Does a UAE Will Reach Your Offshore Accounts and Brokerage?

This article gives general information about UAE procedure. It is not legal advice for a specific estate, and the foreign side needs advice from a lawyer licensed in that jurisdiction.

The route follows the institution, not the screen

Here is the worked example used throughout this article. It is a teaching device, not a client story.

Maya and Daniel live in Dubai. Maya opens her HSBC UAE app and sees a current account beside an investment portfolio. Both carry the same familiar logo. She has a UAE will that names the portfolio and appoints Daniel as executor.

So the portfolio is covered and Daniel can collect it after her death. Correct?

Only half correct.

The will records Maya's instructions. The release route follows the legal entity that owes the money or holds the investments. Three locations decide what Daniel will actually have to do:

1. Where Maya lives. Residence helps identify the succession system that applies to her and the UAE will routes available to her. Nationality and faith context matter in some profiles too. That assessment belongs in a review of UAE inheritance by nationality.
2. Which legal entity signed the contract. Maya needs the full name in the account agreement, statement footer or terms. One logo covers branches, subsidiaries and separately regulated companies.
3. Where the securities are held. The broker manages the customer relationship while another company keeps custody of the investments. The document needed after death can follow that custody arrangement.

That is the model for the whole article: residence helps choose the will route, the contract identifies the institution, and custody points to the place that controls release.

Maya starts with the statement footer. The app says HSBC. The paperwork gives a longer legal name. Then the investment terms add a second company that never appears on the app's home screen.

She calls the estates team. For this worked example, they confirm what the published terms already state: the investment account is held offshore in Jersey, Channel Islands, with Pershing (Channel Islands) Limited as custodian.

The same terms say Maya's legal heirs or personal representatives must provide a court order issued in the "relevant jurisdiction" for the investments. They also say the bank will not help them apply for probate.

Now the problem is visible. A relationship opened through HSBC UAE and managed from Dubai still leads Daniel to a court process outside the UAE if the custodian requires one. He needs the institution to identify what "relevant jurisdiction" means for this account.

Another bank may use a different custodian. Brokers hold assets directly, through a nominee, or inside an omnibus arrangement. Maya therefore copies the legal entity and custodian exactly as they appear in the current documents. For these HSBC published terms, the custodian is Pershing (Channel Islands) Limited.

A will names the asset, but the institution still needs authority

"Covered by my will" compresses two separate events into one phrase.

Maya's will directs who receives the portfolio. Daniel must then prove that he has present authority to deal with the institution. A grant of probate, succession certificate or court order performs that second job, depending on the place and product.

The exact UAE instrument matters here.

Since 30 June 2019, following Dispute Resolution Authority Order No. 3 of 2019, a DIFC Full Will can include worldwide assets. DIFC Financial Assets Wills, Property Wills and Business Owners Wills continued to cover UAE estates only. Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 uses narrower territorial language for a non-Muslim testator, referring to property owned "in the State".

In the worked example, assume Maya is eligible for and has registered a DIFC Full Will. The worldwide clause gives Daniel a documented instruction covering the portfolio. It does not give the DIFC Courts power over a foreign bank, land register or securities custodian.

This is the point on which reasonable people push back: if the will says "worldwide", why should another court paper be needed?

Because scope and release are governed by different authorities. Practitioner guidance on the 2019 change tells testators to obtain advice on whether that worldwide will is likely to be effective in the other jurisdiction. The institution abroad still applies its own death procedure.

For a DIFC estate, the executor applies for a DIFC Grant of Probate. Dubai Law No. 2 of 2025 was gazetted on 14 March 2025. Article 31(5) is the provision Daniel's UAE lawyer will check. It gives the DIFC Courts' Enforcement Judge jurisdiction over DIFC-registered non-Muslim wills, including enforcement outside the DIFC.

One published procedural point has not settled neatly. The DIFC probate page still describes submission to Dubai Courts for conversion into a Dubai Courts judgment. Post-law practitioner guidance says Dubai Courts are excluded. Those routes do not match. Daniel needs a UAE-licensed lawyer to confirm the current execution step for Maya's asset.

Whichever UAE execution step applies, the offshore custodian still sets its own document requirement. The UAE will and grant can serve as evidence of Maya's instructions and Daniel's appointment. The operative authority at the account may still be a foreign grant or court order.

"Foreign grant" is a category here. Different countries use different names and procedures. This article stops at that boundary because a generic list of foreign probate steps would give Daniel false confidence. The institution's written requirement and a lawyer licensed there must identify the document.

The reverse question has its own rules. See whether a home-country will is recognised for UAE assets.

Ask the estates team for the route in writing

Maya does not need to master foreign probate. She needs to leave Daniel the right names and questions.

She sends the bank or broker's estates team the exact account and product details, then asks:

• Which legal entity holds the account relationship?
• Which entity has custody of each security or fund position?
• Which jurisdiction is "relevant" for the death procedure?
• Does the institution accept a UAE Grant of Probate or UAE court order?
• If accepted, does that paper release the asset, or support an application for a local document?
• Does the institution require an original, certified copy, legalised copy or translated copy?
• Can the assets transfer in specie, or must the estate sell them?
• What account can receive the cash or transferred securities?

Those last questions look mundane. They matter. Daniel might obtain the correct court paper and still discover that his proposed receiving account rejects a currency, fund or security.

Some institutions will not specify the final document before a death and a review by their legal team. Maya still asks for the current process, records the date and keeps the estates contact with the will papers. The final requirement remains with the institution and foreign counsel.

Papers crossing a border need more than a photocopy

Daniel is likely to handle at least a death certificate, the will, the UAE grant and the document requested abroad. Each destination sets its own authentication and language requirements.

UAE government guidance says a UAE death certificate may need MOFA attestation and attestation by the relevant embassy, depending on its purpose. The word "may" matters because the chain is destination-specific. Daniel should ask the receiving authority which steps it requires before paying for them.

Daniel can pay for legalisation and still present a file the foreign authority cannot read. Authentication establishes the document's official origin; any required translation supplies the readable version. Neither process turns a UAE grant into a foreign grant or decides which succession law applies.

The direction also runs towards the UAE. Where a foreign grant is used to obtain a UAE succession certificate, the foreign grant is legalised and submitted to the UAE court. With Maya's offshore portfolio, the papers travel the other way, so the embassy, language and certification route can change.

Maya records the answer beside the account, including the date on which the institution gave it.

The Offshore Route Map

The Offshore Route Map is a one-row-per-account handover sheet. It exists because institutions manage death by legal entity and product, while a family remembers brands and app names.

Each row preserves the contract name, custodian, account mechanics, required court papers, document chain and receiving account. A blank marked "institution to confirm" is useful. It tells Daniel what remains open before he spends time on the wrong application.

In the "local estate document" cell, Maya copies the institution's own wording. Probate, grant of representation, succession certificate and court order can lead to different applications. Paraphrasing them as "estate papers" removes the detail Daniel needs.

The "holders and mandate" cell goes beyond listing two names. Maya records whether either holder can transact alone, whether signatures must be joint, and whether the agreement says anything about death. If the broker and custodian differ, both names sit in the legal entity cell with the account number.

A beneficiary entry needs the actual form name and date. "Spouse nominated" is too vague. Products use labels such as beneficiary, nominee or trustee, and local law gives those labels their effect.

Maya also writes down a proposed receiving account while she is alive. The institution decides whether it must match the estate or beneficiary name, support the market, or accept an in-specie transfer. A proposed destination gives the estates team a concrete question.

The map stays with the will records. Maya updates it when the broker, custodian, holder, mandate, nomination or receiving account changes.

Joint accounts and nominations sometimes send Daniel down another route

A feature in the account contract can change the death procedure before the will is opened. Maya checks two in particular: joint ownership and beneficiary nominations.

Signing authority does not prove survivorship

Suppose Maya adds Daniel to an offshore account with an "either to sign" mandate. That tells the institution how they operate the account while both are alive. It does not, by itself, say who owns Maya's share after death.

The distinction is easy to miss when a familiar banking label comes from another country. UAE joint bank accounts show why the words cannot be carried across borders without checking. Under the UAE Commercial Transactions Law, the deceased holder's share is suspended until a successor is appointed.

For the offshore account, Maya asks whether Daniel keeps operating it after her death, whether her beneficial share enters the estate and which document the institution needs. She asks specifically about death. Ordinary signing authority and incapacity answer other questions.

If the institution confirms in writing that a valid survivorship feature moves the account outside the estate, the grant route may fall away for that asset. Foreign counsel still needs to agree with the contract reading and local law.

A nomination can disagree with the will

Now suppose Maya's brokerage form names her sister, while her will gives the residue to Daniel. The conflict is real even though both documents were validly signed.

The outcome depends on the form, product and local law. The institution must say which document it treats as controlling. A lawyer in that jurisdiction must confirm whether the feature operates inside or outside the estate.

A UAE example shows the narrower lesson. It concerns an employment savings scheme, not Maya's offshore brokerage. The administrator of the DIFC Employee Workplace Savings scheme tells members to keep nominations current. On death, it says the balance goes to nominated beneficiaries or is paid in accordance with Sharia if no nomination applies.

That does not establish that nominations always beat wills. It establishes that a scheme form sometimes controls the payment. Maya places the nomination beside the will, checks the person and date, and aligns them if they no longer express the same intention.

The same check applies to transfer-on-death wording, nominee accounts and trust labels. Exchange-held digital assets raise a different access problem, covered in why access is not inheritance.

One modest offshore account may deserve a modest plan

By this point Maya could conclude that she needs another will, a foreign probate plan and two lawyers. That conclusion would be premature.

Multi-jurisdiction planning brings a second court application, certified copies, translation, legalisation and an executor able to deal with the institution. No universal cost or timeline covers every offshore account, so none is quoted here.

For one modest balance, a second testamentary document can cost more and create more maintenance than the account justifies. The sensible first pass is smaller:

• Obtain the institution's written death procedure.
• Check whether the account has a beneficiary or survivorship feature.
• Ask foreign counsel what the required local document and process involve.
• Compare that burden with the account's value and purpose.

And sometimes the modest answer wins. If the institution confirms a simple contractual route and the balance is small, Maya can decide after regulated financial advice to simplify where the money is held during life.

Coordinated advice becomes more useful when the foreign balance is material, a separate custodian holds the securities, the will and nomination name different people, or a local grant is required. Several accounts split across legal entities add administration even when one app displays them together.

Tax can change the economics, but tax advice sits outside this article. Maya asks a qualified tax adviser in each relevant jurisdiction, foreign counsel about succession procedure, and the institution about account mechanics.

If a UAE will is appropriate, it can be prepared through the SmartWills process and reviewed by UAE-licensed partner lawyers. The registry decision still depends on the person's nationality, faith context, assets and intended scope. See which registry route fits which profile.

For a modest account, the finished plan may be one completed row and one written answer from the institution.

Publication record

• 2026-07-26: rewritten for clarity with no change to its legal content.
• 2026-07-25: first published.

Last updated: 26 July 2026 · Changelog:

Frequently asked questions

Does a DIFC Full Will cover an offshore bank account?

It can include worldwide assets because the DIFC Full Will's scope was expanded from 30 June 2019 under Dispute Resolution Authority Order No. 3 of 2019. Release remains subject to the offshore institution's process. The executor may still need a grant, succession certificate or court order in the jurisdiction the institution treats as relevant. DIFC Financial Assets, Property and Business Owners Wills remain limited to UAE estates.

Will a foreign broker accept a UAE Grant of Probate?

The broker, custodian and relevant foreign authority decide. A UAE grant can be the operative document, evidence supporting a local grant, or one item in a legalised and translated file. HSBC UAE's investment terms illustrate the issue by asking for a court order from the "relevant jurisdiction". Send the institution the precise UAE document name and ask what legal effect it gives that document.

Does a joint offshore account pass automatically to the survivor?

The account title does not answer this. Check whether the contract creates survivorship on death or gives both holders operating authority during life. Then ask how local law treats the deceased holder's beneficial share and which paper the institution requires. Keep the written answer with the supporting clause.

What if the beneficiary nomination and the UAE will name different people?

Give both documents to the institution and a lawyer licensed where the account is controlled. Priority depends on the form wording, product and local law. Ask whether the nomination is binding, whether it operates outside the estate, and what happens if it is stale or incomplete. Then align the documents if they no longer match the holder's intention.

Are shares in a foreign brokerage handled like exchange-held crypto?

Both involve an intermediary, but their release mechanics differ. A foreign broker can require a court order tied to its legal entity or custodian. A crypto exchange also raises credential and wallet-control issues, while access details alone do not settle legal title. Use the Offshore Route Map for the brokerage and the separate digital asset analysis for crypto.

Ready for a clear next step?

Understand your risks before you choose a registry

A free 30-minute conversation, with zero pressure and no obligation.

Book Your Free Risk Profile Audit →Prefer WhatsApp? Message SmartWills