Country guides

Free country guides for British expats, covering what happens to your estate where you live and how a UK style will fits alongside local law.

• the UAE country guide

  A 17 page guide written for British expats in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It sets out the civil succession framework that applies to non-Muslim residents, the four will registration routes and their published fees, and the UK inheritance tax rules that follow you to the Gulf. It also walks through the steps your executors would actually take after a death.

• Thailand country guide

  An 18 page guide written for British expats in Thailand. It covers the six classes of statutory heir in the Civil and Commercial Code, the five forms a Thai will can take, what happens to land, condominium units, leases and usufructs when the holder dies, and the UK inheritance tax rules that follow you. It also walks through the court appointed administrator process your family would face.

• Spain country guide

  A 17 page guide for British expats in Spain. It covers Spain's forced heirship rules, the article 22 election of the law of England and Wales, the six month deadline for Spanish inheritance tax, and the steps your family would take after a death. It is general information, written in plain English, with every source listed at the back.

• South Africa country guide

  An 18 page guide for British expats in South Africa and British families with South African assets. It covers freedom of testation and the maintenance claims that rank ahead of your beneficiaries, the Wills Act formalities that differ from English ones, estate duty and capital gains tax at death, and the 1978 UK and South Africa estates convention. It also walks through the Master's process, executor's fees and exchange control.

• Saudi Arabia country guide

  A 17 page guide for British expats in the Kingdom. It covers the 2022 Personal Status Law and its fixed shares, the one third limit on bequests, the 2026 law opening property ownership to non-Saudis, and the UK inheritance tax rules that follow you. Where the position is undocumented, the guide says so plainly rather than guessing.

• Hong Kong country guide

  A 16 page guide written for British expats in Hong Kong. It covers why your MPF is estate property rather than a nomination that pays out directly, the fixed intestacy order under Cap. 73, and the Home Affairs Department certificates that release money before a grant issues. It also sets out how a Hong Kong will and a UK will can be run together.

• France country guide

  An 18 page guide for British expats in France and British owners of French property. It covers the réserve héréditaire, the article 22 election of the law of England and Wales, the compensatory levy added to Article 913 in 2021 and where the European Commission file got to in June 2026. It also sets out French succession duty, the 1963 UK and France estates convention, and the six month declaration deadline.

• Qatar country guide

  A 16 page guide for British residents of Doha. It sets out the Civil Code rules that point Qatari courts to the law of your nationality, the Heirs Certificate chain that unlocks banks and ministries, and the UK inheritance tax position that follows you abroad. It also covers the two clocks that run on your end of service pay whether or not your family is ready.

• Malaysia country guide

  A 17 page guide written for British expats in Malaysia. It sets out the two succession systems, the fixed intestacy fractions under the Distribution Act 1958, the two sureties bond that slows intestate administration, and the EPF nomination rules that shut most British members out. It also covers the UK inheritance tax rules that follow you here.

• Portugal country guide

  An 18 page guide for British expats in Portugal. It covers the legítima, the article 22 election of the law of England and Wales, the 10% stamp duty and who is exempt from it, and the return that exempt families still have to file. It also walks through what happens at the notary and the registry after a death.

• Oman country guide

  A 17 page guide for British residents of Muscat, Salalah and elsewhere in the Sultanate. It covers Article 17 of the Civil Transactions Law, which refers succession to the law of your nationality, the one year application window and fifteen year forfeiture on unclaimed tourism complex property, and the short apostille route Oman offers. It also sets out the UK inheritance tax position that follows you.

• the Philippines country guide

  A 17 page guide written for British expats in the Philippines. It covers why Article 16 of the Civil Code sends who inherits to the law of your nationality, the two Philippine will forms and the two routes for a UK will, what a British national can and cannot own, and the flat 6% estate tax with its one year deadline. It also explains the eCAR, the certificate every transfer has to pass through.

• Cyprus country guide

  A 17 page guide for British expats in Cyprus and British owners of Cyprus property. It covers the repeal of section 42 of Cap. 195, the statutory portion that applies instead, and the article 22 election that has replaced the old exemption. It also sets out the six month filing with the Tax Department, the District Court grant, and what an unissued title deed means for an estate.

• Bahrain country guide

  A 17 page guide for British expats in Bahrain. It sets out the two 1971 statutes that send a non-Muslim foreigner's estate to the law of their own country, the drafting points that let a Bahraini court act quickly, and the UK inheritance tax rules that follow you to the Gulf. It also walks through the administration chain your executors would work through after a death.

• Indonesia country guide

  A 19 page guide written for British expats in Indonesia. It covers the Basic Agrarian Law rules that decide what a foreign heir may hold, why land left by will is treated differently from land inherited on intestacy, the three succession systems that run in parallel here, and the UK inheritance tax position. It also walks through the certificate of inheritance process your family would face.

• Singapore country guide

  A 17 page guide written for British expats in Singapore. It covers how Singapore law treats a will, the fixed intestacy shares under the Intestate Succession Act, the assets that pass outside your will (CPF above all), and the UK inheritance tax rules that follow you here. It also walks through the probate steps your family would take at the Family Justice Courts.

• Kuwait country guide

  An 18 page guide for British expats in Kuwait. It sets out the conflict rules that send a British estate to the law of the person who died, the heirs-enumeration certificate every bank and employer waits for, and the UK inheritance tax rules that follow you to the Gulf. It also covers the end-of-service indemnity, which is often the largest thing a British family owns locally.

• Vietnam country guide

  A 19 page guide written for British expats in Vietnam. It covers the compulsory shares in Article 644, the three classes of statutory heir in Article 651, what a foreign heir may actually hold in land and housing, and the UK inheritance tax rules that follow you. It also sets out the notarial procedure and the 15 day public posting that your family would go through.