ADGM Wills for Property and Estate Succession: A Guide for Abu Dhabi Investors

Abu Dhabi property held by a non-Muslim does not, by default, pass according to that person's personal wishes. Where no will is recognised by a UAE court, local courts apply their own default succession rules to the UAE-based estate. Historically, that meant Sharia-derived, forced-heirship principles could apply to non-Muslims much as they did to Muslims, producing outcomes around spousal shares, non-biological children or unmarried partners that many expatriate owners would not have chosen.

Since 1 February 2023, Federal Decree-Law No. (41) of 2022 on Civil Personal Status has given non-Muslims a federal civil-law default instead: absent a will, half the estate passes to a surviving spouse and the remainder is split equally among children. That is a materially different starting point, but still a default set by statute rather than a plan the owner chose. Abu Dhabi's Judicial Department (ADJD) also registers non-Muslim wills directly, separately from Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Registering a will through ADGM Courts — Abu Dhabi's own common-law free-zone court system — is a further, purpose-built route to testamentary freedom over a UAE estate, alongside Abu Dhabi's other options.

ADGM Courts operates a Notary Public and Wills Office, licensed and authorised by ADJD to notarise non-Muslim wills. The service registers a will for one of three purposes: disposition of the estate, guardianship of minor children, or both — and has been available since ADGM announced its partnership with ADJD on 22 June 2021.

That 2021 announcement described the service as being for non-Muslim employees of ADGM and ADGM-registered entities aged 21 or older. ADGM's current public pages describe only a document and visa requirement, without repeating that restriction. Whether eligibility has since broadened to any non-Muslim owning UAE assets, mirroring DIFC's position, or an ADGM affiliation is still formally expected, was not confirmed from ADGM's current published materials, and should be checked directly with ADGM Courts before an unaffiliated investor relies on it.

The will itself must be prepared bilingually in Arabic and English, certified by a Ministry of Justice-licensed translator, and set out the testator's identity and religion, the named executor and guardian where relevant, beneficiary details, and the estate's intended distribution. ADGM's template references Article 17 of Federal Law No. (5) of 1985 on the Civil Transactions Law. ADGM also publishes a register of law firms authorised to assist with drafting — similar to the approved-draftsman panel DIFC maintains for its own Wills Service.

ADGM's Notary Public can notarise a will covering UAE assets and non-UAE assets in the same document. For assets outside the UAE, any grant of probate over them is made in the jurisdiction where those assets sit — an ADGM will does not itself extend UAE probate authority overseas.

For UAE-based assets, including Abu Dhabi real estate, ADGM Courts is explicit that its Notary Public and Wills Office does not provide a probate service — once a will is registered, the Grant of Probate is applied for separately at ADJD's Wills and Probate Office. Registering the will and being granted probate are two sequential steps handled by two different bodies: ADGM notarises and holds the will; ADJD grants probate against it.

Whether an ADJD-issued Grant of Probate under an ADGM-registered will is recognised and enforced for property in another emirate on the same footing as an Abu Dhabi asset was not confirmed from a primary source. An investor holding property in more than one emirate should raise this specifically with a UAE succession lawyer rather than assume an ADGM will travels seamlessly across emirate borders.

It is also worth being precise about which Abu Dhabi assets are in scope. Property held under full freehold title in a designated investment zone is one thing; property held via a musataha or usufruct right elsewhere in the emirate is a different, time-limited registered interest rather than outright ownership. How a will operates against a musataha or usufruct interest, as opposed to freehold title, is not clearly established at the time of writing, and should be confirmed against the specific title being planned for rather than assumed to be identical.

1. Instruct a lawyer, potentially from ADGM's own register of will-drafting firms, to prepare a bilingual Arabic and English will, certified by a Ministry of Justice-licensed translator.
2. Submit the application online to ADGM Courts' Notary Public and Wills Office, including testator identification and religion, the named executor and guardian if relevant, beneficiary details, and the estate's intended distribution.
3. Pay the ADGM Courts fee (quoted on ADGM's site as USD 155) by card once accepted; the ADJD fee of AED 950 is billed separately by SMS and paid at the appointment.
4. Attend a notarisation appointment — the process runs fully digitally from application to notarisation.
5. Once notarised, the will sits on ADGM's register; the named executor applies separately to ADJD's Wills and Probate Office for a Grant of Probate when the time comes.

Taken together, AED 950 plus USD 155 (roughly AED 570 at the UAE's fixed exchange rate) puts a single will at around AED 1,500 — one largely undifferentiated product, rather than the tiered will types some other UAE registries offer.

The two are not simply the same product under a different emirate's name. DIFC Courts controls both registration and probate under one roof, a model in place since 2015. ADGM's route is newer and structurally split: ADGM Courts handles notarisation, authorised by ADJD, while ADJD's Wills and Probate Office grants probate. Neither structure is inherently better; they reflect different institutional histories. An investor with property in both emirates should treat the choice as a practical question of where the assets sit and which court administers probate fastest, not which name looks more established.

A single vacant unit and a portfolio of several tenanted Abu Dhabi apartments face the same legal starting point on the owner's death, but very different practical consequences while probate is pending. Tenancies still need renewing and rent still needs collecting under Abu Dhabi's Tawtheeq system, and a portfolio with no clearly appointed executor risks falling into administrative limbo far more than a single home does.

The value of a registered will, for a multi-property investor, is less about who ultimately inherits and more about who can keep the portfolio running meanwhile. A named executor, once probate is granted, can continue managing tenancies, collecting rent and handling renewals across an entire portfolio under one instrument, rather than each title separately risking a freeze. That continuity argument is why succession planning is often discussed alongside long-horizon decisions such as a Golden Visa commitment, even though no ADGM, ADJD or federal source states that will registration is a condition of visa eligibility.