Living in the UAE? Register your will, or your financial assets could go to charity

If you are an expatriate living in the UAE, you must write and register a will if you want your family to receive your financial assets after your passing. If you fail to do so, your financial assets will be given to charity, according to a new rule recently reported by the local media in the UAE.

Under the newly amended Civil Transactions Law, UAE residents are being urged to register their wills, or else the heirless assets will be designated as charitable endowments.

Up until now, the assets of foreigners who died in the UAE without heirs often remained in the ‘gray area’, where their ownership remained uncertain. Now, as per the new rules, financial assets belonging to a foreigner with no legal heir will be designated as a charitable endowment, subject to supervision by the competent authority, Gulf News said on January 2, citing the UAE Media Office.

Revised UAE civil law

According to the local news reports by Gulf News and Khaleej Times, here are the details of the new laws:

• This law will apply to assets whose owner passed away without any will in place, and no claim has been made by any legal heir.

• The endowment will be subject to official oversight to ensure proper management.

• The new law is specifically for cases where there are no legal heirs.

More clarity on the application of the new laws will be achieved when the law is published in the UAE Gazette in the coming days, Gulf News said, adding that for now, the existing rules are applicable.

Lower age for asset management

Now, minors as young as 15 years old (Gregorian calendar) will be able to manage their assets with court approval, down from 18 years (Hijri) before.

The Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar used by Muslims to determine religious dates, while the Gregorian calendar is the solar calendar used across the world officially.

The previous threshold for managing assets was 18 Hijri years. However, the announcement lowering the age did not specify the types of assets minors (15 and above) can manage.

Further, minors will have to get approval from the court, where each case will be assessed individually to decide if they can manage their assets or not.

Additionally, the UAE has also lowered the age of legal maturity to 18, from 21 before. These changes are aimed at empowering young people and encouraging entrepreneurship.

Over 4 million Indian expats are currently residing in the UAE, making these changes in the UAE civil law important. If you or your family member/friend lives in the UAE, you must be aware of these changes and track the official gazette notifications that are expected to be released in the coming weeks.