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.
Explore 02Wills 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.
Explore 11Prenuptial 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.
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.
Common questions
Questions we are asked most
What is a registered family trust in Kenya and why register it?
A family trust is a trust set up to hold and manage a personal estate, introduced in its current statutory form by the Trustees (Perpetual Succession) (Amendment) Act, 2021. You register it by applying for incorporation through the Principal Registrar of Documents, who must approve or reject within 60 days. Registration matters because the tax reliefs are framed for registered family trusts: exemption from stamp duty and capital gains tax on transfers into the trust, income tax exemption on trust income, and beneficiary income exempt up to KES 10 million a year. An unregistered trust may still be a valid trust, but it will not attract those reliefs.
Trust or will — which do I need?
They do different jobs and many families need both. A will directs who inherits, but it operates only on death and the estate must still go through administration before anything can be transferred — which takes time and leaves a business without clear authority in the meantime. A trust holds assets during your lifetime and continues to hold them afterwards, so there is no interruption and no grant required for the trust assets. Where the wealth is a business or significant property, the trust generally does the heavier work and the will deals with what sits outside it.
Is there inheritance tax in Kenya?
Kenya does not levy a separate inheritance or estate tax. That does not make transfers cost-free: moving assets, particularly land, engages stamp duty and can engage capital gains tax, and estate administration carries its own costs. This is part of the case for a registered family trust where substantial property is involved, since transfers into one are relieved of both stamp duty and capital gains tax.
How long does estate administration take in Kenya?
Longer than families expect. A grant of representation must be obtained, and it must generally be confirmed before the estate can be distributed, with a statutory period between the two during which objections can be raised. A straightforward, uncontested estate is commonly a matter of many months; a contested one, or one where assets are hard to identify or title is unclear, runs considerably longer. Planning in advance is the only reliable way to shorten it.
Can I leave my estate to whoever I choose?
Not without qualification. The Law of Succession Act allows dependants who have not been left reasonable provision to apply to the court, and the court can vary the distribution. Dependants are defined more broadly than many people assume. A will that simply excludes someone with a genuine claim tends to invite litigation rather than prevent it — the better approach is to plan around the claim, which usually means dealing with the person's provision deliberately rather than ignoring it.
I live abroad but own property in Kenya. What should I put in place?
Cross-border estates need planning in both jurisdictions, and it is a mistake to assume a foreign will deals adequately with Kenyan land. Kenyan immovable property is generally governed by Kenyan law regardless of where the will was made, and a foreign grant usually needs to be resealed or a separate Kenyan application made before the property can be dealt with. Many diaspora families are better served by a Kenyan structure for the Kenyan assets, coordinated with their arrangements abroad so the two do not conflict.