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  • What happens to your offshore bond, QROPS and SIPP when you die

    26 October 2026

    The document that decides where your pension goes is not your will. It is an expression of wishes form you may have signed years and two countries ago, read by a trustee with discretion to decide. Your offshore bond works the other way round: it usually does follow your will, but it can end on your death and hand your executors a tax event. From 6 April 2027, unused pensions join your inheritance tax estate, with your executors responsible for reporting them. And on the current wording of the new rules, the map inverts for long-departed expats: the overseas scheme sold on a tax promise is often the sheltered asset, while the UK SIPP left behind is the exposed one.

  • Living in Portugal? Portuguese law decides your estate unless your will says otherwise

    22 October 2026

    The NHR tax regime that drew a wave of Britons to Portugal has closed to new arrivals, and most of the Britons it drew never heard the estate rule that came with residence: Portuguese law governs your whole estate by default, reserved shares for family included. One clause in a properly drafted will, choosing English law under the EU Succession Regulation, changes that. It decides who can inherit. It changes no tax at all. And if you are not married to your partner, the default answer to "what does my partner get?" is nothing.

  • What happens to your UK pension when you die abroad

    19 October 2026

    When a British expat dies in the UK, the registrar's Tell Us Once service quietly informs the DWP and the state pension stops. When a British expat dies abroad, there's no automatic feed back to Britain. The pension keeps arriving in a dead man's account until someone tells the Department for Work and Pensions, and then the department asks the widow to pay the extra back. This guide is for the surviving spouse: what stops, what transfers, what has to be claimed, and the number to phone first.

  • Making a will as a British expat in Japan

    15 October 2026

    Japan starts from your national law when it looks at your estate, and an English will is formally valid there, so the will itself is the easy part. The hard parts are what no will can fix: a bank freeze your family meets in the first week, an estate process with no probate and no family register entry for you, and an inheritance tax that Japan charges your heirs, on worldwide assets, based on their visa status and yours. And the longer you stay, the more of your estate Japanese law can quietly claim back.

  • Domicile of origin: what it means and why you probably can't shake it

    12 October 2026

    English law assigned you a legal home at birth, usually your father's, and it follows you for life unless you deliberately and convincingly replace it. Since April 2025 domicile no longer decides your inheritance tax, which now runs on residence. It still decides something at least as personal: which country's law governs who inherits your movable estate. Here's what the concept is, why decades abroad usually don't dislodge it, and why for most British expats that's quietly good news.

  • Making a will as a British expat in Bahrain

    8 October 2026

    Bahrain is unusually friendly to a British estate for the region. Its courts apply the law of your nationality to a non-Muslim Briton's estate, and UK paperwork needs a single apostille rather than the consular legalisation chain that still applies in Qatar. That friendliness is the trap. It persuades people they can safely do nothing, and doing nothing hands your family English intestacy rules, administered through a Bahraini court with frozen bank accounts and translated paperwork. For many families, intestacy gives the wrong answer anyway.

  • Five ways a good will goes wrong after you move abroad

    5 October 2026

    Every mistake on this list can happen to a will that was perfectly drafted on the day it was signed. The problem is the document meeting an expat life it wasn't built for. Get your will out and read it against these five checks. Four of the five turn up in reported cases and statutes, and every one has a routine fix.

  • Making a will as a British expat in Switzerland

    1 October 2026

    By default Swiss law governs a British expat's estate and reserves fixed shares for spouse and children. One clause choosing English law restores full freedom, unless you have also taken Swiss citizenship. Since the 2023 reform even the default leaves half the estate free.

  • Second marriages, stepchildren and the will that does not do what you think

    24 September 2026

    A man leaves everything to his second wife, on the shared understanding that it will pass to his children from his first marriage when she dies. Once she owns it outright, nothing binds her: she can remarry, rewrite her will, spend it, or leave it to her own children. It is the most common way a simple will quietly fails a blended family.

  • Leaving someone out of your will, and making it stick

    21 September 2026

    England and Wales lets you leave your estate to whoever you choose. The limit is the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, which lets a spouse, a child including an adult child, a cohabitant or anyone you maintained ask a court for provision. How exclusion is actually done, where the reasons should be recorded, and the domicile point that changes it for expats.

  • Who looks after your children if you both die abroad

    17 September 2026

    If both parents die abroad, the legal question of who raises the children can take weeks to settle. The practical one takes hours, because somebody has to collect them from school that afternoon. English law lets a parent appoint a guardian in a will in a few lines. Living abroad adds a gap at the start that almost nobody plans for.

  • Marriage, divorce and your will: what changes automatically and what does not

    14 September 2026

    Getting married revokes the will you already made: section 18 of the Wills Act 1837 cancels it the moment you marry, unless the will was made in expectation of that particular marriage and says so. Divorce does the opposite, leaving the will standing but treating your former spouse as having died first. Separation, on its own, changes nothing at all.

  • Making a will as a British expat in Vietnam

    10 September 2026

    On paper, Vietnam is a friendlier place than you might expect to die British: its Civil Code hands your estate to the law of your nationality, so English law and your English will do most of the deciding. In practice, everything runs through Vietnamese notaries, in Vietnamese, and the real constraints sit elsewhere: foreigners can't hold land, a foreign heir of a Vietnamese property may only be entitled to its value, and the house is very often in a Vietnamese spouse's sole name. Here's how the law works, where the traps are, and the two-document plan that covers both countries.

  • British expats in Qatar: Islamic inheritance and protecting your wishes

    7 September 2026

    The thing British families in Doha fear most about dying in Qatar is mostly a myth: Qatari law applies your national law, not sharia, to a British estate. The real dangers are slower and quieter, frozen bank accounts, an Arabic-language court process, a short claims window on your end-of-service money, and children in limbo if both parents die. A current English will fixes more of this than anything else you can do.

  • Sharia inheritance and non-Muslim expats in the Gulf, explained

    31 August 2026

    "If I die in the Gulf, sharia decides who gets everything." Half true, and the half that's true is not the half most British expats think. The Gulf is six different legal systems: the UAE gave non-Muslims a civil inheritance regime in 2023, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain point to your national law, Kuwait applies sharia unless your heirs ask otherwise, and Saudi Arabia applies sharia to everyone. Here's the map, what sharia distribution actually looks like when it lands, and why a current English will matters in every one of the six.

  • Wills for British expats in France: forced heirship and what you can still control

    27 August 2026

    France is the country where the state writes part of your will for you: with three children, three quarters of your estate is reserved for them before your wishes get a say. British residents have an escape route, the election of English law in a properly drafted will, and in 2026 the European Commission signalled it intends to close its case over whether France could claw that back. The news is better than expats feared, with caveats worth understanding. Here's how the pieces fit, and what you can still control.

  • Domicile or residence: which one decides your UK inheritance tax

    20 August 2026

    Since April 2025, UK inheritance tax stopped caring where you're "from" and started counting where you've been. For long-settled expats that's mostly good news: ten full tax years abroad and your foreign assets are out of HMRC's reach, whatever your domicile says. Here's how to count your own years, the assets that never leave the net, and why your will can't change any of it.

  • British expats in Singapore: common law, CPF nominations and your UK will

    15 August 2026

    Singapore's courts will generally recognise a properly made UK will, and for most British expats one is enough. But if you hold CPF savings, your biggest local asset passes outside any will you'll ever write. Here's how the two systems fit together, and the free nomination to sort first.

  • Mirror wills for couples living abroad, explained

    13 August 2026

    Mirror wills let a couple leave everything to each other, then to the children. What they don't do, why they're not binding on the survivor, and the traps for expat couples.

  • British expats in Indonesia: property rules in Bali and your UK estate

    10 August 2026

    Foreigners can't own freehold in Bali, and what you hold decides what your heirs can keep. Hak Pakai, leasehold, the nominee trap, the BPHTB duty and your UK will, explained.

  • In the Philippines, your best will might be the one you write by hand

    7 August 2026

    Philippine law gives full legal force to a will you write out by hand at your kitchen table. No witnesses, no notary, no fee. For a British expat, that single handwritten page, alongside a proper England and Wales will covering everything else, is the core of a workable two-country estate plan. Here's how it works, where it can go wrong, and the free template that gets the wording right.

  • Foreign property ownership in Asia (Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia) and your will

    6 August 2026

    Foreigners can't own land in much of Asia, and what you can legally hold decides what you can leave. Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia compared, for British expats.

  • British expats in Saudi Arabia: what applies to your estate and your UK assets

    3 August 2026

    Saudi inheritance follows sharia, even for non-Muslims' local assets, and bank accounts freeze on death. What British expats need to plan for, and why a UK will still matters.

  • UK inheritance tax for expats: the rules that still catch you abroad

    30 July 2026

    Leaving the UK doesn't end your inheritance tax. The thresholds, the residence rules, what's always caught, gifts, the 2027 pension change and treaties, explained for British expats.

  • British expats in the Philippines: legitime and forced heirship

    27 July 2026

    Philippine forced heirship reserves fixed shares for family, but your national law may preserve your freedom to choose. The catch for foreign property, plus the 6% estate tax and slow probate.

  • UK will, local will, or both? How dual wills work for expats

    23 July 2026

    One worldwide will or separate wills for each country? How the situs rule, forced heirship and the revocation trap decide what British expats actually need.

  • Wills for British expats in Malaysia: sharia, the Distribution Act and non-Muslims

    20 July 2026

    Sharia doesn't apply to non-Muslims in Malaysia, but the Distribution Act, your EPF nomination and foreign-ownership rules all shape your estate. What British expats need to know.

  • The end of non-dom status: what the 2025 reform means for expats abroad

    16 July 2026

    The UK scrapped domicile-based tax on 6 April 2025 and moved to residence. Leaving the UK no longer cleanly ends your inheritance tax tie, and how long you lived there decides how long it lasts.

  • Making a will as a British expat in Hong Kong

    13 July 2026

    Hong Kong has no inheritance tax and broad freedom to choose your heirs, but your MPF, joint assets and intestacy rules all behave differently from what you'd expect. What British expats need to know.

  • DIFC or ADGM: where should your Gulf will sit, and why it matters

    9 July 2026

    One is a court registry with its own probate; the other is a cheaper bilingual notarisation with probate handled elsewhere. Which UAE will route fits your family, and how either works alongside a UK will.

  • Wills for British expats in Thailand: foreign ownership and why you need a Thai will too

    6 July 2026

    Foreigners can't own land in Thailand, estates run through the Thai courts, and your spouse may not inherit everything. Here's what British expats in Thailand need from a will, and why a Thai will usually sits alongside a UK one.

  • British expats in Spain: do you need a UK will, a Spanish will, or both?

    2 July 2026

    Spanish law can reserve a fixed share of your estate for your children, whatever your will says. Here's how British expats in Spain keep control, when you need a Spanish will as well as a UK one, and the tax that catches families out.

  • Do I need a UK will if I live abroad?

    29 June 2026

    Living abroad doesn't switch off the UK rules. If you still own a UK home, bank account or investments, here's why a UK will usually still matters, and the revocation trap that catches people who sign a local will later.

  • British expats in the UAE: DIFC and ADGM wills, sharia, and your UK estate

    26 June 2026

    Non-Muslim British expats in the UAE now have real choice over their estate. Here's how DIFC and ADGM wills compare, what sharia really means now, and why a UAE will doesn't settle your UK assets.

  • Pensions and inheritance tax from April 2027: what British expats need to do now

    23 June 2026

    From 6 April 2027 most unused UK pension money counts towards inheritance tax. Living abroad doesn't get you out of it — here's who's caught and what to do before the deadline.

  • The countries that can overrule your will: forced heirship explained

    20 January 2026

    Someone at dinner has told you that in Spain the kids get everything, whatever your will says. The real rule is stranger. In much of the world, the law reserves fixed shares of your estate for your family, decides which relatives count, and lets your will control only what's left. It's called forced heirship, it's the normal way most of the planet does inheritance, and the person it most often squeezes is the surviving spouse. Here's how it works, and where an English will can and can't push back.

  • What happens to your estate if you die without a will while living abroad

    12 January 2026

    Around half of UK adults have no will, and expats who put it off tend to assume the familiar English safety net will catch their family anyway. It won't, because it doesn't travel. Die intestate abroad and your estate lands in whichever country's default rules reach it first: in Spain your spouse may get a life interest in a third while your children take the rest, in much of Europe the local code decides everything, and an unmarried partner can be left with nothing and no court to ask. Here's what "no will" actually means once you live outside the UK.

  • How to sign and witness a UK will overseas

    5 January 2026

    A perfectly drafted will can fail in the last ninety seconds, at the kitchen table, over the signatures. For expats the risk is higher, because three comforting beliefs are all wrong: the embassy will almost never witness it, video witnessing is no longer law, and you cannot sign counterpart copies across borders. The actual rules are older and simpler: one document, two adult witnesses, everyone in the same room until all three signatures are on the page. Here's exactly how to run the ceremony, anywhere in the world.

  • Digital assets and crypto in an expat's will

    18 December 2025

    English law has settled the question that used to open every article like this: digital assets, crypto included, can be property, and since December 2025 an Act of Parliament says so. Your will covers them. The live problem is different and more practical: assets nobody can find, keys nobody holds, and a will that becomes a public document after probate, which is why the passwords must never go in it. Here's the two-document fix, and the expat wrinkles on top.