Get the expert-led guide to safeguarding your family, your assets, and your intentions, wherever life takes you.
Living internationally brings opportunity, but also complexity. Inheritance tax, conflicting succession laws, frozen bank accounts, and forgotten beneficiaries can derail even the best-laid plans.
This eBook reveals the most common legacy planning mistakes expats make, and the proven tools that can prevent them, from tax-efficient wrappers and trusts to life insurance, local wills, and global asset structuring.
Whether you're protecting your children, your partner, or your legacy as a whole, this ebook gives you the clarity to act before it's too late.
Written by Thomas Sleep,
Founder of My Intelligent Investor
A UK qualified financial adviser with over a decade of cross-border experience, this guide is built on real expat scenarios, not theory. You’ll learn strategies used by expats to keep more of what they’ve earned, wherever life takes them next.
What would the impact be… if your assets were frozen, taxed, or misdirected just when your family needed them most?
Too many expats assume they’ve “sorted it”, until it’s too late. This eBook shows you how to structure your legacy properly, so your wealth ends up exactly where you intended, with as little cost, delay, and confusion as possible.
In this eBook you will learn about...
Your Home Country Will Doesn’t Work Here
Even if you’ve written a will back home, it likely holds no weight in the Middle East. Without a locally registered will, your wealth could be distributed under Shariah law, leaving your spouse with less than intended and your children in legal limbo.
Your Family Could Inherit a Legal Nightmare
Multiple properties, pensions, and accounts in different countries create chaos without the right planning. Probate delays, conflicting laws, and inheritance tax can overwhelm your loved ones just when they need clarity the most
Your Bank Accounts Will Be Frozen Overnight
If you die without a local will or guardianship plan, your UAE bank accounts may be frozen. Your family could wait months, or even years, before they can access cash, while your children’s custody is decided by the courts.
No Guardianship = Strangers Decide Who Raises Your Children
Only 10% of expat parents in the Gulf have formal guardianship arrangements in place. If the unthinkable happens, your children could be placed in temporary care while the state decides who gets custody, not you
Your Family Might Owe 40% Tax on US Shares
Many expats unknowingly hold US-listed stocks and ETFs. If your total US holdings exceed just $60,000, your estate could face a 40% tax bill, even if you’ve never lived there. This rule applies to non-US citizens living in the Middle East
Living Tax-Free Now Doesn’t Mean Dying Tax-Free Later
Inheritance tax can still hit your family hard, regardless of where you live. Tax authorities still apply taxes on assets held in their jurisdictions. Without the right structures, your family could lose up to 45% of your estate in tax and legal costs
