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Personal Status

Practice area

We advise private clients on wills, estates, family and personal-status matters across India and the UAE — succession and probate, marriage and divorce, custody and family wealth. When assets or family span both jurisdictions, one team holds the relationship.

The framework we work in
Civil Personal Status Law
UAE: Non-Muslim marriage, divorce and inheritance, any nationality
DIFC & ADJD wills
UAE: Will registration and probate
Indian Succession Act 1925
India: Wills and probate; Hindu and Islamic succession alongside
ADGM, DIFC & RAK ICC
UAE: Foundations and trusts for family wealth
02 — One relationship

A family or estate across both sides, held by one team.

When a family lives across borders, personal-status matters often fracture across two sets of advisers — one in India, one in the UAE — with duplicated instructions and the risk of conflicting arrangements. Our presence in both jurisdictions means a single team holds the relationship: aligned wills and estate planning, coordinated probate, and family matters handled coherently on both sides.

One team, both jurisdictions

India-enrolled advocates and UAE practitioners under a single advisory relationship.

Coordinated wills & estates

Wills and succession structured across India and the UAE so that the two operate as one coherent estate plan, not conflicting instruments.

Cross-border probate & family

Parallel probate and family matters managed on both sides at once, reducing the delay, cost and distress families otherwise face.

03 — Our approach

How we handle a cross-border personal matter.

Dual-jurisdiction bench

Experienced teams in both India and the UAE, advising across the personal law of each and the points where the two intersect.

Discretion and care

Sensitive matters handled with confidentiality and a measured, family-focused approach throughout.

Coherent across borders

Wills, succession and family arrangements designed so that what is agreed in one jurisdiction holds up in the other.

Settlement-led

A preference for negotiated outcomes, particularly where children are involved and arrangements must remain workable.

End to end

Support across drafting, court filings, registration and execution, with a consistent advisory team from start to finish.

English and Arabic

Advice and documentation in English and Arabic, with coordination across borders where foreign recognition is required.

Private client matters are handled by the firm’s dedicated India and UAE team, advising with discretion across both jurisdictions.

04 — Representative experience

Selected cross-border matters.

  • Cross-border estateAdvised a family with assets in India, the UAE and a third jurisdiction on a coordinated succession and trust arrangement, working with foreign counsel so that the components operated coherently as a single estate plan.
  • Inheritance & guardianshipAssisted a family spanning the United Kingdom, India and the UAE in resolving inheritance and guardianship matters after a bereavement, conducting a full succession analysis and drafting settlement agreements structured for recognition across the relevant jurisdictions.
  • Cross-emirate probateCoordinated parallel probate applications before the Dubai Courts and the ADJD for the estate of an expatriate with assets in both emirates, ensuring consistent recognition of orders and avoiding conflicting rulings.
  • Divorce & custodyRepresented clients in a contested divorce involving asset division, maintenance and cross-border custody requiring recognition in both India and the country of the other parent’s residence, reaching a negotiated settlement that preserved workable co-parenting.
05 — Cross-border questions

Personal status across the corridor, answered.

I hold assets in both India and the UAE — which will governs them?
Each jurisdiction governs the assets situated within it, so a single will rarely covers both cleanly. We commonly advise on separate, carefully aligned wills — one for Indian assets, one for UAE assets — drafted so that neither revokes the other and the two operate as one coherent estate plan across the corridor.
Will a UAE will be recognised in India, or an Indian will in the UAE?
A will valid where it was made is generally given effect elsewhere, but recognition is not automatic and the foreign instrument must still satisfy local formalities and succession rules. We structure and register wills on both sides so that each is enforceable in its own jurisdiction and the estate is not exposed to conflicting outcomes.
How does cross-border probate work when an estate spans both countries?
Probate and succession are dealt with separately in each jurisdiction — the Indian courts for Indian assets, the UAE courts for UAE assets. Our presence in both means a single team coordinates parallel applications, keeps the filings consistent, and reduces the delay and duplication families otherwise face when instructing separate advisers.
My marriage or divorce touches both India and the UAE — can one firm handle it?
Yes. Our dual India–UAE presence means one team can advise on a marriage, divorce or custody matter that engages both legal systems, including the recognition of a foreign order, so that arrangements made in one jurisdiction hold up in the other.

Insights on personal status & family law →
06 — By jurisdiction

Prefer to start by jurisdiction?

The full India or UAE personal-status practice. A family or estate that spans both is run as a single relationship across the corridor.

India

Personal Status Law — India

Wills, succession and probate under India’s personal law, marriage and divorce before the Family Courts, custody and guardianship, and cross-border estate planning for NRIs.

View the India practice

UAE

Personal Status Law — UAE

Wills registration across the DIFC and ADJD, probate and succession, civil marriage, divorce and custody, and family wealth structures under ADGM, DIFC and RAK ICC.

View the UAE practice

Not listed, or more complex?

Contact us

We act for clients in both jurisdictions through offices in the UAE and India.