Foundations

One structure in the UAE, for everything you hold.

A UAE Foundation brings companies, property and accounts together under a single structure, wherever each one is held.

What a Foundation does

A Foundation holds what a family already owns. Companies, property and investments, wherever they are located, sit under one structure, governed by rules the founder has already put in place.

Available through the DIFC and RAK ICC registries.

Why families set one up

Continuity

A business does not stop for a change in ownership. Its charter keeps decisions settled beforehand, so nothing waits on who happens to be available on a given day.

Privacy

A Foundation's affairs are not part of any public register. Founders, council members and beneficiaries are known only within the structure.

Control

A Foundation's charter sets its own terms for distribution, decided in advance and independent of standard succession rules.

How it works

A Foundation is established by its founder, who sets out its purpose and rules in a charter. A council is appointed to govern it according to those rules.Beneficiaries are named in the charter, and receive what the founder has directed.

Because a Foundation is a separate legal entity, assets registered in its name are held by the Foundation from the outset. They are not distributed to it after death, and they do not pass through the estate of the person who established it.

What a Will does not cover

A Will takes effect only after death, and only once probate is complete. Assets named in it pass into probate as part of the estate, a process that can take months, and in many jurisdictions becomes part of the public record.

A Will written in one country is not automatically recognised in another. Each jurisdiction can apply its own succession law to assets held there, regardless of what the Will states.

A Will provides no plan for incapacity. Guardianship and continuity of decision-making require separate legal steps that a Will was never built to cover.

A Foundation addresses each of these directly. Assets held by the Foundation do not enter probate, since the Foundation already owns them. Its charter, not local succession law, governs distribution. And its council can continue to make decisions immediately, whether the founder has passed away or is temporarily unable to act.

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No Two Plans Are The Same

Every engagement begins with an advisory assessment of what a family holds, where, and who it is intended for. Each plan is structured around that family, and the businesses they have built. As circumstances change, the plan is revisited.