Without a registered UAE will, your family could face frozen bank accounts, delayed asset access, and a court process that could take months. Take control now and protect what you've built.
Bonus: Book by midnight tonight and get our "2026 Legacy Safeguard Series"—daily briefings on new UAE inheritance laws sent to your inbox before your call.
Of your personal time, spread across a few weeks
From assessment to government submission
Zero courthouse visits
Without a registered UAE will, here's what your family could face:
When a UAE bank is notified of a death, it typically freezes the associated accounts. Joint accounts too. Your spouse might not be able to access the money for rent, school fees, or daily expenses. This freeze could last weeks or months while the courts process the estate.
The law decides who gets what. Not you. The default rules are published by the government: typically, the surviving spouse receives half, and the rest is split equally between the children. It is a fixed formula. It might match what you want. It might not.
Without a will naming a guardian, there is no document telling anyone who you would want looking after your kids. The court would need to decide, and that takes time.
Without clear documentation, your family could face a longer court process, certified translations and legal fees, all at the worst possible moment. None of this is designed to scare you: it is simply how the system works when there is no will in place.
We help you choose between three routes, all 100% remote and all legally recognized across the UAE.
Other providers offer hundreds of services. We do only one thing: help expats register wills in the UAE.
This specialization has allowed us to eliminate the 3 obstacles that cause procrastination:
Less than 3 hours of your time in total, spread across a few weeks. One guided session, one draft review, a few signatures. Everything else happens on our side.
100% remote, from wherever you are in the world. No courthouse visits and no government portals to figure out: we navigate them for you.
Fixed pricing, agreed before we start. No hourly fees, no surprises along the way.
You block out 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete the Protection Assessment. A member of our team is available via WhatsApp for any questions you have.
After that? We handle the rest: drafting, certified translation, court coordination, and final registration.
Zero legal knowledge required. You can do it from anywhere in the world.
Everything under our control (drafting, certified translation, submission) typically takes about 10 working days. No stress, no law firm visits, no surprises.
Book your free Risk Profile Audit. We compare DIFC, ADJD and Dubai Courts for your situation, show exact costs, and map the timeline, based on information currently available to everyone. Zero pressure, just education.
Immediately after you have purchased the service and your registry (DIFC, Abu Dhabi or Dubai) is chosen, we officially lock about an hour in your calendar to complete your Protection Assessment and we create a whatsapp group with one of our team members.
During that time a team member is available via WhatsApp or video call to answer any immediate questions, such as "Can I leave 10% of this specific account to my son?" or "How do I name a guardian?".
No more late-night Googling or worrying if a "10% gift to your old cousin" is legally valid. Your guide sits "virtually" by your side, turning hours of confusion into minutes of confidence, ensuring your intentions are captured perfectly the first time.
You complete:
For couples: Do this together to align wishes.
Our partner law firm drafts your Will based on your Blueprint. The professional leading the drafting is a DIFC registered draftsman with more than 10 years of experience in UAE inheritance law. We do the heavy lifting, turning your wishes into a compliant UAE will, so you don't have to worry about it and can get back to enjoying your life. You review and approve the draft before anything moves forward.
For ADJD and Dubai Courts registrations, your will must be in English and Arabic. Your certified Arabic version comes from a translator accredited by the UAE Ministry of Justice, with the official MOJ stamp. Before anything reaches the court, we review the entire document against the court's requirements: the structure, the mandatory clauses, the formatting, the signatures, and every Arabic name checked against the Emirates ID. The details courts reject most often get checked twice.
For ADJD, you then sign each page with the same signature as on your Emirates ID (about 15 minutes of your time). We guide you through it.
For DIFC wills: Skip this step (stays in English).
The court assigns your video appointment: a short call with the notary, usually 10 to 15 minutes, in English. The notary confirms your identity and that you understand your will. We prepare you before and stay on standby during the call.
Current waits: ADJD around 3 months (an expedited option, about AED 1,550 extra per will, can bring it down to days), DIFC typically 3 to 6 weeks, Dubai Courts often days to weeks, sometimes approved without any call.
If you are not a native English speaker, we provide a simple one-page guide that explains exactly what the official will ask and which documents you need to hold up to the camera. You'll know exactly what to expect before the call even starts.
Every year, we check: new property? Another child? Guardian moved? Every year we message you personally to make sure your will is aligned with your current situation.
There are other professionals on Dubizzle and DIY guides that cost a fraction. If protecting your family is a line item to minimise in your budget, those alternatives are for you, not us.
Three hours. Not three days. Not three weeks. If even 3 hours spread over a few weeks is too much to protect the people you love, the problem isn't time. It's priority. And we can't solve that for you.
We typically complete everything under our control within about 10 working days. But government processing times don't depend on us, and we don't promise what we can't control. If you're looking for speed at the expense of accuracy, we're not the right fit.
No judgement: the investment simply wouldn't make sense for you. In that case, our honest advice is to explore the DIY option through the ADJD portal or download a guide that walks you through the process step by step.
This service was built for professionals and business owners who know exactly what an hour of their time is worth, and would rather invest less than 3 hours with a specialised team than spend weeks navigating registries, translators, and bureaucracy on their own.
Our smart clauses automatically cover assets you acquire in the future. And every year, we reach out to you personally to make sure everything is still aligned with your current situation. Zero maintenance on your end.
Drafting, certified legal translation with double verification, court coordination, registration video call logistics: all handled. You show up for less than 3 hours total. We do the rest while you get on with your life.
You already have the information. You already know what could happen without a UAE Will. The only thing missing is moving from intention to action. This service was built for exactly that moment.
Included in Your Service:
Real reviews from our Trustpilot page. SmartWills UAE is rated 4.6 out of 5.
"From start to finish, the actual time I spent on it was under three hours, split into small chunks across two weeks. The team worked around my pace, instead of expecting me to work around theirs. For anyone who keeps telling themselves they don't have the time, you do."
Daniele · Trustpilot review
"SmartWills opened a WhatsApp group on day one with the Legacy Guide. Every question got an answer in hours, not days. I don't think I ever had to write the words 'any update on this?'."
Gian Marco · Trustpilot review
"Smartwills made it from the start and throughout the process very intuitive and simple for me. The process took only some weeks and now I am glad to have a peace of mind."
Martin · Trustpilot review
"When I had specific questions on some of the more complex assets I owned at the time, a vessel among others, they offered to jump on additional video calls beyond what we'd scheduled. No hourly fees, no friction. Whole thing was done in a fraction of the time I'd expected."
Fabio · Trustpilot review
"I tried to save money at first with a 500 AED online template. Six months later I realised I had no idea whether that document would actually be accepted by the UAE courts. Switched to SmartWills. The specialist flagged two issues with my original setup that would have caused real problems."
Emanuela · Trustpilot review
"Protection Assessment on Saturday morning, draft in my WhatsApp group by Wednesday exactly as promised. Every single deadline the team committed to on the first call, they hit."
Vittorio · Trustpilot review
"With SmartWills it was a single Protection Assessment for both of us, two parallel will documents prepared at the same time, registered together. Two coordinated documents, done in a fraction of the time and budget I'd expected."
Simona · Trustpilot review
"Had two quotes from traditional UAE law firms before finding SmartWills, both in the 6,500-7,000 AED range, both hourly-rate. SmartWills: fixed price declared on the first call, fully remote process, zero surprises on the final invoice. What you're told on day one is what you pay."
Flavio · Trustpilot review
"The draft came through quickly, the translation was handled seamlessly, and the court submission was taken care of without me having to chase updates or wonder what was happening. The amount of time and effort it took from my side was far less than I'd expected."
Emanuela · Trustpilot review
"SmartWills mapped out exactly what would happen with each property: registration, beneficiary nomination, expected transfer timeline. For anyone with UAE real estate, this is not a generic legal exercise. Worth doing properly."
Giuseppe · Trustpilot review
"The thing I valued most wasn't the price or even the timeline: it was that I never had to chase anyone. When something needs chasing, they chase it. When something needs your input, they ask once."
Andrea · Trustpilot review
"SmartWills uses two certified legal translators. The second independently verifies the first, word by word. Our will was submitted once and accepted first time, no revisions, no delays."
Luigi · Trustpilot review
"With SmartWills the whole process was remote: WhatsApp, calls, documents, court submission, everything. No office visits, handled it between meetings and flights. The real thing for me was that they made it simple enough that it finally got done."
Piernicola · Trustpilot review
Yes. A will from your home country may not work automatically in the UAE. Your family could face a validation process that can take months, while assets could remain frozen. The solution is one will for each country: your home will covers your assets there, your UAE will covers your UAE assets.
Your personal time: less than 3 hours, spread across a few weeks. Everything under our control (drafting, certified translation, submission) typically takes about 10 working days. The government appointment then depends on your registry: DIFC typically 3 to 6 weeks, ADJD around 3 months (with an expedited option that can bring it down to days), Dubai Courts often days to weeks. The exact date always stays with the court.
No. 100% remote. Zero courthouse visits.
Yes. Muslim expats do register wills in the UAE and choose their own distribution. The details depend on your situation, and the registry matters: ADJD accepts wills from both Muslim and non-Muslim expats. This is exactly what we clarify for your case on the free Risk Profile Audit.
Yes. At ADJD and Dubai Courts an update means registering again. At DIFC, smaller changes cost about AED 550. And once a year we check in with you to make sure nothing needs updating.
We provide complete pricing transparency during your free Risk Profile Audit: no surprises, no hidden fees. Court fees (ADJD: AED 950, Dubai Courts: ~AED 2,020, DIFC: ~AED 10,000) are paid directly to the government.
Most expats live here for a decade without ever doing it. You have already done the hardest part: you are here.
You landed on this page right now for a reason, take advantage of the time you have already invested.
Take the next 'risk free' step now: