DIFC Wills Explained: Everything Expats in the UAE Need to Know About Protecting Their Assets

[Music] Hello everyone, you are welcome to the RUG Group Podcast where we'll bring you insights on low habituation and everything in the in between. My name is Courage, I am your host and I'm really so glad that you are able to join us today because we will be talking about a very crucial topic and this is a topic of the DRFC wheels. Now let's be honest, life can happen sometimes, things can be unexpected. So if you have assets in the UAE, whether you are a resident here or you are out of the UAE, it is very important for you to know how to protect your assets, to protect your family just in case. So to help us unpack the topic of the DRFC wheels, we have a very special guest with us. Ms. Nimi Sam will be joining us. She is a senior legal consultant here at RUG Group with so many years of experience on the hubbelt and she is here to teach us so much today. So Nimi, you are welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much Courage for the introduction. Just a small change, there was a recent change in my designation. I am a senior legal consultant and also a DRFC registered bills, draftsman and legacy specialist. So just wanted to add that. Which makes it even like you're the right person. Exactly. It's more relevant to have this conversation. Yeah. Good time now. Yeah. So but before we get into the needy degree of everything that we're talking about today, we want to get to know you a little bit more. Absolutely. So tell us your name where you're from. That's so important because we live in the UAE. Yes. Very multicultural. And your years of experience, like just your professional background and just to make it a little bit spicy. What is one thing that no one would know from this meeting? Yeah. Or just looking at you. What is one thing that wouldn't know? My name is Nimi Mariam Sam. I am a senior legal consultant at RALC. But just recently my designation was updated to a DIFC certified bills draftsman and legacy specialist. So what a great time to discuss about the whole topic. And I'm dual qualified. I'm qualified back in my country India. And also I do have a legal constituency membership here with the legal affairs department Dubai. Apart from that at RALC, I deal with other sectors as well like corporate commercial, real estate, family, what not, everything. RALC deals with all kinds of services. So almost everything. And then oh, the spicy thing you asked, I bet no one knows I'm nine months pregnant. Oh wow. Actually we wouldn't know trust me. We really wouldn't. No one knows that. So when we're taking this video, I'm currently nine months. Yay. Congratulations. Thank you so much for your time. And I'm really amazed that you have a lot of areas that you cover. Yeah. I love that you have so much experience and so much knowledge with what you do. So I'm really excited to get to learn so much from you today. But I want us to do a little bit of an icebreaker activity. That's true. Yeah. So I love the. They say they're doing very willing, but it's very connected to our topic of today. So I will read out a statement and you tell us if it's a myth or it's a reality when it comes to the DIFC will. Shorges wills in general. Done. Okay. So the first one is you only need a will if you're wealthy. Is that a reality or is it a myth? It's a myth. It's a wrong statement. So basically this is the misconception. So you do not need to be wealthy or rich or need to have multiple assets to have a will. Basically will is all about a control. So if you have a will, you have control over how you want your heart and legacy to be distributed to your loved ones. Yeah. So that's the straight point. So that is a misconception. Yeah, we should pay attention. Yes. So the second one is a will from your home country is enough in the UAE. No. Because because it's a myth. Because the foreign wills or judgments, it might be stuck in the court or might not even be recognized here. Yeah. So if you do have a UAE will registered with the IFC or Abu Dhabi Judicial Department on the by-codes, it is more enforceable and it guarantees that your assets are not stuck in the court for years. For years. Yeah. And I think it's something to pay attention to that here in the UAE, half of the population I expect, like we're all from somewhere in the world. So it's very important for you to know that what applies in your country might not necessarily apply here. So you have to be a section to the changing laws and everything that's happening. Exactly. So the last statement is if you don't have a will, everything automatically goes to your family. Myth or reality. In your home country, for example, if you don't have a will, your assets can be divided based on the airship certificate or the successionship certificate which you get from your home country. But in the UAE, it's slightly different for the UAE assets. You need a will that is registered in the, you know, recognized regulatory authorities like the IFC or the IEDJD for it to be enforceable and for it to be valid. Wow. Wow. Okay. Thank you so much. No, I know that we only talked about myths. You didn't even give me one reality. No, yeah, we see there. But then as we get into the topic, we're going to put some things straight. We're going to set the record straight there. But I want us to start off a little bit basic here. So for someone who is like, I don't know what a DIC will is. First of all, tell us what is the fuminine of DIC? Okay. Yeah, let's start there. I'll start with what is a will. So will is basically the last testament or it's a legal document where a person clarifies or in detail writes down what are his assets, what all assets he has, which are part of the world and who he wants to take care of this and how he wants to divide this and all of this. So this is basically what is a will? What is the DIFC will? So DIFC will is a will which is registered in the DIFC court. DIFC, the by international financial center. This is a common law-based jurisdiction. It is an Inge speaking court and this is where all the expats and international investors are more interested and the most preferred jurisdiction for registering a will. Yeah. Okay. And that's more about DIFC will and also to make it more clear for everyone who's watching, we do have four main parties to a will. One is the testator. So testator is the person who's basically making the will or who's giving the last testament. Then we have executor. Executor is the person who the testator appoints to take care of all his wishes which he has, you know, jotted down on the will. The third is the beneficiary who's benefiting from this assets. Okay. Who I give my assets to or however I divide it, there can be multiple beneficiaries within the same bill. Yeah. And lastly, we have the witnesses. So as per the DIFC regulations, we need to have at least two witnesses during the registration of the wills. These are the parties to the will. This is the basic of what is a DIFC will. And DIFC will, how is it different from the other will? This is basically for the non-Muslims exclusive. Muslims do not have an option. So DIFC will, this is why it's most preferred by the expats and international investors. Yeah. So it's very different from the standard UAE will. Absolutely. Yeah. But I love that you give us a difference between like knowing if it's for Muslims or non-Muslims. I think this is very important because again, there's so many religious here and just so many different people from different places in the world. But now that we've really gotten to understand what the DIFC will is and what is all about, I want us to just speak to the expats right now because yes, there's so many people who are residents here but they are not from here. So why is it very important for them to understand what the DIFC will is? And especially for people who have assets and families here, why is it very important for them? Okay. So this is a very relevant question for the time being because just recently UAE had a update on their civil transaction law where they're saying, if an expat passes away without a will, all of their assets will go to a supervised chartable endowment. Now this is such a game changer because earlier we could bring all the documentation from our home country, get it attested and go to the court. This might take months or years but this was somewhat possible. But now as per the new law, if you don't have a will, it goes directly to the charity. So as much as we can appreciate UAE for this initiative, but if you think about it, your legacy is going nowhere, right? You've worked really hard. Your hard earned money is in the bank account or people have a lot of dreams who come here in the UAE. And if it doesn't reach to your loved ones, then all your efforts have gone to the waste. So this is why it's very important and relevant for the expatriates to have a will registered if you have any assets. It does not have to be millions or billions if you have a car or if you have a bank account, if you have a job here, have a will. Yeah. And everything is in place. Yeah. But I love that you said you must not have like some pink chunk of money in your bank account or a big house in the palm. Whatever you have, you can make a will. And that is very important for you to safeguard what you have for the generations to come after you. So I just want us to make it a little bit real. Let's bring it into the real world and talk about specifics now. So what assets or matters are covered or can be covered by the D.I. FC. And what are some of the things that investors and residents can be attention to? Okay. So in D.I. FC, we have different types of wills starting off with the full will. Full will is something where you can include everything and anything. And I say anything from TV to PlayStation, it could be literally anything. Yeah. Okay. It could. So if you're talking about higher end, you could include your shareholdings, your investments, your property, anything. Okay. So that's the full will. Then we do have different types of will like property will, which covers just the property specifically. Guardianship will just the guardianship of your minor children specifically. Then we have the business will lot of segments like that. Yeah. So do The IFC has categorized it, but whenever the clients come to me, I always recommend them to go for the full will because they can keep updating whatever they want rather than paying for the specific type of will. So these are the different types of will and the point that I told about modifying the will is something that the expatriates and the investors have to keep in their mind. Because one investor might buy more than one property, so it's important that you keep updating this or at least leave the will open ended. Like any property that I currently have or will own in the future. So at the time of passing, whatever is under your ownership is included within the will. And I think that's very important to pay attention to because life does happen and it's not planned or controlled. It's good sometimes. It's not so good. So we have to always keep our stuff updated. Yes. When it comes to things that it's connected to money and investments and all these things. But with everything that you've been sharing, I was just nodding my head because I'm like, she has a lot of experience in this area. So let's just look at your experience for a bit. What are some of the common mistakes you have seen with clients when it comes to making a will and what happens if someone like maybe passes away without the will? What then? All right. So the common mistakes that I see with the clients that I've dealt with in the past is they don't take the efforts to modify their will when there is a major life update. So let's say that has been made a will where he gave all his assets to his wife, but he did not come back to his will and amend it when the divorce happened. So all the efforts and money he put into the will, it has gone into complete waste. Or maybe wife who's not a related party gets the 100% of his assets. So this is something that needs to be modified and rectified when there is a major life update. And a lot of people don't even know that they can give their assets to an unborn child. Or if you're just planning for children, yeah, and if you don't have a child yet, you can still put the unborn child in the will. Like if I have a child, it goes 100%. If I have two children, then 50, 50%. So there are a lot of creative ways when you go to a D.I.F.C. register drafts when they can suggest and recommend the proper structuring for you that a lot of people are not aware of. So these are the most mistakes that I see, you know, with D.I.F.C. wills, yes. And what happens if someone passes away without a will? Without the will, like I said, in the current scenario, it goes to the charity. Yeah. Right. And secondly, if that was not the case, then it would be stuck in the code for years. And that is not something you want. And also thirdly, you might not know what assets it's owned by the person. For example, I don't know what assets my father has till date. I just know he has a property here and there, but if you ask me how many properties or what's the value of it or how much does he have in his bank account, I don't know. And probably it's not the best question to ask personally, but you could always recommend the person to have a will. Just that his legacy is secured and it does not go to waste. Yeah. It's very important. Well, thank you so much for coming to share here. I feel like I've learned so many things and just want to pay attention to for myself also. So I feel like anyone who is watching it, yeah, I should. I should. But then we're running off the episode right now. And I just find out from you, like, what is one word of advice you would have for any resident, any expat or someone who is international, but they have assets here in the UAE when it comes to the D.I. FC wills. My one advice is to let everyone who is watching here is that will is not a complicated process at all. At least coming from me, I've drafted a lot of wills. It is not complicated at all. And it is not a basic necessity or something that you consider when, you know, when things are not right, like, yeah, what are you waiting for for you to be better at it for you? Something really bad to happen. No, just have a will in place and get it modified if something, you know, happens and keep it open ended. Yeah. Like something the assets that you currently have or will have in the future. Yeah. And in case if something happens, then you don't have to majorly update it all the time and know that all the legacy and hard work that you've had, it's completely under your control. If one day you pass without will, this will not go to the intended parties like you always wanted to carry your legacy. Yeah. That's the advice I would give. I think it's something to really pay attention to. Absolutely. I mean, especially when you said keep it open ended. I think that's something that people should just like put a pin on. Exactly. Just in case you will keep investing, you will keep that protects every. Yes. Yeah. So keep it open ended. Let's just end it with that. Keep it as one end. But thank you so much, Neem. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. For sharing your insights and just teaching us more about the D.I.F.C. wheels. Yes. Yeah. So for everyone listening, we want to say thank you so much for being here from the beginning up until now. So we want to just really encourage you. If you have any needs or you're looking for some legal help or you want to even get to know how you can start drafting your own D.I.F.C. wheels, please know that we have all the information on how you can contact us down below. We have our phone number there. We have our website information where you can read all about rock. You can read all about how we can assist you in your legal matters. So please feel free to reach out anytime. And we would also like to encourage you to consider subscribing, like, share, comment, and leave a review on our videos. And just let us know if you have any questions about the topics we've been talking about. We would love to get to know what you're thinking about, what are the steps that you're trying to take for your own matters that are in your life. So thank you so much for being with us. Till next time, please take care and stay safe.