Technical article
The United Arab Emirates Lets Non-Muslim Residents Choose Their Home Country's Law
A law firm note (tier C) says non-Muslim residents can have their home country's law apply on death.
Imagine a retired couple from Canada who live in Dubai. They are not Muslim. They have two grown children, one in Toronto and one in London. For years the question hung over families like theirs: if one of us dies here, whose law divides the estate?
What changed
The default onshore rules in the Emirates are rooted in Islamic law. For Muslims, fixed shares go to named relatives, and a will normally works within one third. Before 2023 that was the default for non-Muslim residents too.
Federal Decree-Law 41 of 2022 changed that for non-Muslims. It came into force on 1 February 2023. Two sources of different weight describe it. A law firm note (tier C) says non-Muslim residents can have their home country's law apply on death. Two other firms (tier C) say that a non-Muslim without a registered will now gets a plain default: the spouse takes one half and the children share the rest equally. One wiki gives a different number for a later personal-status decree. The sources differ on that point.
A will registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre or the Abu Dhabi Global Market can cover assets worldwide, according to the same firm. A wiki page lists the registration cost as AED 10,000 in Dubai (about US$2,700) and AED 950 in Abu Dhabi (about US$260). The Dubai fee also appears on the DIFC Courts fee schedule (tier A). The Abu Dhabi fee rests on the wiki, which is tier U.
What a free-zone trust adds
Both free zones have their own trust rules. The Dubai centre's trust law is Law No. 4 of 2018, read in its 2024 consolidated text (tier A). It says four things that matter to a family with children abroad.
| Point in the law | What it says |
|---|---|
| How long | A trust may continue indefinitely. No rule against perpetuities applies |
| Foreign shares for heirs | A foreign forced-heirship right does not affect ownership of property in the centre, or of movable property wherever it sits |
| Voiding | No trust is void because it defeats a foreign heirship claim |
| Creditors | A transfer can be reversed only for fraud plus insolvency at the time, and the creditor must prove it |
Forced heirship means the shares of an estate that a country's law sets aside for children or a spouse.
Where the choice stops
A free zone has its own courts and its own rules. A law firm guide (tier C) says those protections do not fully reach assets on the mainland or the onshore courts. Land is a clear example. A law firm guide (tier C) says that under a Civil Transactions Law that took effect on 1 June 2026, the country's law governs a foreigner's immovable property there. A law firm note says land held in a trust needs approval. Joint assets with a Muslim also stay exposed.
The Emirates are not a party to the Hague Trusts Convention, and it is not on the list for the 1961 convention on the form of wills. Foreign papers may need full legalisation, according to the wiki.
Then there are the heirs' own countries. A German court applied German compulsory-portion rules even though the person had validly chosen English law. The case shows that a court at home can apply its own public-policy limits to a choice made abroad. It is not a case from the Emirates.
Taxes in the Emirates are light for this purpose. There is no inheritance, estate or gift tax on individuals (tier B). Property transfer fees apply: generally 4% in Dubai and 2% in Abu Dhabi, with 0.125% in Dubai for qualifying family transfers (tier C). The heirs' countries may still tax what they receive.
You could
You could write down every asset you hold in the Emirates and mark each one as free zone, mainland or land. You could ask whether your children's countries apply forced shares of their own. You could also ask what language and form of paper each of those countries expects.
Has your family made a choice of law in a country where you live, or thought about it? Tell us what you weighed. Someone with children in two or three countries may find it useful.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.
Sources
- Withers on estate planning for non-Muslims in the Emirates, 2024 (B)
- Trowers on the 2022 personal status law (C)
- Chambers Private Wealth 2026 guide to the Emirates (C)
- Dubai International Financial Centre Trust Law No. 4 of 2018, consolidated 2024 (A)
- Hadef and Partners on foundations law (C)
- PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries for the Emirates (B)
- Hague Conference status tables (A)
- Chambers Succession 2026 Germany guide (B), wiki.private.law page on the Emirates (U)
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