RAK ICC

RAK ICC for Estate & Succession Planning

2026-03-11 · 7 min read · By Aureus Worldwide

Planning how wealth passes to the next generation is one of the most common reasons families turn to the RAK International Corporate Centre. Using RAK ICC for estate and succession planning shifts the question from "who inherits each asset" to "who controls the vehicle that owns them", and that shift can remove much of the delay, publicity and uncertainty that personal ownership brings on death. This guide explains the succession problem a RAK ICC structure addresses, the two main tools it offers, and, just as important, what it cannot do on its own, because succession planning is legal work that a corporate structure supports rather than replaces.

The succession problem RAK ICC helps solve

When wealth is held personally, its transfer on death can be slow and contentious. Several issues recur:

• Forced heirship and default rules. For assets located in the UAE, Sharia-based principles can apply by default to how an estate is divided, unless a valid registered will directs otherwise. That may not match a family's intentions.
• Probate delay. Estates can be frozen while courts grant probate, leaving businesses without a decision-maker and heirs without access to funds precisely when they need them.
• Fragmentation. Dividing a business or a property portfolio among several heirs can split control, trigger disputes and force a sale.
• Cross-border complexity. Where a family spans several countries, an estate can be caught by the succession and tax rules of each of them at once.

A RAK ICC structure does not make these issues disappear, but it changes the object of succession in a way that can make them far more manageable.

How a RAK ICC structure changes the picture

The core idea is simple: you no longer own the assets directly, a vehicle does, and you plan the succession of the vehicle.

When a family business, an investment portfolio or a property is owned by a RAK ICC company, the company does not die when a shareholder does. What passes is shares, and the company continues to exist and operate throughout. When assets are held by a foundation, they sit in a self-owning legal person and pass according to rules the founder wrote, without forming part of the founder's personal estate in the usual way. Either route can convert a messy, asset-by-asset succession into the orderly transfer of a single, well-governed structure.

The two main tools

The RAK ICC company

A RAK ICC company limited by shares is the simpler instrument. The family's assets are consolidated under one holding company, and succession is planned at the level of its shares. Because the shares are the unit of ownership, a founder can agree in advance, with proper legal drafting, how they transfer, whether through the company's articles, shareholder agreements or a will. The business keeps running while ownership changes hands, avoiding the paralysis that hits a personally owned enterprise when its owner dies.

The RAK ICC Foundation

For longer-horizon and multi-generational planning, a RAK ICC Foundation is often the centrepiece. A foundation owns itself: it has no shareholders, and it holds and distributes assets according to a charter and by-laws the founder sets at the outset. Because the assets belong to the foundation rather than to any individual, they do not pass through the founder's personal estate, so succession follows the founder's written wishes smoothly and privately. Families frequently place a foundation at the very top of the structure, owning the holding company that owns everything else, separating control, ownership and benefit in a deliberate, durable way.

Wills still matter

A RAK ICC structure does not remove the need for a will. Non-Muslims in the UAE can register wills, for example through the dedicated wills registries, to direct their personally held assets and, in some cases, guardianship of children. A structure and a will do different jobs: the structure governs what it owns under its own documents, while the will directs whatever remains in personal hands. The two work together, and the drafting of both is a matter for qualified legal counsel, not for a corporate service provider. Aureus works alongside that counsel; it does not replace them.

What a RAK ICC structure cannot do

Because this is wealth-and-family territory, the limits deserve the same emphasis as the benefits. A RAK ICC structure will not:

• Automatically override forced-heirship claims. How a company or foundation interacts with the mandatory-heirship or default rules of the countries where a founder is resident, domiciled or holds assets is a genuinely complex legal question. It must be engineered with advice, not assumed.
• Defeat legitimate claims. Assets moved into a structure to frustrate known creditors or to evade obligations can be challenged and unwound; our guide to RAK ICC for asset protection sets out where those lines fall.
• Switch off UAE compliance. A RAK ICC company or foundation is a UAE-established legal person and must consider Corporate Tax, keep proper records and disclose beneficial owners under Cabinet Decision 58 of 2020.
• Escape foreign estate tax. The UAE does not currently levy a personal inheritance tax, but other jurisdictions may tax the estate or the assets, so cross-border exposure needs specialist review.

Succession planning through RAK ICC is powerful precisely because it is lawful, transparent and well-governed, not because it hides anything.

Personal ownership, company or foundation

The three routes suit different situations, and many families combine them rather than choosing one.

No single route is universally right. A family with an operating business, a property portfolio and children in different countries may use all three, a will for personal effects, a holding company for the business, and a foundation at the top to carry the whole plan forward. The correct combination is a legal and tax judgement made with advice, not a template to copy.

Building a succession structure in the right order

Good succession planning tends to follow a recognisable sequence. First, the family's objectives are clarified, who should control what, who should benefit, and over what horizon. Second, the assets are mapped and consolidated under a holding company or foundation, transferred openly and properly documented. Third, the governing documents, articles, shareholder agreements, or a foundation's charter and by-laws, are drafted by legal counsel to anticipate births, deaths, disputes and changes in the family. Fourth, wills are put in place for personal assets. Finally, the structure is given genuine substance and its Corporate Tax, accounting and UBO obligations are met on time, so it is beyond reproach when it is eventually called upon. A structure built in this order carries a family's intentions forward reliably; one assembled hastily tends to fail at the worst possible moment.

How Aureus Worldwide can help

Aureus Worldwide supports families planning succession through RAK ICC by coordinating the formation of the right vehicle, company or foundation, through licensed registered agents via our company formation team, and by integrating the holding companies beneath a foundation where that suits the plan. Once the structure is live, we keep its accounting in order, assess Corporate Tax, and maintain UBO and substance reporting so the arrangement stays compliant across the years it needs to last. Aureus is a Dubai-based accounting and advisory firm, it is not a law firm and does not provide legal, trust, tax-residency or estate-planning advice, so wills, charters, by-laws and the forced-heirship analysis are handled by your legal counsel while we look after the numbers and compliance and confirm the registry's changeable rules. To plan your succession structure, contact us.

Talk to our chartered accountants →