The DIFC Courts Wills Service provides an online facility that enables eligible persons to complete and submit for registration a DIFC Courts Will which is specific to their digital assets. Individuals registering a DIFC Courts Full Will shall also have the option to include the distribution of their digital assets within their Will, if they so wish. This ‘Digital Assets Will’ will contain the Testator’s digital assets within a DIFC Courts’ non-custodial wallet.
The Digital Assets Will is one of the template Will offerings of the Wills Service. To commence the preparation of your Digital Assets Will, please select the appropriate button below and you will be re-directed to the Digital Assets Will portal to enter the required information to create your Will.
On the Will portal, you will be requested to add some of your personal details as well as details of your Executors and Beneficiaries. Once completed, you will be directed to the appointment and payment page. The appointment will be secured once the payment is confirmed.
Will registration appointments are conducted online via a video conference call. The Testator and their two Witnesses may join the call from anywhere in the world to complete the registration formalities virtually. The Will is signed electronically using a touch screen device, such as a phone or tablet. The singed Wills are encrypted and securely stored in the DIFC Courts’ database and a copy of the registered Will is shared with the Testator immediately after signing.
Following the registration of the Digital Assets Will, Testators will receive an email containing instructions to access their DIFC Courts’ non-custodial wallet allowing them the freedom to assign their digital assets to their listed Beneficiaries as intended. The Testator may allocate assets to their listed Beneficiaries as they wish during their lifetime at no additional cost. In the event that the Testator wishes to make changes to their list of Beneficiaries, the Will must be modified for a fee as applicable. To access the DIFC Courts’ Schedule of Fees, please click here.
At this time, the DIFC Courts’ wallet supports the following digital assets: Ethereum Classic (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), Matic, USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), Hedera (HBAR), and Hedera Token Service (HTS). In the future, the DIFC Courts’ wallet expects to support NFTs such as ERC 721, ERC 1155, Ordinals and HTS.
The DIFC Courts' non-custodial wallet is built on the Hedera Distributed Ledger Technology.
If you are not married, you should select the Single Will option whereas if you are married, and both you and your spouse wish to register a Digital Assets Will at the same time, you should select the Mirror Will option.
Your Will is an extremely important document and it is strongly recommended to consider taking legal advice in its preparation. To help you find a suitable lawyer, the Wills Service publishes a list of legal practitioners that have met certain minimum standards in relation to their knowledge of the Rules and drafting DIFC Courts Wills. Click here to access this list of approved Wills Draftsmen.
