Foundations in the UAE: The Part a Will Doesn't Solve

The part a will does not solve

Registering a will in the UAE is an important step in succession planning. But there is one part a will does not solve.

A will decides who gets what. It doesn't keep a company running while that is being decided.

If shares are held personally, they go into the estate. And while the estate is being sorted out, the business is stuck: the decisions it depends on are decisions nobody currently has authority to make.

That's where foundations come in.

A foundation set up in DIFC, ADGM or RAK ICC has no shareholders. It owns itself. You transfer the company shares into it while you're alive, so when you die they don't go anywhere. They are already held by something that doesn't die. Who benefits, and who decides, is set out in the foundation's charter rather than by inheritance law.

Three things worth knowing before anyone calls it the obvious answer.

It's a real transfer, not a filing. The shares have to actually move, which brings in banks, existing shareholder agreements and whoever's consent you need along the way.

The charter is the actual work. Who sits on the council, how successors are appointed, what happens when the family disagrees. Families who have avoided those conversations tend to find that the document makes them have one.

It isn't for everyone. One apartment and a savings account? A registered will does the job at a fraction of the cost and effort.

So it isn't really will or foundation. A will is usually the first step. A foundation becomes relevant when there's a business that has to keep running, assets in several countries, or a family that will be making decisions together for a long time.

Neither one works backwards. That's the whole point.