Short guides on each Gold Standard.

A foundation holds assets in its own right, under a written constitution, with no shareholders. That combination is what draws families to it.

A group assembled entity by entity has as many shareholder registers as it has entities, and no single page on which the family can see what it owns.

After reading this you will know where the two foundation regimes say the same thing and where their texts diverge, on reserved powers, charitable objects, intermediaries, guardians, what each register records and protection from foreign claims.

After reading this, a reader will be able to place a family business rule encountered in Dubai in the federal, Emirate, free zone or financial free zone layer it comes from, and tell a support body apart from a regulator.

After reading, the reader will know the exit and liquidity mechanisms UAE law makes available inside a registered family company, including the share buy-back that earlier law did not permit.

After reading this, a reader will understand which rule set and which dispute forum attach to a family entity depending on whether it sits under the federal register, in the DIFC, in ADGM or under Dubai law.

After reading this you will know what each regime requires a foundation to keep, file and notify after establishment, on what deadlines, and what the texts say follows non-compliance.

After reading this you will understand what Federal Decree-Law No. 37 of 2022 permits for a registered family company, including the share buy-back, where its reach is limited by free zone and Emirate-level legislation, and which tools sit with the company rather than with a foundation.

After reading this you will understand the mechanisms by which a foundation holds ownership steady across a change of holder, and the questions that remain open once it is in place.

After reading this you will understand how the federal family business framework interacts with Dubai and DIFC regimes, and why the number of governing bodies rises with the number of vehicles that hold family assets.

After reading this you will understand the four features of Article 6 of current UAE law that determine how much force a family charter carries, and why a clause that depends on a body which does not exist produces no outcome.

After reading, the reader will know what a layer of ownership changes in law, what it leaves visible to regulators, and what it cannot settle.

After reading, a reader can explain why documents drafted for death leave a gap when a shareholder or a director loses capacity instead.

After reading this you will understand which rules govern each layer of a multi-entity family ownership structure, and which forum prices an exit at each layer.

After reading, the reader will know why a trading parent is not a holding company in the statutory sense, and what changes in reporting, form and jurisdiction when the top of a structure holds rather than trades.

After reading, a reader can identify the points at which an existing set of succession documents may have fallen out of step with one another and with current law.

After reading this you will know which mechanics the 2022 framework permits in constitutive documents, and how charter amendment and filing operate.

After reading this you will understand which transfer restrictions apply to a UAE family company by default, and which operate only where a memorandum of association or a shareholders' agreement creates them.

After reading this, a reader will understand what registration under the 2022 federal law does, which ownership mechanisms the law makes available to a registered family company, and why material written before it took effect does not describe that position.

After reading this you will understand the three ways a family company share gets priced, who prices it when the family has not, and how the 2022 Decree-Law changed the funding options.

After reading this you will understand what a foundation is as a legal entity in the DIFC and the ADGM, and where it sits in relation to a trust and to a holding company.

After reading, the reader will know how UAE law defines a holding company, the narrow set of things it is permitted to do, and the family questions it leaves untouched.

After reading, a reader will know which confidentiality protections UAE and DIFC instruments give a private dispute forum, and the five points at which those protections end.

After reading, a reader can state what a will can reach in the UAE, what it cannot reach, and the conditions on which its reach depends.