Will for Indian expats in the UAE

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

Most Indian expats with savings, property or a car in the UAE need two wills: a UAE will, registered with the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department for everything here, and an Indian will for everything in India. An Indian will is not automatically recognised by a UAE court, and a UAE will does not reach your flat in Pune or your NRE account. This guide explains how the two fit together, what the Consulate General of India in Dubai says, and the Indian details worth knowing before you start.

The short answer

Keep your Indian will, or make one, for assets in India. Add a UAE will for assets in the UAE. Write each one so that it covers only its own country and does not cancel the other. If you have children in the UAE, use the UAE will to name the people who look after them.

Why not one will for everything? Because a UAE court cannot act on an Indian document until it has been attested, translated into Arabic and accepted by the UAE court, which takes months while accounts here stay frozen. We cover that process in is a foreign will valid in the UAE, so we will not repeat it here.

Two wills, one for each country

The two-will structure is simple once you see what each document does.

The detail that matters most is the revocation clause. A will made on the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department’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. Your Indian will is left alone.

The risk runs the other way. A will often opens with a line revoking “all previous wills and codicils”. If you sign a new Indian will after your UAE will, ask whoever drafts it to limit that line to assets in India. Otherwise the newer will can appear to cancel the older one, and your family is left arguing about which survives.

Two more habits keep the pair working. First, tell each executor that the other will exists and where the original is kept, so nobody in Mumbai is surprised by a court file in Abu Dhabi. Second, keep the gifts consistent. If your UAE will leaves everything to your spouse and your Indian will splits Indian assets between your children, that can be exactly what you want, but make it a choice rather than an accident. And if you own nothing in India at all, a UAE will on its own may be all you need.

What the Indian consulate in Dubai says

The Consulate General of India in Dubai publishes guidance on wills for Indian nationals living in the UAE, prepared with information from the ICAI Dubai chapter. Its central warning is that an “Indian Will” or a “Worldwide Will” cannot be relied upon to protect your family or your assets here.

The guidance was written around the DIFC wills registry and before the 2022 federal law on civil personal status, so it does not mention the ADJD route. Two of its points still apply to any UAE will:

• Children need clear instructions. The consulate stresses naming an interim guardian who lives in the UAE and is known to the children, to look after them until a family member arrives to take over.
• The consulate attests wills. If you sign an Indian will while living here, the consulate can attest it. You attend in person with your original passport, a copy, a photo and your Emirates ID, and your witnesses attend too with their passports and UAE visa copies. Charges are listed by its service provider, IVS Global.

You can read the page on the consulate’s site under executing wills by Indian nationals residing in UAE.

Your Indian will: the basics

This is a pointer, not advice. For anything beyond it, speak to a lawyer in India.

• How it is signed. Under Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act 1925, you sign the will and it is attested by two or more witnesses who saw you sign.
• Registration is optional. Section 18 of the Registration Act 1908 lists wills among the documents whose registration is optional. A lawyer in India can tell you whether registering yours is worth doing.
• Indian assets stay in India. Your UAE will does not cover a flat in Bengaluru or a fixed deposit in Kochi. Those pass under your Indian will, through Indian banks, sub-registrars and, where needed, Indian courts.

A nominee in India is not an heir

Many NRIs assume that naming a nominee on an Indian bank account settles who inherits it. It does not. A nomination tells the bank who to pay. It does not decide who owns the money.

The Reserve Bank of India’s instructions to banks say that when a bank pays a deceased depositor’s money to a nominee, it must make clear that the nominee receives it as a trustee of the legal heirs. In other words, the nominee collects the money and then holds it for whoever is entitled under your will, or under the law if there is no will.

So a nomination and a will do different jobs. Keep your nominations up to date, because they help your family get the money out quickly. Then use your Indian will to say who it belongs to. If you want your nominee to keep the money, say so in the will.

Guardians for children growing up in the UAE

For many Indian families here, this is the real reason to make a UAE will. If both parents die and no guardian has been named, a UAE court decides who looks after the children. Grandparents or an uncle flying in from India have no automatic standing on the day.

A UAE will on the ADJD template names two kinds of guardian:

• An interim guardian who lives in the UAE, such as a close friend or a colleague the children know, who can collect them and care for them in the first days.
• A permanent guardian who can be in India, such as a sibling or a grandparent, who takes over once they arrive.

Ask both people before you name them. The full picture, including the ages that matter, is in guardianship for expat children in the UAE.

What it costs

The UAE side has two fees: our drafting fee and the court’s registration fee. The court fee is paid directly to the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department.

A will registered with the ADJD covers assets in all seven emirates, so a family in Dubai or Sharjah registers there too. Couples can choose mirror wills. The Indian will is a separate cost, set by whoever drafts it in India. For every fee in one place, see how much a will costs in the UAE.

What to do next

Start with a list: what you own in the UAE, what you own in India, and who you would want to look after your children. Check the nominee on each Indian account while you are at it.

Then take our free assessment. It asks a few questions about your family and what you own here, and tells you which route fits before you pay anything. If you want to know what happens to a UAE estate with no will at all, read dying without a will in the UAE.

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