Wills in the Gulf
Wills and inheritance for British expats in the Gulf states: sharia and non-Muslims, DIFC and ADGM wills, frozen accounts and end of service gratuity.
- UAE country guide
- Qatar country guide
- Saudi Arabia country guide
- Kuwait country guide
- Oman country guide
- Bahrain country guide
Guides on this subject
Making a will as a British expat in Bahrain
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.
British expats in Qatar: Islamic inheritance and protecting your wishes
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
"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.
British expats in Saudi Arabia: what applies to your estate and your UK assets
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.
DIFC or ADGM: where should your Gulf will sit, and why it matters
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.
British expats in the UAE: DIFC and ADGM wills, sharia, and your UK estate
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.