42 questions, answered

We handle UAE wills and powers of attorney end to end: the enquiry, the quote, collecting what is needed from you, the drafting, the official Arabic translation where the register requires one, the appointment at the registry or the notary, and getting the registered document back to you. You deal with one team instead of a drafter, a translator, a notary and a court counter separately.

No. We are a documentation facilitation service. We do not give legal advice and we do not represent you in a dispute. The regulated parts of your matter are performed by licensed drafters, certified legal translators and the registry or notary itself. If what you need is advice on how to divide an estate rather than help registering your decision, we will tell you.

A WillXO service fee, quoted before you commit, plus the registration or notary charge set by the authority. Those are passed through at cost and itemised separately, never marked up. Our price list shows the starting fee for every route: what your case comes to depends on whether the will is for one person or a couple, so we confirm the exact figure in a free written quote before any work begins, and it does not change afterwards.

Because they are not ours and they are not ours to set. A registration fee is fixed by the authority - the DIFC Courts, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, Dubai Courts or the Notary Public - and it varies by register and by whether the will covers one person or a couple. Folding it into one number would mean either padding it to be safe or re-quoting you later. Showing it at cost means you can see exactly what went to us and what went to the registry.

Most of it happens on WhatsApp: the questions, the documents, the draft and your review. The one step that needs you in the room is the signing, because a will is registered in person and a power of attorney is signed in front of the notary. We book that appointment around you and tell you at quote stage exactly what it involves.

It depends on the service, and we tell you exactly what is needed with your quote so there is no guessing. Usually a clear photo of each document is enough to start; clear phone photos are fine and we will say if an original is required.

It depends on the document and the authority involved. We give you a realistic timeline with your quote and keep you updated. What we do not do is control a government processing queue, so a timeline is our best honest estimate rather than a promise.

Every order gets a code, and you can check its status at any time on the tracking page without signing in or remembering a password. We also message you when it moves.

After you approve your quote and before we start work. You choose between a bank transfer for the quoted total, or a card payment link, which carries a 3% card convenience fee rounded up to the whole dirham and shown to you before you pay. We never see or store your card details. An invoice is issued once the payment clears.

Tell us before work starts and we will refund the service fee. Once a registration or notary fee has been paid on your behalf, or the drafting has begun, that part cannot be recovered, it has already left us. The full position is in our terms.

We redo it and we absorb the cost. If a document has to be resubmitted because of an error we made, a beneficiary detail we entered wrongly, a step we missed, a drafter or translator we chose getting it wrong, that is ours to fix. See The WillXO Guarantee for what that covers and, just as importantly, what it cannot.

We tell you why and what it will take to fix. If the rejection was caused by something we got wrong, the resubmission is at our cost. If it was caused by the information we were given, or by a decision that is the authority's to make, the resubmission is chargeable, and we will always explain which it is before doing anything.

We ask only for what a service genuinely needs, store documents encrypted, and share them only with the licensed partner handling your matter. You can ask for a copy of everything we hold or ask us to delete it. Our privacy policy sets out the detail, including that we never sell your data.

Yes, and it is the register rather than where you live that decides the reach. A DIFC will covers assets in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah; an Abu Dhabi will covers Abu Dhabi; an offshore will covers what you own in another country entirely. People with assets in more than one place often register in more than one, and we will tell you plainly which you need.

A will is a personal document, so the will itself is always an individual's. Company shares are a normal part of one: we ask for the trade licence and share certificate so the will describes the holding properly. A power of attorney can be granted for a company matter, which is one of the commonest reasons for one.

Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm UAE time. The footer of every page shows whether we are open right now. Messages that arrive outside those hours are picked up when we open.

English or Arabic, whichever suits you. A DIFC will is registered in English and needs no translation at all; the Dubai Courts, Abu Dhabi and Shariah routes are registered in Arabic, and we arrange that through a certified legal translator as part of the job.

Tell us on the support page, on WhatsApp, or by phone, and ask for it to be escalated if you have already raised it once, that sends it to whoever is accountable for the service rather than back into the same queue.

The DIFC Wills Service is open to non-Muslims who have never been Muslim. You do not have to live in Dubai to use it, but the will covers UAE assets in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah.

No. The DIFC register covers Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah. For Abu Dhabi assets the Abu Dhabi (ADJD) route is the one that applies, and plenty of people register both. We will tell you which you need.

Not for this route. A DIFC will is drafted and registered in English, which is the main practical difference between it and the Dubai Courts and Abu Dhabi registers.

Yes. A will can be replaced or amended; the register has its own process and fee for that. Tell us what has changed and we will set out the options before you commit to anything.

Two separate registers. The DIFC route is in English and covers Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah; the Dubai Courts register is the local civil-law route and the will is registered in Arabic. Which one suits you depends on what you own and where.

Because we have not set one we are willing to publish. A will registered here varies more by case than the DIFC or Abu Dhabi routes, so a person quotes it after reading what you actually need, rather than a figure that changes once we see the file.

Yes, the register requires one, and it has to come from a certified legal translator. We arrange it as part of the job rather than leaving you to find one.

Yes. Guardianship is one of the main reasons people register a will at all, and we will ask you to name an interim guardian who can step in immediately as well as a permanent one.

Yes. That is one of the differences from the DIFC register, which is open only to non-Muslims who have never been Muslim. If Sharia succession rules apply to you, ask us about the Shariah-compliant route as well.

The ADJD route is the Abu Dhabi one. If you hold assets in both emirates it is common to register in both places, and we will tell you plainly which registers your situation needs.

Yes, and we arrange it through a certified legal translator as part of the job.

Typically 5-7 working days from the point we have everything we need from you. The appointment itself is short; the drafting and the translation are what take the time.

Less than most people expect. Sharia sets fixed shares for certain heirs, and a bequest is generally limited to a portion of the estate. What a will does here is record guardianship, name an executor, and set out the part you can direct, clearly enough that nobody has to guess.

Because we have not set one we are willing to publish. These vary by family situation more than the registered-will routes do, so a person quotes it after reading what you need.

Yes, and it is one of the main reasons to write one. We will ask you to name an interim guardian who can step in immediately as well as a permanent one.

Yes, and we arrange it through a certified legal translator as part of the job.

No, and it must not. A UAE register governs UAE assets. This covers what you own elsewhere, and it is drafted so the two documents do not contradict each other.

Often, yes. Each country decides what makes a will valid there, so one document rarely serves them all. We will tell you how many you actually need before you commit.

Typically 7-10 working days. It is longer than a UAE will because each jurisdiction has its own requirements to check.

That depends entirely on the country, and it is the customer's fee rather than ours. We quote our drafting fee, and pass through anything an overseas registry or notary charges at cost.

A general POA grants broad authority; a property, company or vehicle POA is limited to that one kind of task. The narrow ones are cheaper and, more importantly, safer - they cannot be used for anything else.

Usually yes, at the notary. If you are outside the UAE there is a separate route involving your own country's notary and attestation; tell us where you are and we will set out what it takes.

Yes, a POA can be revoked, and it should be as soon as it is no longer needed. Ask us and we will explain what that takes.

As short as the job needs. An open-ended POA is rarely what somebody actually wants, which is why we ask you to state a duration.