Nobody moves abroad thinking about their will. There’s a house to sort, a visa to secure, a life to build — estate planning tends to sit at the bottom of the list, if it makes the list at all. It’s also one of the few areas where getting it wrong doesn’t cost you money while you’re alive. It costs the people you leave behind, at the worst possible moment, when they’re least equipped to deal with it.
That’s really the case for doing this early rather than eventually: the paperwork is straightforward when there’s no urgency behind it, and considerably harder to untangle once there is.
Worth knowing before you read on: the specifics here vary considerably depending on which two countries are actually involved — your country of origin, and wherever you’ve chosen to settle. Inheritance rules, tax treatment, and how “domicile” or “residence” get defined all differ from one country pairing to the next, and the details can change over time. What follows are the general patterns worth knowing about — not a substitute for advice specific to your own combination of countries and circumstances.
Why a UK, US or Australian Will Isn’t Automatically Enough
A will drafted at home, under home-country law, generally still has legal standing after you move abroad — but “has standing” and “works smoothly” are different things. The complications tend to arrive in three forms.
Assets your home will doesn’t know about. A property, a bank account, or a vehicle registered in your new country of residence sits under that country’s legal system, whatever your home will says. In some cases, a foreign will has to go through a formal recognition process locally before it can be acted on at all — a process that can take months, run up legal costs, and leave assets frozen in the meantime.
Forced heirship rules. A number of countries operate inheritance rules that override a will’s stated wishes for certain categories of asset, particularly property. Your intentions, however clearly written, may simply not apply to everything you own once it’s located in a different legal jurisdiction.
Practical access. Even where your will is technically valid, the people executing it need to be able to act on it — locate the right authorities, deal with a foreign language, work within unfamiliar timeframes. A grieving family member trying to do this from another country, in a language they don’t speak, is a genuinely difficult position to leave someone in.
“A will that works perfectly at home can leave your family with nothing but confusion abroad.”
The Case for a Local Will Alongside Your Existing One
The cleanest solution most cross-border estate specialists recommend is running two wills side by side: your existing home-country will covering assets and beneficiaries there, and a separate, locally drafted will covering whatever you own in your new country of residence. Done properly, each is written to avoid contradicting or accidentally revoking the other — which is a real risk if this isn’t handled by someone who understands both jurisdictions.
This isn’t a luxury step for large estates. Even a modest local bank account or a rented apartment with a deposit held locally can become genuinely difficult for a family to access without the right paperwork already in place.
Inheritance Tax Doesn’t Stop Applying Just Because You’ve Left
This is the part that catches out the most people, and it’s specific to your country of origin. UK inheritance tax, for instance, is based on domicile, not residence — a concept that’s considerably harder to shake off than most people assume, and one that can mean UK inheritance tax still applies to your worldwide estate years after you’ve left, unless it’s been addressed properly. US citizens face their own version of this through citizenship-based taxation, regardless of where they live. Australian rules differ again.
The common thread is that “I don’t live there anymore” is rarely sufficient on its own to change your tax exposure. Establishing a genuine change of domicile, where that’s the goal, usually requires deliberate, documented steps — not just time spent abroad. And because these rules are set by your country of origin, not your destination, the right answer for a UK-origin retiree in Vietnam can look quite different from the right answer for an Australian in Thailand, even though both are facing the same broad category of problem.
Worth acting on early, not eventually: the rules here differ meaningfully depending on your country of origin, your destination, and exactly what you own and where. There’s no single answer that applies to everyone — which is precisely why this is worth working through properly rather than assuming your existing will has you covered. A Retirement Clarity Session is a useful place to map out exactly what your estate looks like across borders, and what still needs addressing.
Power of Attorney Matters More Abroad, Not Less
Estate planning usually focuses on what happens after death, but a power of attorney — covering what happens if you’re incapacitated, not deceased — is arguably more urgent for someone living abroad. If a medical emergency leaves you unable to make decisions, a power of attorney granted under home-country law may not be recognised by hospitals, banks, or authorities in your country of residence. A locally valid version, set up in advance, is the difference between a family member being able to act on your behalf immediately, or facing weeks of legal delay during a crisis.
Choosing an Executor When You’re the One Who’s Moved
This is a detail people rarely think through properly. An executor named years ago, back home, may now be dealing with a foreign legal system, a foreign language, and a set of assets they have no practical way to inspect or manage from a distance. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the wrong choice — but it’s worth asking honestly whether they’d actually be able to do the job, given where you now live and what you now own.
Some people solve this by naming a co-executor with some local connection or knowledge, or by working with a professional who can bridge the two jurisdictions. There’s no universally right answer here — it depends entirely on your family, your assets, and how complicated your specific cross-border situation actually is. What matters is that the question gets asked deliberately, rather than left to whoever was named executor before any of this cross-border complexity existed.
A Reasonable First-Year Checklist
None of the following needs to happen in the first month, but all of it is worth having addressed within the first year of settling somewhere new:
An inventory of what you actually own, and where. Property, bank accounts, investments, insurance policies — listed by country, not assumed to be covered by a single document.
A locally valid will covering assets in your new country of residence, drafted so it doesn’t conflict with or accidentally revoke your existing home-country will.
A clear read on your ongoing tax exposure at home, particularly around domicile or citizenship-based rules that may still apply regardless of where you now live.
A locally recognised power of attorney, so a medical emergency doesn’t leave your family unable to act on your behalf while paperwork catches up.
An honest look at who’s actually named to handle all of this, and whether that’s still the right choice given where you now live.
The Right Time to Deal With This Is Now
None of this needs to happen the week you land. But it belongs firmly on the list of things to sort in the first year, not the list of things to get to eventually. The paperwork itself is rarely complicated once you know what’s actually needed — what tends to make it complicated is doing it under pressure, after something has already gone wrong, rather than calmly, in advance, while there’s no urgency at all.
Getting this right early is one of the quieter parts of a well-planned move abroad — it rarely comes up in conversation the way visas or healthcare do, but it’s just as much a part of building a life that’s genuinely secure, for you and for the people you’d eventually leave it to.
Getting the paperwork right early means it never has to be dealt with in a crisis.