Family trusts · Succession · Wealth structuring
Family Trusts, Estate Planning and Wealth Structuring in Kenya
A will decides who inherits. It does not stop the business stalling for two years while the estate is administered — and for a family whose wealth is a company, that gap is the whole problem.
How we structure family wealth
- Registered family trusts
- Wills and testamentary planning
- Business succession planning
- Family business governance
- Diaspora and cross-border estate planning
- Probate and estate administration
- Succession certificates and grants
and 6 further areas set out below
The typical Kenyan estate is not a portfolio. It is a business, some land, and a family that has never discussed what happens next. When the owner dies, the shares form part of the estate, the estate has to be administered before they can be transferred, and in the meantime nobody has clear authority to sign for the company, deal with the bank, or make a decision that cannot wait.
That is a structural problem and a will does not solve it. It is what the registered family trust was introduced to address. Since the Trustees (Perpetual Succession) (Amendment) Act, 2021, Kenya has had a proper statutory family trust: assets are transferred to the trust during the owner's lifetime, the trust holds them continuously, and there is no interruption on death because ownership never moves.
The tax position is what makes it more than a governance device — but only if the trust is registered. Transfers of property into a registered family trust are exempt from stamp duty and capital gains tax, trust income is exempt from income tax, and beneficiary income is exempt up to KES 10 million a year, with further exemption for amounts applied to a beneficiary's education, medical treatment or early adulthood housing. An unregistered trust attracts none of that. It is the most common and most costly mistake in this area.
Areas of work
How we structure family wealth
Registered family trusts
Establishing and incorporating a family trust through the Principal Registrar of Documents, including the trust deed, trustee arrangements and the asset transfers into it. Registration is what unlocks the tax reliefs.
ExploreWills and testamentary planning
Wills drafted to be valid and difficult to challenge, dealing properly with dependants, with assets held abroad, and with the reality of how the family actually holds property.
ExploreBusiness succession planning
Arranging for a business to survive the owner: shareholding structure, cross-option and buy-sell arrangements, who takes over, and how the value is realised for family members who do not.
Family business governance
Family constitutions, shareholders' agreements between relatives, and the decision-making structures that keep a family business running when the founder's authority no longer holds it together.
Diaspora and cross-border estate planning
Planning for families with assets and members in more than one country, where a foreign will may not deal effectively with Kenyan land and vice versa.
Probate and estate administration
Obtaining grants of probate and letters of administration, and administering estates through to distribution — including estates where the family is not in agreement.
Succession certificates and grants
Applications for the grants required to deal with a deceased person's assets, and confirmation of grants where the estate cannot be distributed without it.
Contested estates and will challenges
Acting where a will is disputed, where dependants have been left without reasonable provision, or where an administrator is not properly discharging their duties.
Asset-holding structures
Companies, trusts and holding vehicles for property and investments, arranged for succession, co-ownership between family members and protection from unrelated business risk.
Private wealth and investment structuring
Structuring around investment portfolios, property holdings and business interests where the objective is orderly transfer between generations rather than short-term efficiency.
ExplorePrenuptial and matrimonial property agreements
Agreements recording how property is held and what happens on separation — often used to protect a family business or inherited asset from a matrimonial claim.
ExplorePowers of attorney and incapacity planning
Arrangements allowing someone to act for you if you cannot act for yourself, which matter as much as death planning and are far more often overlooked.
Philanthropy and charitable structures
Foundations, charitable trusts and structured giving, including how a family's philanthropic activity sits alongside the commercial and family wealth structures.
The law that applies
The Kenyan succession and trust framework
Kenyan succession law and the new trust regime pull in different directions: one governs what happens after death, the other allows the position to be settled before it. These are the instruments that matter.
Trustees (Perpetual Succession) (Amendment) Act, 2021
Assented on 7 December 2021, it introduced the registered family trust — a trust, living or testamentary, registered for the purpose of planning or managing a personal estate. Incorporation is applied for through the Principal Registrar of Documents, who must approve or reject the application within 60 days.
Registration is not merely administrative: the Finance Act 2021 reliefs are framed for registered family trusts, so an unregistered trust does not attract them.
Finance Act 2021 — family trust tax treatment
Transfers of property into a registered family trust are exempt from stamp duty and capital gains tax, and the income of a registered family trust is exempt from income tax. Income received by a beneficiary is exempt up to KES 10 million per annum, and amounts applied exclusively to a beneficiary's education, medical treatment or early adulthood housing are also exempt.
Law of Succession Act (Cap 160)
Governs testate and intestate succession, the making and validity of wills, and estate administration. It also allows dependants who have not received reasonable provision to apply to the court, which is why a will that simply excludes a dependant is vulnerable rather than decisive.
Grants of representation
A deceased person's assets generally cannot be transferred until the correct grant is obtained — probate where there is a valid will, letters of administration where there is not — and the grant must usually be confirmed before distribution. This is the process that leaves a business without signing authority in the interim.
Matrimonial Property Act, 2013
Governs how property is held between spouses and how it is divided on dissolution. Relevant to estate planning because a matrimonial claim can cut across a succession arrangement, particularly where a business or inherited asset has been treated as family property.
Land Registration Act, 2012 and property transfers
Kenya does not levy a separate inheritance or estate tax, but transferring assets still engages stamp duty and, for some assets, capital gains tax. Transfers of land into a registered family trust are relieved of both, which is a substantial part of the case for using one where significant property is involved.
This page describes the legal framework in general terms and is not legal advice. Legislation and regulator practice change; the position below was reviewed on 26 August 2026. Advice on your own circumstances requires an engagement with the firm.
Who we act for
Who we advise on wealth and succession
Business owners
Holding most of their wealth in a company, with no arrangement for what happens to it — or to the business — on death or incapacity.
Family businesses
Moving to a second or third generation, where the founder's informal authority is no longer sufficient and roles need to be formalised.
High-net-worth individuals
Holding property, investments and business interests across several structures that were never designed to work together.
Diaspora families
Living abroad with assets in Kenya, and needing planning that works across both jurisdictions rather than in only one.
Families administering an estate
Dealing with a death where the assets cannot be accessed or transferred until the correct grant is obtained.
Beneficiaries and dependants
Excluded from an estate, or facing an administrator who is not distributing properly or accounting for the assets.
Put the structure in place while you still can
Tell us what the family owns and how it is currently held. We will set out what a will, a registered family trust or a combination would achieve, and what each would cost to establish and run.
How we work
How an estate planning instruction runs
- 01
Position and objectives
What the family owns, how it is held, who depends on it, and what you actually want to happen — which is often different from what the current documents provide for.
- 02
Structure recommendation
A recommendation with reasons: will, registered family trust, holding company or a combination, and an honest account of the cost and the ongoing administration each involves.
- 03
Implementation
Drafting and executing the documents, registering the trust where that is the route, and transferring assets in — the step most often left half-finished.
- 04
Review
Structures date. Marriages, births, acquisitions and disposals all change the position, so arrangements are reviewed rather than filed and forgotten.
Legal insights
Further reading on estate planning & wealth
- Estate PlanningEstate Planning for Kenyan Business Owners: Keeping the Company AliveWhen a majority shareholder dies without planning, the company's bank account is frozen while the family argues. Trading stops.
- Succession LawSuccession in Kenya: From Death to Distributed Estate, RealisticallyThe grant is not the end. Confirmation is, and the gap between them is where most Kenyan estates stall for years.
- Estate PlanningDrafting a Will in Kenya That Survives a ChallengeMost Kenyan wills that fail were validly executed. They failed on dependant provision, which drafting can address in advance.
- Wealth ManagementStructuring Kenyan Wealth Across Borders: Trusts, Companies and TreatiesCRS ended the era of undisclosed offshore holdings for Kenyan families. Structures now have to work in daylight.
- Inheritance LawCross-Border Estates: How Kenyan Assets Pass to Heirs Living AbroadA UK grant does not administer Kenyan land. Resealing exists, and diaspora families almost never plan for it in advance.
- Inheritance LawChallenging a Will in Kenya: Grounds, Evidence and Realistic OddsDependant provision claims succeed far more often than capacity challenges. Most families choose the harder argument.
Common questions
Questions we are asked most
Related Gracen Law Services
Work that sits alongside estate planning & wealth
Most matters in this area touch at least one of the following. Each links through to the relevant Gracen Law practice or sector page.
- Estate PlanningWealth and succession structured to protect future generations.
- Property & LeasingProperty and projects structured to protect value and reduce risk.
- Corporate LawOwnership, capital, and governance structured for long-term value.
- Foreign Investors and Diaspora Clients
- Banking, Finance, and Investments
- Construction, Property, and Projects
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Put the structure in place while you still can
Tell us what the family owns and how it is currently held. We will set out what a will, a registered family trust or a combination would achieve, and what each would cost to establish and run.
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Reviewed by the Gracen Law estate planning & wealth team · Last reviewed 26 August 2026