ADJD Civil Wills Review (2026): The AED 950 Will That Reset the Market

The most consequential number in UAE estate planning is AED 950. That is what the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department charges to register a single civil will for a non-Muslim, through a fully digital flow: upload the documents to the portal, pay online, complete notarization by video call, and receive approval typically within one to two business days. The registered will carries effect across the emirates under Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022. For context, the DIFC Wills Service charges AED 10,000 for its Full Will. ADJD did not just undercut the market, it commoditized the product.

What you get for AED 950

• Registration of a single civil will; mirror wills for couples cost AED 1,900, and complex structures run to about AED 3,000.
• A fully digital process: portal upload, online payment and video notarization, with no Abu Dhabi visit needed in most cases.
• A bilingual English and Arabic will, mandatory in this format.
• Effect across the UAE emirates under the 2022 federal civil personal status law, not emirate-limited coverage.
• Guardianship appointment for minor children within the will.
• Official amendments at AED 950.

Who it is for, and who it is not

Civil wills are exclusively for non-Muslims; this track is closed to Muslim testators, whose estates devolve under the Sharia faraid framework with the wasiyya third and guardianship nominations as the planning instruments, all covered in our faraid guide. For non-Muslims, the stakes of doing nothing are concrete: the 2022 law's intestacy default sends half the estate to the surviving spouse and half equally among children, sons and daughters taking identical shares. If that is not what you want, or if you want certainty about guardianship, a registered will is the instrument, and ADJD made it cheaper than a family dinner out.

The honest caveats

• The mandatory Arabic text adds cost and a fidelity risk. Drafting and certified translation are separate market services on top of the AED 950, and a poorly translated will imports ambiguity into the document meant to remove it. Budget for professional translation and review.
• The procedure is civil-law, not DIFC-style common-law probate. For complex or high-value estates, practitioners still often prefer the DIFC machinery, a trade-off we weigh in the head-to-head.
• Definitive fees live in the ADJD service portal at booking rather than an openly published schedule, so third-party fee guides, this one included, can lag revisions. Confirm at booking.
• ADJD is a government judicial authority, not an advisory service. Nobody at the portal will tell you whether your will is well-designed. Drafting advice must be sourced separately.

The freeze still applies

One misconception to retire: a registered will, ADJD or otherwise, does not stop UAE banks from freezing the deceased's accounts, joint accounts included, pending succession certification. What the will does is make the certification faster and the outcome match your intentions. Households still need survivor-accessible liquidity, which is the subject of our account freeze playbook, and beneficiary designations on takaful and end-of-service benefits still need their own hygiene, per the death benefits guide.

How to get it done well

• Decide scope: single or mirror wills, and whether your structure is complex enough to push the fee toward AED 3,000.
• Draft in English with professional help, then obtain certified Arabic translation from a translator who has done wills before, not just documents.
• Check the guardianship clause carefully if you have minor children; this is the part families most often get generic.
• Book through the ADJD portal, confirm the current fee, upload, pay and complete the video notarization.
• Store confirmation where your executor and family can find it, and diarize a review after every major family event. Amendments cost AED 950.

Verdict

ADJD turned enforceable succession documents from a luxury purchase into routine admin, and for most straightforward non-Muslim expatriate estates it is now the sensible default. The DIFC service retains the complex end of the market for good reasons, but paying ten times more for a simple estate buys prestige, not protection. Spend the savings on proper drafting and translation, which is where cheap wills actually fail. Then finish the rest of the plan: liquidity, designations and the family conversation, all mapped at the estate planning hub.

Frequently asked

Can Muslims register an ADJD civil will? No. The civil track exists under the 2022 non-Muslim personal status law, and Muslim testators plan within the faraid framework instead: the wasiyya third, guardianship nominations and the court notary route, all mapped in our faraid guide. ADJD itself remains relevant to Muslim families as Abu Dhabi's judicial machinery, just not through this product.

Does an ADJD will only cover Abu Dhabi? No, and this is the detail that made it disruptive: registration carries effect across the emirates under Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022. A Dubai resident can use the AED 950 registration without living in, or in most cases visiting, the capital.

What should I actually budget? The AED 950 registration fee plus drafting and certified Arabic translation, which are market services and typically cost more than the registration itself. Skimping on translation is the false economy specific to this product: the Arabic text is operative, so its fidelity is the whole game. Budget for a translator with wills experience and a legal review of both language versions before upload.

How do amendments work? Official amendments cost AED 950, effectively the price of a fresh registration, so the practical rhythm is to batch changes at life events rather than tinker annually. Put the review trigger in the same calendar slot as the rest of your annual review.