Estate Planning for Canadians living in KSA

Saudi succession law is the part of this most Canadians in the Kingdom have never had explained to them by someone qualified to do it.

On June 30, that someone is Mazin Kurdi Law Office — one of the Kingdom's established legal practices, led by a Saudi lawyer and Ministry of Justice-appointed arbitrator with over two decades of practice. Bashayer Baghdadi and Jouri K. represent the firm on the panel and cover what actually governs your Saudi-held assets at death.

Here is the starting point they'll build from. Saudi succession is determined by the Personal Status Law and applied by the courts according to fixed shares. A foreign Will — including a Canadian one — is recognised only to the extent it aligns with that framework. There is no inheritance tax in Saudi Arabia, which leads a lot of people to assume there is nothing to plan for. The risk was never tax. It is what happens to locally-held assets at death, and whether your family can reach them.

I host and cover the financial planning side — including the US estate tax exposure that applies to you in Riyadh exactly as it does anywhere else. Dominic Athwal, Partner at Ogier, covers the structural side.

If you hold assets in the Kingdom and have never had this conversation, June 30 is built for you. Registration link in the first comment.

Bassem Fawzy, LL.B., Fellow, Canadian Securities Institute | Vice President (MENA) | Elixir Wealth Private – DIFC | Regulated by the DFSA