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

If you're a non-Muslim British expat in Malaysia, sharia will not govern your estate. Malaysia runs two entirely separate systems, and non-Muslims fall under civil law, the Wills Act 1959 and the Distribution Act 1958, handled by the civil courts. That worry, which stops a lot of people from planning at all, is misplaced. The real issues are different: Malaysia's intestacy rules rarely match your wishes, your EPF savings pass outside your will, and your UK assets still answer to UK rules. For most expats with assets here and in the UK, the answer is a Malaysian will for Malaysian assets coordinated with a UK will for UK ones.

Here's what shapes it.

The dual system, and why sharia doesn't touch you

Malaysia applies two bodies of succession law depending solely on whether the person who died was Muslim. Muslims are governed by faraid, the Islamic system of fixed shares, through the Syariah courts. Everyone else is governed by civil law through the civil courts. The separation is constitutional and absolute: there's no mechanism by which a non-Muslim's estate could be distributed under faraid. A non-Muslim British expat's estate is dealt with under the Wills Act 1959 and the Distribution Act 1958, full stop.

One nuance matters for mixed-faith families: if a non-Muslim converts to Islam before death, an existing civil-law will is unlikely to take effect as written, because the Wills Act 1959 does not apply to Muslims and their estate then falls under Syariah law. Short of that, sharia is simply not part of the picture for you.

You can choose your heirs

For non-Muslims, Malaysia gives broad freedom of testation. There's no forced heirship reserving fixed shares for your children, so a valid will lets you decide who inherits. The one qualification is the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act 1971, which lets a surviving spouse, an unmarried daughter, an infant son or a child under a disability ask the court for reasonable maintenance if you didn't provide adequately, a narrower version of the UK's family-provision rules.

A Malaysian will is executed much like an English one: in writing, signed by you, witnessed by two people present at the same time, and crucially the witnesses must not be beneficiaries, or their gift is void. Those formalities closely mirror England and Wales, which makes coordination between the two relatively clean.

Intestacy rarely does what you'd want

Die without a will and the Distribution Act 1958 applies its fixed formula, which catches many expat families off guard.

If you leave a spouse and no children or parents, your spouse takes everything. But add children and your spouse takes one-third, with the children sharing two-thirds. A spouse and parents but no children splits the estate half and half. A spouse, children and parents together gives the spouse a quarter, the children a half, and the parents a quarter.

Two gaps hit expats hardest. An unmarried partner inherits nothing under the Act, however long the relationship, which matters because many expat couples never formalise things in Malaysia. And step-children or foster children you've supported but not adopted are excluded. The common assumption that a spouse automatically inherits everything is simply wrong once there are children or parents in the mix. A will is the only way to direct things as you intend.

Your EPF passes outside your will

This is the detail people most often miss. If you've contributed to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), those savings are not part of your estate and are not governed by your will. They pass by EPF nomination. For non-Muslim members, the nominee receives the money outright as a beneficiary.

A valid nomination beats your will every time. If your will leaves everything to your spouse but your EPF nomination still names your parents, the EPF goes to your parents. And life events, marriage, divorce, children, don't update a nomination automatically. So review it whenever you update your will.

This now affects far more expats than it used to. From 1 October 2025, EPF contributions became mandatory for non-Malaysian employees holding valid employment passes, with employer and employee each contributing 2 per cent of monthly wages. Many British expats now have, or soon will have, EPF savings to fold into their planning.

Owning property here

Foreigners can own Malaysian property, but it's regulated. Under the National Land Code you need prior written State Authority consent before acquiring any interest in real property, and that consent is discretionary, not a formality. Each state also sets minimum purchase prices for foreign buyers, with a general baseline of RM1 million in the Federal Territories and higher thresholds in states like Selangor and Johor. MM2H participants may access different terms depending on the state.

How you co-own matters on death. Property held as joint tenants passes automatically to the surviving co-owner, outside your will. A share held as tenants in common falls into your estate and follows your will or the intestacy rules. Many couples are unsure which way they hold, so it's worth a land search to confirm. Transferring property to foreign beneficiaries can itself need fresh State consent, so this is an area for local advice.

Tax: none here, but watch the UK

Malaysia has no inheritance tax. Estate duty was abolished in 1991, so assets passing on death, by will, intestacy or EPF nomination, do so free of any Malaysian death tax.

The UK side is the one to plan around, and it changed on 6 April 2025. Whether your worldwide assets fall within UK inheritance tax now turns on long-term residence: broadly, if you were UK resident for at least 10 of the last 20 tax years, your worldwide estate is in scope, with a tail of up to 10 years after leaving. Anything physically in the UK stays taxable regardless. The nil-rate band remains £325,000, with a residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 where a home passes to direct descendants, and 40 per cent above the threshold. There's no UK-Malaysia inheritance tax treaty, but since Malaysia levies no death tax, there's no double-tax clash in practice.

One will or two

Because Malaysian immovable property is always governed by Malaysian law, and Malaysian assets are dealt with through Malaysian probate, most expats with assets in both countries are best served by two coordinated wills: a Malaysian will for Malaysian assets, a UK will for UK assets. A Malaysian will with a Malaysian executor allows a direct application to the High Court for a grant, which is faster and cheaper than resealing a UK grant in Malaysia, and the two estates can be administered in parallel.

The danger with more than one will is accidental revocation. A standard will revokes all earlier wills, so a new UK will can wipe out your Malaysian one unless each is limited to its own jurisdiction with a carefully drafted clause. They need writing to work together. For smaller estates, Malaysia also offers simpler routes: the small-estates process at the Land Office for intestate estates up to RM5 million, and Amanah Raya, the public trustee, for movable estates up to RM600,000.

A couple of real situations

An MM2H couple own a Kuala Lumpur condo as tenants in common, fifty-fifty, plus a house in Surrey in one name. Because they hold the condo as tenants in common, each share must be directed by will, it doesn't pass automatically to the survivor. They each need a Malaysian will for their share and a UK will for the UK house, with non-revocation clauses so neither cancels the other. If one of them has been UK resident for 15 of the last 20 years, their worldwide estate stays in the UK inheritance tax net for a few years yet, and the Surrey house always does.

A long-settled expat married to a Malaysian, with sizeable EPF savings and a UK investment portfolio, made his EPF nomination years ago naming his now-deceased parents. That nomination is useless, so the EPF would fall into his estate and need a grant, causing months of delay. Updating the nomination is urgent. After 18 years out of the UK he's outside the worldwide inheritance tax net, but his UK portfolio remains UK-situated and in scope.

Where this leaves you

The fear that sharia will govern your estate is the wrong thing to worry about. The right things are intestacy rules that don't match your wishes, an EPF nomination that quietly overrides your will, and UK assets that still face UK inheritance tax. For most British expats here, a Malaysian will for Malaysian assets, a coordinated UK will for UK assets, and a current EPF nomination cover the ground.

A clear, valid UK will is the anchor for the UK side. That's what Expat Legacy provides: a properly drafted UK will for British expats, in plain English, ready to coordinate with your Malaysian arrangements.

Sources

• Wills Act 1959 (Malaysia), sections 5 and 9 (CommonLII)
• Distribution Act 1958 (Malaysia), section 6 (CommonLII)
• EPF nomination (KWSP Malaysia)
• EPF mandatory contributions for non-Malaysian citizen employees (KWSP Malaysia)
• Inheritance Tax if you're a long-term UK resident (gov.uk)
• Inheritance Tax: double taxation relief (gov.uk)
• Division of inheritance (MyGOV Malaysia)

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Property consent rules and your UK residence position depend on your own circumstances, so it's worth getting advice tailored to you, on both sides, before you act.