A UAE bank account does not simply pass to the next of kin. Article 400(3) of Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022, the Commercial Transactions Law, provides that “in all cases, the account shall be closed upon the death of either party,” and the Central Bank’s own Consumer Protection Standards list “evidence that the Consumer has died” as an express ground on which a licensed financial institution may block an account and its funds.

What follows is a court process, not a banking one, and it is the part families are least prepared for. This guide covers the statutory basis for the closure, why almost every article on the subject cites a law that was repealed in 2022, what happens to a joint account, who inherits under the civil law that applies to non-Muslims, the one payment stream that reaches the family in ten days without waiting for a court, and what happens to money nobody claims.

Two separate instruments operate at the same time. The Commercial Transactions Law closes the current account by operation of law on death. The Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Standards permit the bank to block the account and the funds in it on evidence of death, and require the bank to give written notice of the blockage within 24 hours.

Article 400 of the decree-law sits in the chapter governing the current account, and its third clause is unconditional. The account closes on the death of either party, on a loss of capacity, on a bankruptcy declaration, on the expiry of a legal person, or where the bank stops operating. Article 402 then provides that once the current account is closed, the balance is deemed a payable debt. The money does not vanish; it becomes an obligation owed by the bank, payable to whoever is legally entitled to receive it.

Why most sources cite a repealed law

Search for this question and you will repeatedly find a reference to Article 379(4) of Federal Law No. 18 of 1993, the old Commercial Transactions Law. That law was replaced by Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022, which came into force on 2 January 2023. Citing the 1993 article today points at an instrument that is no longer in force, and the same drafting now sits at Article 400.

The practical answer does not change, but the citation does, and it matters when a bank, a lawyer or a court asks for the authority. Quote Article 400(3) of Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022.

What actually happens at the bank

Banks do not monitor deaths. The block is triggered by evidence reaching the institution, which in practice means a death certificate presented by a family member, an employer’s notification, or a report from another authority. Until that happens the account may keep operating, standing orders may keep running, and salary may keep arriving.

The Consumer Protection Standards require the institution to send written notice of the blockage within 24 hours, setting out the blockage details, the action expected and the contact information. In a death case that notice is addressed to the account holder, so families should not expect a letter telling them what to do next. The same standards bar the bank from applying account fees that would push a blocked account into overdraft while the block is in place, including returned cheque fees caused by the bank’s own blockage, though those fees may be collected once the block is lifted.

Joint Accounts

A UAE joint account does not work like a survivorship account in a common law country, and the answer is less settled than most guidance suggests. Article 400(3) closes the account on the death of either party, and no reachable official source states that a surviving joint holder simply keeps operating the account or takes the balance automatically.

We could not confirm against a primary source the widely repeated claim that a joint account is frozen in its entirety on the death of one holder. What is verifiable is that the closure trigger in Article 400(3) is not drafted with any carve-out for a surviving holder, and that the Consumer Protection Standards allow the institution to block funds on evidence of death without distinguishing between account types.

The practical step, and it costs nothing, is to ask your bank in writing what it does with your specific joint account on the death of one holder, and to keep the answer. That written position is far more useful to a surviving spouse than a general article. Where the account funds a household, our guides to opening a bank account as a non-working spouse and to estate planning in the UAE cover the structures that reduce the exposure in advance.

Who Actually Inherits

For non-Muslims, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status governs the estate. Article 11(1) allows a testator to leave the entire property they own in the State to anyone they choose. Absent a will, Article 11(2) gives half the inheritance to the husband or wife and distributes the other half equally among the children, with no differentiation between male and female.

Article 11(2) then works down a fixed order. If there are no children, the estate passes to the deceased’s parents equally if both are alive. If one parent has died, half goes to the surviving parent and the other half to the deceased’s brothers and sisters. Where there is no spouse, no children and no siblings, the whole estate goes to the surviving parent. Where both parents are gone, the entire estate is divided equally among brothers and sisters, again without differentiating between males and females.

The clause that can move the whole estate onto another country’s law

Article 11(3) is the provision worth knowing before anything else. Notwithstanding the default distribution, any one of a foreigner’s heirs may request the application of the law applicable to the estate under the Civil Code, unless there is a registered will to the contrary. A single heir can therefore move the estate away from the UAE default rules, and the only thing that forecloses that is a registered will.

Article 13 sets out where a will is registered, requiring wills of persons governed by the decree-law to be recorded in the register prepared for that purpose, and it allows a married couple to complete a will registration form at the time of signing the marriage contract, stating how property is to be distributed on the death of either of them. The registration options and their differences are compared in our guides to registering a will in Dubai, DIFC versus Dubai Courts and DIFC Wills for expats.

For Muslims, the estate is distributed under Sharia principles rather than under the civil personal status decree-law, and the shares and their consequences for property are set out in our guide to Sharia law and property inheritance in the UAE.

Releasing the Money

The bank does not decide who inherits and will not release the balance on a family member’s request. The funds are released against a court document from the personal status court in the emirate where the deceased lived, identifying the legal heirs and their shares, and in practice a further order directing the bank to release or transfer the balance.

We were unable to verify the succession certificate procedure itself against a reachable official source, so the sequence below is set out as the process described consistently by UAE legal practitioners rather than as a published government procedure. Treat it as orientation and confirm the current requirements with the court or a lawyer.

Step What it involves
1. Death certificate Issued by the health authority. A death abroad needs attestation by the UAE mission in that country and then by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2. Legal translation All supporting documents translated into Arabic by a certified legal translator, since Arabic is the language of the courts
3. Application to the personal status court Filed in the emirate where the deceased resided, with proof of the family relationships
4. Succession order The court determines the heirs and their shares. Witness evidence is commonly required
5. Release order to the bank A further direction to the institution to pay out or transfer the balance in accordance with the determined shares

Two related processes usually run in parallel and are worth handling early because they have their own deadlines: the death registration and repatriation steps in our guide to death certificates and repatriation of remains from the UAE, and the residence visa consequences for dependants covered in what happens to a dependent visa when the sponsor dies.

The Payment That Does Not Wait for the Court

Where the deceased was employed in the private sector, the employer’s obligation runs on a ten-day clock and is independent of the bank account. Article 15(1) of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 requires the employer to hand over to the worker’s family any wages or financial entitlements owed, plus the end-of-service gratuity, within a period not exceeding ten days from the date of death or from the date the employer learns of it.

Two further clauses make this the most useful provision in the whole area. Article 15(2) allows the worker, in advance, to specify in writing a family member to receive their rights in the event of death, which removes the argument about who the employer should pay. Article 15(3) requires the employer to bear all costs of preparing and transporting the body to the country of origin or place of residence if the relatives request it.

Article 15(4) allows the Ministry to establish a mechanism for retaining the entitlements where it is not possible to hand them over to the family or those entitled. The calculation of the gratuity itself is covered in our guide to UAE end-of-service gratuity rules.

The practical point for a family with a blocked account: the final salary and gratuity should not be paid into the deceased’s frozen account, and the ten-day obligation gives leverage to ask the employer to pay a nominated family member directly under Article 15(2) where a written nomination exists.

Money That Is Never Claimed

Under the Central Bank’s Dormant Accounts and Unclaimed Funds Regulation, balances that go unclaimed for three years are transferred to the Central Bank for safekeeping. The money remains the property of the customer, or of the legal heirs if the customer has died, and no fee or charge may be levied for reactivating or closing such an account or for making a claim.

The claim route is set out in Article 4 of the regulation. A legal heir approaches the institution personally or through a legal representative and submits a claim with all relevant documentation, including legal documentation establishing the heirship. The institution must settle the claim within one month unless there are valid reasons for delay. The equivalent deadlines are 14 days where money is held by an exchange business and one month for an insurance company, with insurance amounts transferring to the Central Bank after five years rather than three.

The full mechanics of the regime, including the 2025 regulation that replaced the 2020 rules and widened the scope to insurers and exchange houses, are in our guide to dormant bank accounts and unclaimed funds in the UAE.

What to Do Before It Matters

Nothing in this area is improved by leaving it to the survivors. Four steps genuinely change the outcome:

  • Register a will. Article 11(3) means an unregistered estate can be pulled onto another country’s law by a single heir, and Article 11(1) means a registered will can direct the entire UAE estate as you choose.
  • Make the written nomination under Article 15(2). It takes one letter to the employer and it is the only route that pays a family member within ten days.
  • Get your bank’s joint-account position in writing. The statutory closure rule does not carve out a surviving holder, and bank practice is not published.
  • Keep an accessible document set. Passports, Emirates IDs, marriage and birth certificates, account and policy numbers. The court process runs on attested and translated documents, and assembling them after a death is the slowest part. Our UAE expat emergency document checklist covers what to hold.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are UAE bank accounts frozen when someone dies?

Yes, in effect. Article 400(3) of Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022 provides that the account is closed on the death of either party, and the Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Standards list evidence that the consumer has died as an express ground on which a licensed financial institution may block the account and the funds in it. Article 402 then treats the closing balance as a payable debt owed by the bank to whoever is legally entitled to it.

Which law governs a deceased person’s bank account in the UAE?

Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022, the Commercial Transactions Law, at Article 400(3). Many summaries still cite Article 379(4) of Federal Law No. 18 of 1993, but that law was replaced by the 2022 decree-law, which came into force on 2 January 2023.

What happens to a joint bank account in the UAE when one holder dies?

Article 400(3) closes the account on the death of either party and contains no carve-out for a surviving joint holder, and the Consumer Protection Standards allow a bank to block funds on evidence of death without distinguishing account types. No reachable official source confirms that a surviving holder may continue to operate the account or takes the balance automatically, so the reliable step is to ask your bank for its position on your specific account in writing.

How do heirs get money released from a UAE bank account?

The bank will not release funds on a family member’s request. Release follows a succession determination by the personal status court in the emirate where the deceased lived, identifying the heirs and their shares, and in practice a further order directing the institution to pay out. The court process requires a death certificate, attested if the death occurred abroad, and Arabic legal translations of the supporting documents.

Who inherits a non-Muslim expat’s UAE assets if there is no will?

Article 11(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 gives half the inheritance to the husband or wife and divides the other half equally among the children, with no differentiation between male and female. With no children, the estate goes to both parents equally, or half to a surviving parent and half to the deceased’s siblings where one parent has died, and to the siblings in equal shares where both parents are gone.

Can an heir apply their home country’s inheritance law in the UAE?

Article 11(3) of Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 allows any one of a foreigner’s heirs to request the application of the law applicable to the estate under the Civil Code, unless there is a registered will to the contrary. A single heir can therefore displace the default UAE distribution, which is one of the strongest practical reasons to register a will.

How quickly must a UAE employer pay a deceased employee’s family?

Within ten days. Article 15(1) of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 requires the employer to hand over any wages or financial entitlements plus the end-of-service gratuity within a period not exceeding ten days from the date of death or from the date the employer becomes aware of it. The employer must also bear the cost of preparing and transporting the body home if the relatives request it.

Can I nominate someone to receive my UAE end-of-service benefits?

Yes. Article 15(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 allows a worker to specify in writing a family member to receive their rights in the event of death. It is a written instruction given to the employer in advance, and it is separate from a will.

What happens to unclaimed money in a UAE bank account after death?

Balances unclaimed for three years are transferred to the Central Bank for safekeeping under the Dormant Accounts and Unclaimed Funds Regulation. The money remains the property of the customer, or of the legal heirs if the customer has died, and no fee may be charged for reactivation, closure or making a claim. Institutions must settle a claim within one month, or 14 days in the case of an exchange business.

Do the deceased’s debts have to be paid before heirs receive anything?

Yes in substance, because what passes to the heirs is the estate net of what the deceased owed. Article 402 of the Commercial Transactions Law treats the closing balance as a payable debt rather than as property already belonging to the family, and a bank holding a loan or credit facility will look to the estate. This is one of the areas where advice specific to the estate is worth taking early.

Official Sources

Information is current as of August 2026. The statutory provisions above were read from the official English texts of Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 and Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, and the banking rules from the Central Bank Rulebook. Four limitations are stated rather than smoothed over. First, the succession certificate procedure and the requirement for a separate release order to the bank could not be verified against a reachable official government source and are presented as practitioner-described practice, not as a published procedure. Second, for the same reason no court fee, timeline or document list for the succession application is quoted. Third, the treatment of joint accounts on the death of one holder is not addressed expressly in either the decree-law or the Central Bank standards, and is flagged here as unresolved rather than answered. Fourth, this article covers accounts with institutions licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE; the DIFC and ADGM apply their own regimes, and a DIFC-registered will interacts with the position differently. The Arabic text of UAE legislation prevails in case of any conflict with an English translation. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.