Protect Your UAE Real Estate Through Gifting

Have you ever thought what would happen to your UAE real estate in case something unfortunate occurs?

When a UAE property owner passes away, his or her assets will be distributed through estate devolution process in the court. The court process can take a long time.

Assets, including real estate, will be divided between the legal heirs by the court in accordance with the principles of Sharia law, unless there is a Will in place for non-Muslims.

If a person was a Muslim, then the courts generally apply the Sharia law, and often assets are distributed not in accordance with what the owner wished.

Also, the estate devolution process gets complicated if your legal heirs are not in the country.

So what to do?

If you own property in the UAE and wish to control who it passes on to, gift it during your lifetime.

Gifting process consumes significantly less time and costs you less in legal fees than the estate devolution process.

The gift transfer of real estate to following first-degree family members can qualify for the reduced transfer fees:

• Spouses (husband and wife)
• Parents
• Children
• Company (i.e. transfer from a company to the company’s owner or first-degree relatives or vice versa).

So, by gifting your property during your lifetime, you will be rest assured that you left your property to the person you wished.

Property gifting is one of the optimal ways to help your family avoid costly and lengthy estate devolution process or possible inheritance battles.

Contact us today to learn more about this process.

Disclaimer: The content on this page is for general information purposes only and does not constitute as legal advice nor should it be used as a basis for any specific action or decision. Nothing on this page is to be considered as creating a lawyer-client relationship or as rendering of legal advice or legal services for any specific matter. Users of this website are advised to seek specific legal advice from their lawyer or a legal counsel regarding any specific legal issues.