The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts is expanding its scope for will registrations by accommodating all resident and investor assets across the UAE, even those abroad.

Effective from July 1, 2019, the Courts’ Wills Service Centre also confirmed that existing wills registered with the Courts can be amended free of charge until August 31, 2019, to include UAE-wide assets and assets outside the UAE, DIFC Courts said in a statement.

DIFC Courts had previously accepted only wills with assets in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah.

Zaki Bin Azmi, Chief Justice, Chief Registrar at DIFC Courts, said the move to expand the services was based on public demand.

“With almost eight million expatriates residing in the UAE, the Government of Dubai and the DIFC Courts recognised the need for an innovative legal solution for non-Muslims that provides peace of mind for residents and investors as well as enhances Dubai and the UAE’s attractiveness as a destination for expatriate talent and investment,” he said.

“Recognising the increased demand, we have now amended our rules to expand the remit of this public service to assets across all the emirates of the UAE and beyond,” Bin Azmi added.

The UAE’s DIFC Courts administer a unique English-language common law system – offering swift, independent justice to settle local and international commercial or civil disputes.

Launched in 2015, the DIFC Courts established an additional ancillary service in the form of the Wills Service Centre (the ‘Wills Service’), a joint initiative of the Government of Dubai and the DIFC Courts that gives non-Muslims living and investing in the UAE the option to pass on their assets and/or appoint guardians for their children, in accordance with the instructions in their will.

DIFC Courts new decision "negates the requirement of our clients to have multiple wills for multiple jurisdictions. I believe the client who have a sizeable estate spread all over the UAE will certainly benefit from it,” Gulf News quoted Summit Ahuja, Estate Planner at Just Legal Consultancy in Dubai as saying.

(Writing by Seban Scaria, editing by Daniel Luiz)

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© ZAWYA 2019