, such as UK property or bank accounts. HMRC treats you as based abroad if you have lived in the UK for less than 10 of the last 20 years.
• Long-term UK resident. If you were UK tax resident for the previous 10 consecutive years, or for 10 or more of the previous 20, you are a long-term UK resident, and your overseas assets, including what you hold in the UAE, can be within UK inheritance tax.
• The tail after you leave. Long-term UK residence can last for up to 10 tax years after you leave the UK, and less if you were not resident for all of the previous 20. GOV.UK’s example: with 10 to 13 years of UK residence, it ends 3 years after you leave.

A UAE will does not change any of this. It decides who receives your UAE assets; the UK decides whether tax is due on them. The UAE side of the question is covered in inheritance tax in the UAE.

If home is Scotland or Northern Ireland

Scotland

Scots law gives a spouse, civil partner and children “legal rights”: a fixed share of your moveable estate, such as money, investments and cars, that they can claim even if your will leaves them nothing. Legal rights do not apply to land or buildings. If Scotland is home, ask a Scottish solicitor how your two wills interact with legal rights.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has its own probate rules, separate from those in England and Wales. A solicitor there can tell you what your executor will need.

Guardians for your children

If your children live with you in the UAE, the UAE will is where their guardians are named. The ADJD template asks for two roles:

• An interim guardian who lives in the UAE and can collect the children and care for them in the first days.
• A permanent guardian, for example a sibling or a grandparent in the UK, who takes over once they arrive.

A guardianship clause in a UK will is a UK document, and it meets the same recognition problem as the rest of the UK will. The detail is in guardianship for expat children in the UAE.

When a British national dies in the UAE

The FCDO publishes guidance on what to do when someone dies in the UAE. In short:

• The death is registered in the UAE, through the police and the hospital, and a funeral director can usually handle this.
• The next of kin usually makes the decisions and practical arrangements, and can sometimes appoint someone else to act for them.
• The British embassy can issue the no objection letter needed for burial, cremation or repatriation, and cancels the British passport. Burial in the UAE is only possible if the person held a valid residency visa.
• The embassy cannot give legal advice, pay legal costs or provide translation. It points families to a list of English-speaking lawyers.

That last point is where a registered will matters. The embassy helps with the body and the paperwork of the death. The estate, from frozen accounts to the car, is for your family and the UAE court, and a registered will is the instruction the court follows.

What to do next

A single UAE will costs 699 AEDwith us plus the ADJD’s 950 AED court fee. For a couple, a pair of mirror wills is 999 AED plus 1,900 AED in court fees. How that compares with the DIFC and Dubai Courts is in which registry is right for you.

Our free assessment asks a few questions about your family and what you own, and tells you which route fits before you pay anything. Once your UAE will is registered, send a copy to whoever looks after your UK will so the two stay in step.

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