Picture this: A Client he is in his early seventies, still chairs the board of the company he founded, still buys land, still sits on two industry committees. His children are grown — some in the family business, others in their own careers. He has a Will, drafted years ago and rarely opened. He is beginning to ask a harder question: how do I make sure what I have built continues to work for my family long after I am gone, without losing control of it now?

For that client, a Will is no longer enough. A Will speaks only on death, goes through probate — a public, court-supervised process that in Kenya routinely stretches to two years — and can be contested by anyone claiming a share. A family trust, registered under the Trustees (Perpetual Succession) Act CAP 164, is a fundamentally different instrument. It operates during your lifetime, continues seamlessly after your death, keeps your affairs confidential, and delivers meaningful reliefs on stamp duty and capital gains tax when property is transferred into it.

The concerns we hear most from founders is control. If I put my assets into a trust, do I lose them? The clear answer under our current law is no. You can set up the trust as a settlor, sit as one of its trustees, and remain a beneficiary — drawing income from the trust to fund the lifestyle you have earned, while continuing to shape the strategy that grows the estate. The 2021 amendments to the Act put this beyond doubt. What the trust gives you in exchange is structure, continuity and protection- something your Will can only attempt to provide.

Where the design becomes interesting is in bringing your adult children into the plan. The best structures we see are two-tier: a small, stable board of trustees — typically you, an independent professional trustee, and one or two children on fixed rotating terms — handling the fiduciary work, alongside a Family Council on which every adult child sits permanently, with real powers of consultation, nomination and veto on major decisions. Everyone is genuinely involved. No one is shut out or overloaded with duties they cannot carry.

If you have spent a lifetime building, spend the next season structuring. Reach out to Akira Consult Limited where you shall find P. N Wanjama and Company Advocates with its Managing Partner Patricia Wanjama. We advise founders on family trusts, succession, real estate, intellectual property, technology and various aspects of company and commercial law. Reach out — we shall ensure that the conversation is worth your time 🙂 .