Dubai, United Arab Emirates; 22 March 2020: In line with the UAE Government initiatives and as part of the statement released by the DIFC Courts on March 18, the Wills Service Centre (WSC) has implemented a work-from-home policy.
We would like to assure you all that the services provided by the WSC will still be operational during this time and in order to protect our users and employees, all Will registrations will now be conducted via video conferencing, until further notice.
From March 22, 2020, as is normal protocol, appointments for all Will registrations can be booked on the appointment portal, however the only option when selecting an appointment will be the Virtual Registration option for template wills ( Property Will, Business Owners Will and Financial Assets Will) or the video conferencing option for Full Wills.
The process for registering Full DIFC Wills through video conferencing will differ from the virtual registration for template Wills and will be as follows:
If the Testator selects the Full Will option or Mirror Will option then they will be directed to a page to complete his/her information and the information of the two witnesses.
The Testator will be asked to upload the following documents:
The full fee for the registration will then be payable on the payment gateway prior to securing the appointment date and time.
The Testator, along with their two witnesses, will be required to join a video conferencing call with an Authorised Officer on the date and time selected. The link to join the call will be provided by WSC after the appointment has been booked.
During the video conferencing call, the Testator must have their printed Will in front of them. The Authorised Officer will follow the normal procedure of reviewing the Will with the Testator, at which point the Testator and witnesses will then proceed with their signatures on the printed copy of the Will.
We request that you remind your clients that the witnesses should not be beneficiaries or guardians in the Will, spouses of beneficiaries, or guardians in the Will. The witnesses must be over the age of 21 years and they must show their photographic ID during the video conferencing registration. The Testator will also be required to present their passport during the video conferencing call. May we request that you kindly remind Testators that the beneficiaries cannot be present in the same room during the video conferencing call.
Once the Will is signed, we will request the Testator to e-mail a scanned copy of the signed Will to registry@difcwills.ae during the video conferencing call for the Officer to electronically stamp and affix the seal. The Authorised Officer will then upload the signed and sealed electronic Will on the DIFC Courts System.
As you are already aware, the electronic version is treated as the original Will and DIFC Courts does not require the hard copy of the Will to be presented during enforcement. However, if your clients wish for the hard copy of the Will that they sign to be stamped and sealed, they (or you as their legal advisor) may bring the signed hard copy to the DIFC Wills Service Centre office once we are open to the public again (this is expected to be April 26, 2020, or until further notice).
Some important points to note prior to booking your appointments:
For all template Will registrations (Property Will, Business Owners Will and Financial Assets Will), they will follow the same process for virtual registrations as they did prior to the work-from-home policy being implemented.
To ensure a smooth process for the video conferencing registrations we request that you have the Will approved by us first before booking the appointment online.
If you have any queries on the new process, please contact info@difcwills.ae or +971 4 404 8888.
We appreciate your patience and support during this time, as we try to ensure as little disruption to the registrations as possible.
