Free Kuwait guide: the heirs certificate that unlocks everything

Free guide for British expats in Kuwait

Kuwaiti law sends your estate to English law, once your family can prove it on paper.

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.

18 pages
Updated August 2026
No payment details
Nationality rules and the dual nationality trap
The heirs certificate and five legalisation stages
Accounts, end of service pay and UK inheritance tax
Why an English will needs no local re-execution

Twenty minutes of reading that could save your family months of legalisation.

What happens to your estate

With a valid will

Article 47 of Law No. 5 of 1961 refers inheritance to the law of the person who died, taken at the date of death, and Article 48 accepts a will whose form satisfies either the law of the maker's nationality or the law of the country where it was signed. So an English will executed under section 9 of the Wills Act 1837 is formally good in Kuwait on two independent grounds, with nothing to re-execute. Article 72 excludes renvoi, so the court applies English domestic succession law.

Without a will

English intestacy would still govern who inherits, because Article 47 does not switch off because you left no instructions, but your family establishes everything from nothing. No will means no executors, so somebody must obtain letters of administration in England instead, and there is no obvious person to sign the power of attorney a representative in Kuwait needs. Under English intestacy a surviving spouse does not automatically take everything where there are children, and an unmarried partner or a stepchild you never adopted receives nothing.

Outside your will entirely

A joint account in Kuwait is not a survivorship account. Gulf Bank's terms stop withdrawals on the death of a joint holder until the documents determining the heirs and their shares are received, and the account is closed; the Commercial Bank of Kuwait's terms block the deceased customer's share and break the account by force of law into several independent accounts. Article 70 is separate again: where a person holds Kuwaiti nationality alongside a foreign one, Kuwaiti law applies to them, so the nationality-law route is closed for a dual national.

With a valid will

Without a valid will

Assets outside the will

Key facts

16 items The Ministry of Justice checklist for the heirs-enumeration certificate runs to sixteen items, from the original death certificate to identity documents for every heir. Item 13 wants a family tree letter from your embassy and item 16 wants two adult male Muslim witnesses who are not heirs, attending in person.
5 legalisation steps Kuwait is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so every UK document runs the full consular chain: UK notary, FCDO, the Kuwaiti Embassy in London, Kuwait's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then an authorised translator. The steps run in series, each with its own turnaround.
One and a half years' wage The end-of-service indemnity under Law No. 6 of 2010 is capped at one and a half years' wage, earned at 15 days a year for the first five years and a month a year after that. The contract terminates on death and the indemnity is payable in full, but nothing moves it until somebody with proven authority asks.
16 items Why it matters. The Ministry of Justice checklist runs to sixteen items, including an embassy family tree letter and two witnesses attending in person.
5 legalisation steps Why it matters. Kuwait is not an apostille country, so every UK document runs the full consular chain in series, each stage with its own turnaround.
One and a half years' wage Why it matters. The end of service indemnity is payable in full on death, but nothing moves it until somebody with proven authority asks.

What is inside the guide

Wills and estate planning for British expats in Kuwait How Kuwaiti law sends your estate to English law, and what your family has to prove, in Arabic and on paper, before the banks and your employer release anything. Free download · 2026 edition · 18 pages

Common questions

Should I make a Kuwaiti will as well as an English one?

Article 48 makes a will executed properly in England formally valid in Kuwait, so validity needs nothing Kuwaiti. There is no wills registry in Kuwait for foreigners, and whether the Ministry of Justice's Sharia Documentation Department would record an English-law will made by a non-Muslim could not be established, so it is a question for a Kuwaiti lawyer. Most families keep a legalised, translated copy of the English will instead, and any two documents you hold must be drafted to acknowledge each other because of revocation clauses.

Should I make a Kuwaiti will as well as an English one?

Is it really free?

Yes. No payment details, no trial, no catch. The guide shows you how we think before you decide whether to use us for anything.

Will you fill my inbox?

We send the guide, and nothing else unless you tick the box for the email series. Every email in it has an unsubscribe link that works first time.

Is this legal advice?

No. The guide is general information for British expats, written in plain English. Expat Legacy is a will writing service rather than a law firm.

About the author

Jamie Lee, founder of Expat Legacy, has drafted more than 2,000 wills for British expats. He has lived the expat life himself since 2004.

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