Inheritance in the UAE vs Italy: two systems, one family
When Italian succession law governs, the legittima reserves fixed shares of the estate for close family. The UAE lets a non-Muslim expat with a registered UAE will direct UAE assets under Federal Decree-Law 41/2022. An Italian expat in Dubai must coordinate the EU choice-of-law rule with Italian reserved shares, UAE registration and the local rule for real estate.
*Educational guide, not legal advice. SmartWills is not a law firm.*
The question nobody asks until it is late
Take a simple hypothetical file. An Italian couple lives in Dubai. They own a Dubai apartment, a house in Italy and bank accounts in both countries. They have children. Their family is one family, but their estate is sitting on two legal desks.
The first desk starts with the *legittima*, the disposable share, the choice of law and unity of succession. The second starts with UAE assets, local registration, the real-estate rule and the court route that will deal with those assets. A sentence such as “everything goes to my spouse” may look perfectly clear to the couple. It does not answer which law governs the succession, whether a reserved share applies, whether the Dubai apartment sits inside a registered UAE will, or whether one document revokes the other.
This is why an Italian expat inheritance plan cannot be built by copying an Italian testamento into English, or by treating the UAE document as if Italy had disappeared. The assets sit in specific countries, the family has an Italian nationality and a habitual residence somewhere, and each document has to account for the other one existing.
Italy fixes part of the answer through the legittima
Italian law places a fixed floor under close family members when Italian succession law governs. Articles 536 and following of the Civil Code protect close family members as *legittimari*. Their protected portion is the *quota di legittima*, also called the *quota di riserva*. The remainder is the disposable share.
The cleanest way to see the constraint is the official table published by the Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato:
| Family left by the deceased | Reserved share | Disposable share |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse only | 1/2 to the spouse | 1/2 |
| Spouse and one child | 1/3 to the spouse, 1/3 to the child | 1/3 |
| Spouse and two or more children | 1/4 to the spouse, 2/4 to the children collectively | 1/4 |
| One child, no spouse | 1/2 to the child | 1/2 |
| Two or more children, no spouse | 2/3 to the children collectively | 1/3 |
That table is the shock for people used to thinking that a will means complete freedom. If a married parent governed by Italian law writes “100% to one person”, the calculation does not vanish because the sentence is unambiguous. The reserved portions still have to be dealt with.
There is another piece that does not fit neatly inside the fractions. Article 540 of the Civil Code gives the surviving spouse a right of habitation in the family home, with a related right to use its furniture, when the legal conditions are met. So the percentages are a starting point and not even a complete one, since the habitation right sits on top of them. The exact sums are a job for a notaio with the real figures in front of them.
The UAE lets a non-Muslim decide through a registered will
The UAE side begins from a different position. Federal Decree-Law 41/2022 on Civil Personal Status gives a non-Muslim testator the right to leave the property owned in the UAE to chosen beneficiaries, subject to the law and its executive controls. The operative object is a registered UAE will, not a document left in a folder in Milan.
That freedom matters most when the intended distribution is different from a default distribution. It also matters when the estate includes a Dubai apartment. Article 17 of the UAE Civil Transactions Law makes UAE real estate subject to UAE law even where a foreign will exists. The official Civil Transactions Law text is the reason a home-country document should not be assumed to settle local property by itself.
The obvious objection: if the estate is small, why add another document? For a renter with one account and no property, that objection usually lands. A couple with children and a Dubai apartment sits in a different category. The route decision still needs to be made against the actual file, including whether DIFC or ADJD fits that file.
Doing nothing is also a decision, just an uncontrolled one. Federal Decree-Law 51/2024 provides that an estate with no recognised heirs can ultimately pass into the State Waqf framework. That is an edge case, but it shows what intestacy means in practice: the law supplies the route when the owner did not.
EU Regulation 650/2012 decides which law governs the succession
On the European side, habitual residence sets the default rule. EU Regulation 650/2012, applicable to relevant successions from 17 August 2015, starts with habitual residence.
Article 21 sets the general rule. The law governing the succession is the law of the State where the deceased had habitual residence at death. There is an exception where the circumstances show a manifestly closer connection with another State, but that exception is not a planning shortcut.
Article 22 then gives the testator a choice. A person may choose the law of a State whose nationality they possess when making the choice or at death. For an Italian citizen, that means Italian law can be selected expressly in the will through the *professio iuris*. A person with multiple nationalities may choose any qualifying nationality law.
Then comes the part people tend to miss: unity of succession. The law identified under Article 21 or chosen under Article 22 governs the succession as a whole. It stays constant even when the asset list crosses a border.
So the plain-English map is this:
- An Italian resident in the UAE who makes no choice of law starts, from the EU conflict-of-laws perspective, with the law of habitual residence under Article 21.
- An Italian who validly chooses Italian law under Article 22 brings Italian succession law, including the legittima, into the succession as a whole.
- UAE rules still matter for local procedure and UAE real estate. A European choice-of-law clause does not register a UAE will or remove the local court route.
And this is where the neat internet answer stops being useful. Whether a protected heir could pursue a reduction or recovery claim involving foreign assets is not something this guide predicts. It is the question to bring to your notaio, with the UAE will, the Italian document, the residence history and the complete asset list on the table.
Two wills need to know about each other
A coordinated structure can use one registered UAE will for UAE assets and separate Italian planning for Italian assets. “Separate” does not mean unrelated. Each document needs a defined territorial scope, and the revocation language needs to avoid cancelling the other document by accident.
This is not the place to copy a sample clause from a website. The drafting job is to identify which assets each document covers, which law is chosen for the succession, and whether a later document says anything broad enough to revoke an earlier one. The practical check is whether the home-country will is recognised in the UAE and where its gaps sit.
Couples also need coordination between their own two documents. Simona Nicoletti described the practical outcome in a Trustpilot review: “A mirror will for both of us, done together in one process.” Her review does not decide the law for another family. It shows why parallel documents should be treated as one planning file.
For the UAE side, the document is prepared through the SmartWills process and reviewed by UAE-licensed partner lawyers. The Italian side belongs with a notaio, and the tax position belongs with a commercialista. The Dubai property inheritance guide deals with the local property layer in more detail.
Italian inheritance tax is a separate calculation
Succession law answers who inherits and under which rules. Tax answers what charge arises. Mixing the two produces bad shortcuts, such as assuming that choosing Italian law automatically settles the tax treatment of every UAE asset.
The rates below are descriptive figures published by the Agenzia delle Entrate:
| Beneficiary relationship | Italian inheritance tax rate and allowance |
|---|---|
| Spouse and relatives in the direct line | 4% on the amount above EUR 1,000,000 per beneficiary |
| Brothers and sisters | 6% on the amount above EUR 100,000 per beneficiary |
| Other relatives up to the fourth degree, and qualifying relatives by marriage | 6%, with no allowance |
| Everyone else | 8%, with no allowance |
Where Italian real estate is transferred, mortgage tax of 2% and cadastral tax of 1% are added, with a minimum of EUR 200 for each tax. From 1 January 2025, Italian inheritance tax moved to self-assessment and payment by F24.
Scope questions on specific UAE assets go to a commercialista; the UAE will cost guide covers court fees separately.
The Two-System Map
The Two-System Map forces the file onto one page. The rows locate the asset. The columns show whether the owner left a coordinated instruction or handed the decision to default rules.
| Asset location | With a coordinated will | Without a coordinated will |
|---|---|---|
| UAE assets | A registered UAE will gives a non-Muslim owner a local route for directing those assets, subject to the chosen registry and UAE law. | UAE default rules and court procedure take over; the family does not get to invent the missing instruction later. |
| Italian assets | Italian planning records the intended distribution, but any legittima due under the governing law still sits in the calculation. | The governing succession law and intestacy rules allocate the estate without a coordinated instruction from the deceased. |
The table is deliberately blunt. It does not decide the Article 21 habitual-residence analysis, make an Article 22 choice, calculate the quota di riserva, or settle tax. It shows which professional needs which document before anyone signs: UAE counsel for the UAE route, a notaio for Italian succession planning, and a commercialista for Italian tax.
For other nationalities, the same exercise starts from a different home-country rulebook. The UAE inheritance by country hub keeps those systems separate.
Frequently asked questions in English and Italian
Can I direct my UAE assets freely as a non-Muslim?
In practice, a registered UAE will lets a non-Muslim direct UAE property under Federal Decree-Law 41/2022, subject to the applicable controls and registry route. The EU Regulation still governs the succession as a whole, and Italian reserved-share rights can enter the picture if Italian law was chosen. The two layers have to be read together.
Does my Italian will cover Dubai property?
Do not assume it does. Article 17 of the UAE Civil Transactions Law gives UAE law control over UAE real estate, and a foreign will can require legalisation, Arabic legal translation and court validation. A registered UAE will creates a local route. The fuller test is set out in the guide to whether a foreign will is valid in the UAE.
Which law applies if I never chose one?
From the EU Regulation 650/2012 perspective, Article 21 generally points to the law of the deceased's habitual residence at death. An exception exists for a manifestly closer connection with another State. That exception should not be guessed from a passport or a property address. A notaio should apply the rule to the actual residence history and estate.
Do my heirs pay Italian inheritance tax on UAE assets?
The rate table above describes Italian rates, allowances and the F24 payment change. Whether a specific UAE asset enters that calculation is a question for a commercialista with the estate file open.
Un testamento italiano copre la casa di Dubai?
Non va dato per scontato. L'immobile negli Emirati resta soggetto alla legge UAE e al percorso locale. Un testamento italiano può richiedere legalizzazione, traduzione legale in arabo e validazione della corte. La successione va quindi coordinata con un testamento UAE registrato e con clausole territoriali che evitino revoche incrociate.
La legittima vale anche per i beni negli Emirati?
Dipende dalla legge che regola l'intera successione ai sensi del Regolamento UE 650/2012. Se nel testamento è stata scelta la legge italiana con una valida *professio iuris*, la legittima e la quota di riserva entrano nel quadro della successione. Gli eventuali effetti su beni esteri, comprese possibili azioni, sono la domanda da portare al notaio, non una conclusione automatica.
Serve un testamento UAE se ho già quello italiano?
Per beni UAE, e soprattutto per un immobile a Dubai, il solo testamento italiano non va trattato come sostituto automatico della registrazione locale. Il testamento UAE definisce il percorso negli Emirati; quello italiano gestisce la pianificazione italiana. Devono essere coordinati, con ambiti territoriali chiari e senza una clausola generale che revochi per errore l'altro testamento.
Primary sources used
- Federal Decree-Law 41/2022 on Civil Personal Status: official text on the UAE Legislation portal
- UAE Civil Transactions Law, Article 17: official text on the UAE Legislation portal
- Federal Decree-Law 51/2024 (heirless estates / State Waqf framework): official text on the UAE Legislation portal
- EU Regulation 650/2012, official Italian text: EUR-Lex
- Italian Civil Code, artt. 536 ss. and 540: Normattiva
- Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato, reserved-share table: official notarial guidance
- Agenzia delle Entrate, inheritance tax rates and allowances: official tax authority
<!-- publish note: the three UAE-law links and the Notariato/Agenzia links point to the official portals; pin each to the exact page of the instrument before publication (register IDs LAW-003, LAW-002, LAW-004, IT-BLOCK). EUR-Lex and Normattiva links are already exact. -->
Last updated: 24 July 2026
Changelog: 2026-07-23: first published. 2026-07-24: source links added; role language aligned to corporate service provider.
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