Which law distributes a non-Muslim estate in the UAE

When a non-Muslim resident of the United Arab Emirates dies, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status governs the estate, unless the law of their home country is chosen instead. Without a will it gives half to the spouse and half equally among the children. With a registered will it gives the whole of the UAE property to whoever the will names. So an inheritance reaching an Australian bank account has already been through a choice, and that choice is usually made before the death rather than after it.

Key Takeaways

• Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 applies to non-Muslim UAE nationals and non-Muslim foreigners residing in the state, unless a person adheres to the law of their home country on inheritance and wills.
• Article 4 states that inheritance shall be distributed equally between men and women in accordance with the decree-law.
• Without a will, half the estate goes to the spouse and the other half is divided equally among the children, with cascades to parents and siblings where there are no children.
• With a will, the testator may leave the entire property they own in the state to anybody they choose.
• Any heir may ask for the law under the Civil Code to be applied instead, unless there is a registered will to the contrary, which is what makes registration the decisive step.

The law that applies, and the exit from it

Federal Decree-Law No. (41) of 2022 on Civil Personal Status was issued on 3 October 2022 and, by article 18, entered into force on 1 February 2023. Its scope article is short and does most of the work.

Article 1 applies the decree-law to non-Muslims who are national citizens of the United Arab Emirates, and to non-Muslim foreigners residing in the state, unless any of them adheres to the application of the law of their home country with regard to the articles of marriage, divorce, inheritance, wills and proof of parentage. The same clause carves out several articles of Federal Law No. 5 of 1985, so the scope is not quite as clean as a one-line summary suggests. A second clause lets the same people agree to apply other legislation regulating family or personal status matters currently in force in the state instead.

So there are three possibilities in play for one estate: the federal civil law, the law of the deceased's home country, and other legislation in force in the Emirates. The decree-law is the default for a non-Muslim resident, and the other two are reached by choosing them. For an Australian family, the practical consequence is that an estate may be distributed on the federal civil law's principles, on those of the deceased's home country, or on other legislation in force in the state, and the paperwork left behind is what shows which.

The UAE Legislation portal publishes the English text with a standing note that the Arabic version prevails. That is worth knowing before quoting a clause back at anyone: the English is official but it is not the operative text.

What happens with no will

The default is set by article 11. In the absence of a will, half of the inheritance devolves, which is to say passes, to the husband or wife. The other half is distributed equally among the children, with no differentiation between male and female.

Where the deceased has no children, the article cascades. The estate passes to the parents if they are alive, in equal shares. If one parent has died, half goes to the surviving parent and the other half to the deceased's brothers and sisters. Where neither parent survives, the whole estate goes to the brothers and sisters, divided equally and without differentiation between males and females.

Worked from the clean limb of article 11(2), where there is a spouse and children and no will, the shares fall out as fractions:

The number of children is the only input the article does not supply, and each child takes an equal part of the same half however many there are. The table stops there rather than working the no-children branches, because one further sentence in the same clause is difficult to read with confidence in the published English, and the portal says the Arabic prevails.

One line in article 4 states the principle behind all of that: inheritance shall be equally distributed between men and women in accordance with the provisions of the decree-law. The equal-shares rule is not an incident of the arithmetic in article 11; it is a stated principle the arithmetic implements.

There is one more route in the same article. Any of the foreigner's heirs may request the application of the law applicable to the estate in accordance with the provisions stipulated in the Civil Code, unless there is a registered will to the contrary. An heir who prefers a different outcome has a door to try, and a registered will is what closes it.

What a will changes

Article 11 opens with the freedom rather than the default. The testator has the right to leave a will with the entire property they own in the state in favour of anybody they want, in accordance with the controls specified by the executive regulations of the decree-law.

Two things follow. The first is that the half-and-half division is a fallback, not a floor: a will can direct the whole UAE estate somewhere else entirely, including to a person who is not an heir under article 11. The second is the interaction with the heir's right to ask for another law. Because that right is expressly subject to a registered will, the will does not only decide the shares. It decides which body of law the shares are worked out under, by removing the alternative.

The mechanics are left to be published elsewhere. Under article 12 the Cabinet issues an inheritance procedures manual for those the decree-law addresses. Article 13 deals with recording: wills of the persons governed by the decree-law are recorded in the register prepared for that purpose, under procedures set by the executive regulations. The same article adds that a married couple may fill out a will registration form during the signing of the marriage contract, indicating how property is to be distributed if either of them dies. The registration step is therefore available at the moment of marriage, not only in later life.

Where a non-Muslim will is registered in practice

Beside the federal register there is an emirate-level registry. The DIFC Courts Wills Service describes itself as a joint initiative of the Government of Dubai and the DIFC Courts. It gives non-Muslims investing and living in the Emirates the option to pass on their assets and appoint guardians for their children, in accordance with the instructions in their will.

It was established by Resolution No. 4 of 2014, and its authority was re-affirmed by Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017 regulating inheritance, wills and probate for non-Muslims. The service provides administrative support to the DIFC Courts Wills Registry for Non-Muslims. That registry holds the register of DIFC Courts wills and handles probate matters and probate claims. Together, the service and the registry are described as a system ensuring that a person's UAE assets are distributed in accordance with the terms of their registered wills.

Six kinds of will are offered: a full will, a property will, a financial assets will, a business owners will, a digital assets will, and a guardianship will. The narrower forms exist because a resident's UAE position is often a subset of their affairs, and a will covering only Emirati property sits alongside an Australian one covering everything else.

Abu Dhabi has a civil route of its own. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department operates the Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court, and names Abu Dhabi Law No. 14 of 2021 on Civil Marriage and its Effects in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi on the same page.

Why the choice is made before the money moves

The reason all of this matters to a beneficiary in Australia is timing. Every one of the levers above operates before the estate is distributed: the adherence to a home country's law under article 1, the will under article 11, the registration under article 13, the heir's request under the Civil Code. Once the estate has been distributed on one basis, the transfer that arrives is simply a payment.

Here the decisive law is the source country's, the decisive document is filed in the Emirates, and the beneficiary abroad is usually the last person to see any of it. What reaches them afterwards is an ordinary payment, moving the way any international transfer does and carrying its own costs and charges.

Where to look next

• Receiving money from the United Arab Emirates - the live reference rate for the dirham against the Australian dollar, struck and dated on the page.
• Sending money to the UAE from Australia - the opposite direction, and how a registered payout provider identifies who collects a transfer.
• How international transfers work - the sequence a payment moves through before any national rule reaches it.
• How to find an accountant - how to look for professional help with a cross-border estate, as a service rather than a product.
• AUD to AED - the convert page for the pair, with the story of the dirham's fixed relationship to the US dollar.

Sources

• Federal Decree-Law No. (41) of 2022 On the Civil Personal Status, UAE Legislation portal - article 1 on the scope and the home-country exception, article 4 on equal distribution between men and women, article 11 on the freedom to will the entire property owned in the state, the intestate half-and-half division and the parent and sibling cascades, and the heir's request for the Civil Code law unless a registered will says otherwise, article 12 on the Cabinet's inheritance procedures manual, article 13 on the wills register and the registration form at the marriage contract, and article 18 on entry into force on 1 February 2023. The portal notes that the Arabic text prevails.
• DIFC Courts Wills - Service, DIFC Courts - the service as a joint initiative of the Government of Dubai and the DIFC Courts for non-Muslims, its establishment by Resolution No. 4 of 2014 and re-affirmation by Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017, the registry and probate function, and the six will types.
• Abu Dhabi Civil Family Court, Abu Dhabi Judicial Department - the existence of the court and Abu Dhabi Law No. 14 of 2021 on Civil Marriage and its Effects in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

General information about how a non-Muslim estate is distributed in the United Arab Emirates and the wills registers available there. Not legal advice, not financial advice, not tax advice, and not a recommendation of any product or institution. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.