You have done the responsible thing. You decided to make a will. Then you tried to find out what it costs, and now you have four browser tabs open showing four different numbers: AED 950, AED 2,167, AED 10,000, and one page confidently quoting AED 13,000 to 16,000 all in. None of them agree, and none of them explain why.
The numbers are not wrong. They are answering different questions. One is a government registration fee. One is a law firm’s package with drafting baked in. One is a single will; another is a mirror will for a couple. One registry is a premium common-law product, another is a low-cost civil registry. Nobody lays them side by side and separates the layers, so you are left guessing what is even being compared. The answer is: not like with like.
This guide separates the three cost layers, the government registration fee, the drafting fee, and the ancillary costs, so the numbers stop contradicting each other. By the end you will know what each route actually costs, which is cheapest for your situation, and when the cheapest sticker price quietly becomes the most expensive option later.
Comparing will costs is like comparing flight prices. One site shows the base fare, another shows fare plus bags, a third shows the full package with seat selection and a meal. The fares are not lying to you. They are quoting different things, and until you know which is which, the cheapest number on the screen tells you almost nothing.
What This Article Covers
- How much a will costs in Dubai (the short answer)
- The 2026 fee comparison: DIFC vs ADJD vs Dubai Courts
- Why the prices you see online conflict
- Which route is cheapest for your situation
- When the cheapest route costs you more later
- What happens to your assets if you skip the will entirely
All figures in this article are approximate government and service fees based on published registry schedules at the time of writing. Government fees can change and should be confirmed at the point of registration. Legal drafting fees, certified translation, power of attorney registration, VAT where applicable, and professional advisory are additional and quoted separately. Nothing here is legal advice.
1. How Much a Will Costs in Dubai (The Short Answer)
A registered will in Dubai costs from roughly AED 950+ at the low end (the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department government fee for a single will) to around AED 13,000+ all in at the high end (a DIFC full will with professional drafting). Where you land between those two depends on the registry you pick, the inclusion of drafting, and the single versus mirror choice.
That spread of more than thirteen times is the whole reason this article exists. The gap is not about one registry gouging and another being generous. It is about three separate cost layers that most pages blend into a single headline number.
The first layer is the government registration fee, the amount the registry charges to record your will. The second is the drafting fee, what a lawyer or will-writing service charges to prepare the document, which is optional for a simple template will and advisable for a complex estate. The third is ancillary costs: certified translation, power of attorney registration, VAT where it applies, and similar extras. Keep those three layers separate in your head and the conflicting numbers online resolve themselves. The next section puts all three, across all three registries, in one table.
2. The 2026 Fee Comparison: DIFC vs ADJD vs Dubai Courts
Here is the vendor-neutral version, the one no will-writing service has an incentive to publish, because it does not funnel you toward the route they happen to sell. Government registration fee, drafting fee, and coverage, side by side.
| Registry / will type | Single (govt fee) | Mirror (govt fee) | Drafting fee | Language | Coverage / enforcement | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADJD (Abu Dhabi Judicial Department) | AED 950+ | AED 1,900+ | Optional, AED 1,000+ if used | English and Arabic | Valid across all 7 emirates; fully online | Lowest-cost route; expats with bank accounts and no complex assets |
| DIFC Full Will | AED 10,000+ | AED 15,000+ | AED 3,000 to 6,000+ extra | English only | Direct Dubai enforcement under Dubai Law No. 2 of 2025; all UAE assets | Dubai-asset-heavy estates wanting fast common-law enforcement |
| DIFC Property Will | AED 7,500+ | Higher for two | AED 3,000 to 6,000+ extra | English only | Covers Dubai real estate specifically | Single-property estates not needing a full will |
| DIFC Guardianship / Financial / Business Will | AED 5,000+ | Higher for two | AED 3,000 to 6,000+ extra | English only | Covers a defined asset class or guardianship only | Targeted needs: minor children, bank assets, or company shares |
| Dubai Courts Notary | ~AED 2,100+ | Roughly double | Optional, separate | Arabic registration | Valid across emirates; civil-law route | Cost-sensitive registrants comfortable with Arabic-language process |
Read the rows by what the number includes. ADJD is the budget champion at AED 950+ single and AED 1,900+ mirror, fully online, recorded in English and Arabic, and valid across all seven emirates. The DIFC route is the premium common-law product: the full will runs AED 10,000+ single and AED 15,000+ mirror on the government fee alone, with drafting another AED 3,000 to 6,000+ on top, in exchange for direct enforcement with Dubai authorities under Dubai Law No. 2 of 2025.
One thing almost every competitor page hides: DIFC is not only the AED 10,000+ full will. There are cheaper, narrower tiers. A DIFC Property Will sits around AED 7,500+, and the Guardianship, Financial Assets, and Business Owners wills start near AED 5,000+ for a single registrant. If you have one property or one specific need, you may not need the full will at all. The Dubai Courts Notary route sits in the middle on fee, around AED 2,100+ for a single will and roughly double for a mirror, with registration handled in Arabic.
| Not sure which row applies to you? We map your assets to the right registry in one call, with no will-drafting upsell. Book a structuring call. |
3. Why the Prices You See Online Conflict
Three things explain almost every contradiction you will find online, and once you can name them, you can decode any quote you are given.
First, registration fee versus all-in package. When a service advertises a will from AED 1,749, it has usually bundled its own drafting and translation on top of the AED 950+ ADJD government fee and quoted you the combined number. The government did not charge AED 1,749. The service did, and most of it is their fee, not the registry’s. Always ask which layers a quote includes.
Second, single versus mirror. A mirror will is two matching wills for a couple, each leaving everything to the other. It roughly doubles the registration cost across every registry, so a page quoting the single-will price looks far cheaper than one quoting the couple’s total, even when both describe the same registry. Compare single to single and mirror to mirror, never across.
Third, registry choice. DIFC is a premium common-law product with English-language wills and direct enforcement; ADJD is a low-cost civil registry. A page comparing a DIFC full will to an ADJD will and calling one expensive is comparing a business-class fare to an economy seat. Both fly you there. They are not the same product.
There is one honest wrinkle to flag. Sources disagree on the VAT position for DIFC government registration fees, with some quoting figures inclusive and others exclusive. Rather than assert it either way, confirm the VAT treatment directly at the point of booking, because it can move the final number.
4. Which Route Is Cheapest for Your Situation
There is no universal cheapest will. The right answer depends on what you own and who has to deal with it after you are gone. Match yourself to one of these profiles.
A single expat with bank accounts and no UAE property has the simplest case. The ADJD route at AED 950+, or a DIFC Financial Assets Will if you want common-law handling of those accounts, covers you without paying for protection you do not need. Do not buy a full will to protect a current account.
A couple with children and Dubai property should compare totals, not headlines. Put the ADJD mirror at AED 1,900+ next to the DIFC full mirror at AED 15,000+ plus drafting, and weigh the difference against enforcement speed: the DIFC route’s direct enforcement can matter more when there is property and guardianship of minors to settle quickly. The cheaper registration is not automatically the better outcome here, which Section 5 unpacks.
An HNWI with significant Dubai real estate is in a different conversation. At that level the will is one layer of the structure, not the whole answer, because a will still passes assets through probate while a foundation can bypass it entirely. If that is you, the cost question widens into a structuring question, and our full guide to DIFC wills for non-Muslim expats and the foundation route are the next things to read. For most readers, though, ADJD or a targeted DIFC tier is the sensible floor.
| If you own Dubai property, the will question often becomes a foundation question. We will tell you which one actually fits before you register anything. |
5. When the Cheapest Route Costs You More Later
Sticker price and total cost are not the same thing, and the will is a textbook case.
ADJD and the Dubai Courts Notary win clearly on the upfront government fee. But the Dubai Courts route registers and later probates in Arabic. If your executors do not read Arabic, and many expat executors do not, they will hire legal help to handle the probate at the worst possible moment, after a death, when nobody is in a position to shop around on price. The few thousand dirhams you saved at registration can disappear several times over in legal fees later.
The DIFC route costs more upfront and buys something specific in return: direct enforcement with the Dubai Land Department, UAE banks, and the Roads and Transport Authority under Dubai Law No. 2 of 2025. For an estate weighted toward Dubai assets, that direct enforcement can shorten the probate process and reduce the legal cost your family carries at death. You are paying more now to make the after-death process cheaper and faster.
So judge the routes on total cost of ownership, not the registration line alone. For a simple estate with executors who can handle the local process, the low-fee route really is the cheapest, end to end. For a Dubai-asset-heavy estate with executors abroad, the premium route can be the cheaper one once you count what happens at probate. The trap is reading only the first number and treating the registration fee as the whole price. It is the deposit, not the total.
A useful test before you choose: picture the day your will is actually used. Who is standing in front of which authority, in which language, trying to release which asset? If that person is a non-Arabic-speaking executor dealing with a Dubai property and a Dubai bank, the route that enforces directly with those authorities is worth paying for. If it is a single beneficiary closing a couple of bank accounts, the budget registry does the job. The cheapest will on the day you sign it is rarely the cheapest will on the day it matters.
6. What Happens to Your Assets If You Skip the Will Entirely
The most expensive option of all is not registering a will at all, and the 2026 rules sharpen the point.
Without a registered will, your bank accounts can freeze on death, including joint accounts, which means the surviving partner loses access to shared money exactly when they need it most: in the weeks after a death, with funeral, living, and legal costs all landing at once. Property transfers stall, because nothing can change hands until succession is resolved. And in the absence of an election otherwise, distribution defaults to Sharia-based rules, which may not match how you intended your estate to pass to a spouse, unmarried partner, or children.
There is a newer edge to this. Under Federal Decree-Law No. 51 of 2024, effective 1 January 2026, the UAE assets of a heirless expatriate who dies intestate may be transferred to the state Waqf. If you have no clear heirs and no registered will, the destination of your estate is no longer a hypothetical. Set against any of these outcomes, a registration fee of AED 950+ to AED 15,000+ is small. The cost of the will is not the expensive number in this article. The cost of skipping it is.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How much does it cost to make a will in the UAE?
It ranges from roughly AED 950+ for a single will registered with the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (government fee only) to around AED 13,000+ all in for a DIFC full will with professional drafting. The figure depends on the registry, the inclusion of drafting, and the single versus mirror choice. Note: all figures are approximate base costs. Government fees can change; legal drafting, certified translation, POA registration, VAT where applicable, and government processing fees are extra.
2. What is the cheapest way to make a legal will in Dubai?
On the government fee alone, the ADJD route at AED 950+ for a single will is the lowest-cost option, recorded in English and Arabic and valid across all seven emirates. But cheapest upfront is not always cheapest overall: if your assets sit mainly in Dubai and your executors are abroad, a DIFC will can cost less at probate despite the higher registration fee. Note: all figures are approximate base costs and government fees can change.
3. Do I need a lawyer to make a will in Dubai?
Not always. For a simple template will, the drafting fee is optional and you can register without legal help. For a complex estate, property in multiple countries, business shares, blended families, professional drafting is advisable and is charged separately from the registration fee, typically from AED 3,000+ at the DIFC route. The government registration fee and the drafting fee are two different layers.
4. How much is a mirror will for a couple?
A mirror will roughly doubles the registration cost across every registry, because it is two matching wills. That is about AED 1,900+ at ADJD, AED 15,000+ on the DIFC full will government fee, and roughly double the single fee at the Dubai Courts Notary. Compare couple totals to couple totals, not against single-will headlines. Note: all figures are approximate base costs; legal drafting and government processing fees are extra.
5. What is the difference between a DIFC will and a Dubai Courts will on cost?
The DIFC will is a premium English-language common-law product with direct Dubai enforcement under Dubai Law No. 2 of 2025, with a government fee from AED 10,000+ for a full will and cheaper tiers from AED 5,000+. The Dubai Courts Notary will is a lower-cost civil-law route at around AED 2,100+, registered in Arabic. You are paying more at DIFC for English-language handling and faster enforcement at death.
6. Is VAT charged on will registration fees?
This is reported inconsistently across sources for DIFC government fees, with some figures quoted inclusive of VAT and others exclusive. Because the position is not stated consistently, confirm the VAT treatment directly with the registry at the point of booking rather than relying on a figure you read online. It can change the final amount you pay.
7. Can I register one will that covers all my UAE assets?
Yes. A DIFC Full Will and an ADJD will both cover assets across all seven emirates, so you do not need a separate will per emirate. The choice between them turns on language, enforcement speed, and cost rather than coverage. For Dubai-specific real estate only, a narrower DIFC Property Will can also do the job at a lower fee.
8. What happens if I die without a will?
Without a registered will, your bank accounts can freeze (including joint accounts), property transfers stall, and distribution defaults to Sharia-based rules unless you have elected otherwise. Under Federal Decree-Law No. 51 of 2024, effective 1 January 2026, the UAE assets of a heirless expatriate who dies intestate may pass to the state Waqf. A registered will is what prevents these outcomes.
How Consultycs Helps
Choosing a will route is not simply a matter of the cheapest government fee. It depends on where your assets sit, on holding property or company shares, on your executors’ ability to read Arabic, and on the prior question of which vehicle even fits. For a sizeable Dubai property estate, a foundation may bypass probate entirely, which can make the will question the wrong question to start with.
Consultycs works as a structuring advisor, not a will-drafting shop. We do not sell a one-size will package and push you toward it. We map your asset picture first, where your wealth sits, who inherits, how your executors operate, and then recommend the route, or the structure, that fits. For many clients that is a clear answer on which registry. For HNWIs, the conversation often widens from which will to will plus foundation, because the two solve different parts of the same problem.
What you get from that is a recommendation with no product attached to it. We are not trying to sell you the will we drafted, because we did not draft one. We are telling you where your money is best spent, including the cases where the cheapest registry really is the right call and nothing more is needed.
Map Your Assets Before You Pay a Registration Fee
Book a free 30-minute structuring call. We will map your UAE assets and tell you whether a DIFC, ADJD, or Dubai Courts will fits, or whether a foundation is the cleaner route, before you pay a single registration fee. Call +971 4 584 0919 or request your review online, and we will give you a route that matches your estate, not a package we are trying to sell.
