Practice Direction No. 1 of 2017 –

The DIFC Wills and Probate Registry Rules

and Recent Developments

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The rules of the DIFC Wills and Probate Registry (WPR) concerning DIFC Wills that have been developed specifically for non-Muslims to protect their property, estate and guardianship of their children in Dubai have been amended by Practice Direction No 1 of 2017 (Practice Direction) to extend not only to properties, estates and guardianship of children located in the Emirate of Dubai, but also those in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. DIFC Wills must therefore be drafted in such a way to specify whether the property/estate is located within the Emirate of Dubai, the Emirate of Ras al Khaimah or across both.

 

In addition to this, the Practice Direction includes minor grammatical amendments and changes to certain phrases as used in a DIFC Will and it is mandatory that these be adopted and used in any DIFC Will going forward.

 

These changes became effective 5 March 2017. We therefore recommend that if you are looking to draft and register a DIFC Will you ensure that it complies with these standards. In this regard, Banks Legal is registered with the WPR and would be pleased to assist.  

 

As a recent development, we note that the WPR has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Al Burj Holding LLC to conclude Will registration services at Al Twar Tas’heel Center and Al Barsha Mall, to be available in the near future. The registrations will be
carried out by trained WPR staff and registered Wills will then be sent securely to the WPR for storage and retrieval.

 

Also please note that on 26 February 2017 the WPR commenced business at their new office location – Precinct Building 5, Level 3, The Gate District, DIFC, Dubai.

 

For those who wish to draft their own DIFC Wills, Banks Legal has developed a useful and easy to use platform as a tool to make this process much easier for you.  For further information regarding this and access to the drafting platform please – click here.

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