Private Wealth, Trusts and Estate Planning

Yes. From 25 September 2026 a written trust must be registered or incorporated under the Trust Administration Act, 2026, and one that is not is not enforceable. A trust incorporated under the old Trustees (Perpetual Succession) Act, or created by registering the deed under the Registration of Documents Act, is deemed a trust under the new Act but must comply with it, including lodging a register of beneficial owners, by 25 September 2028.

A family trust holds property through trustees for named or ascertainable beneficiaries under a registered trust deed, so that the property passes outside the estate and outside probate, is managed by trustees you choose under rules you set, and stays together across generations. Under the Trust Administration Act, 2026 a family trust is a non-trading entity settled for planning or managing a personal estate, and the settlor may also be a beneficiary.

Yes. A trust incorporated under the Trust Administration Act, 2026 is a body corporate with perpetual succession that may acquire, hold, develop and dispose of land in its own name. A registered but unincorporated trust holds land through its trustees. The constitutional limits on land ownership by non-citizens continue to apply, so the citizenship of trustees and beneficial owners matters.

A family trust needs at least one trustee. A charitable trust or a non-charitable purpose trust needs at least three natural persons or one licensed corporate trustee. Where the trustees are natural persons, at least one must be a Kenyan citizen or a resident of Kenya.

The estate passes under the intestacy rules in Part V of the Law of Succession Act. A surviving spouse takes the personal and household effects and a life interest in the rest of the estate, and the children take on the death or remarriage of the surviving spouse. Where there is no spouse or child, the estate passes to the parents, then the siblings, then more remote relatives. Someone must still apply to court for letters of administration before anything can lawfully be distributed.

A written will must be signed by the person making it, or by someone in their presence and by their direction, in the presence of two or more witnesses who each sign in the testator’s presence. A gift to a witness or to a witness’s spouse is void, so beneficiaries should not witness. The Law of Succession Act also recognises oral wills in limited circumstances, but a written will avoids the argument.

An uncontested estate is usually distributed within twelve to eighteen months of filing, allowing for the gazettement of the petition, the six month wait before confirmation of grant and the transmission of the assets. A contested estate takes as long as the dispute, which is the strongest argument for a clear will or a registered trust.

Either a Kenyan will limited to your Kenyan assets, drafted to sit alongside any will in your country of residence, or a registered family trust that holds the Kenyan property now and names your children as beneficiaries. The trust avoids probate in Kenya altogether and lets a Kenyan resident trustee or a licensed corporate trustee manage the property while you are away. We advise on which suits your family and we handle the registration.

It depends on the size and make-up of the estate. A trust holding a single property for one family costs a fraction of one holding land in three counties, shares in a trading company and investments abroad, because the work lies in the structuring, the deed and the transfer of the assets rather than in the filing. Our fees are reasonable, agreed in advance and negotiable, and we quote a fixed figure once we have seen the asset list. Beyond our fee, budget for the Registrar’s fees under the Regulations to be made under the Trust Administration Act, 2026, for stamp duty and registration costs on moving land or shares into the trust, and for the modest annual cost of the return, the registers and, where you want one, a trust agent.