Does your will cover money held outside of the country? Let's say you are American, you die and you wrote a will in the United States, but you don't have wills outside of the American jurisdiction, but have money in South Africa and Pakistan. What happens to the money located there? I am asking the question, because I read there's something called: Expatriate Will for Assets Held in Canada.
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1 Answer
Not necessarily
The laws of each country will apply to the assets held in that country.
In some jurisdictions, inheritance is mandated by law and there is no freedom for a testator to determine who inherits what: Pakistan is one such jurisdiction. In Pakistan, if the deceased is a Muslim, then inheritance proceeds according to Islamic law and the will is irrelevant. If they are not a Muslim, then the law of their domicile jurisdiction applies - so for a resident of say, California, Californian succession law applies including following a will if one exists.
South African law recognises freedom of testation (subject to certain limits) so a foreign will will generally be followed.
