Trusts

Protect, preserve and pass on wealth across generations.

A couple collaboratively signs legal documents in the presence of an advisor.

Trusts

Trusts are one of the most widely used estate planning and wealth structuring tools in South Africa. When they are created for the right reasons and administered properly, trusts can protect assets, support family continuity, and provide long-term management for beneficiaries. When they are used as a shortcut or left unmanaged, they can create tax drag, compliance risk, and family conflict.

Nont Fiduciary provides professional, disciplined trust administration so your trust does what it was meant to do.

Nont Fiduciary

What is a trust?

A trust is a legal structure created when a founder transfers assets to trustees to manage for the benefit of beneficiaries in terms of a trust deed. The trustees hold and administer the trust assets in a fiduciary capacity, meaning they must act in good faith, with care and diligence, and in the best interests of the beneficiaries.

A trust is not a separate “person” in the same way a company is, but it is recognised as a legal arrangement with its own bank accounts, records, tax obligations, and governance requirements. In practical terms, the trust deed is the rulebook. It sets out who the beneficiaries are, what the trustees may do, how decisions must be made, and how distributions should work.

Purpose of trusts

Asset protection and risk separation

Trusts can help separate personal risk from family assets when properly structured and governed, especially when paired with sound financial planning and independent trustees.

Continuity and succession

Trusts do not “die”. This makes them useful for holding assets that you want managed over many years, such as a family home, investment portfolio, or shares in a business. Trustees can continue administering assets without waiting for deceased estate processes.

Beneficiary management

Trusts are particularly useful where beneficiaries are minors, vulnerable, financially inexperienced, or where you want controlled support over time. Trustees can pay education and living costs and release capital later according to the deed.

Family governance and fairness

In blended families, second marriages, or situations with unequal family needs, a trust can create clear rules for occupation, maintenance, distributions and long-term outcomes, reducing the chance of disputes.

Estate planning efficiency

Where appropriate, trusts form part of a wider estate plan that considers liquidity, estate duty, and capital gains consequences. The objective is not to “avoid tax at all costs”, but to reduce unnecessary leakage and improve administration.

Types of trusts

There are several categories of trusts, but most South Africans will encounter the following:

Inter vivos trusts

Created during the founder’s lifetime by a trust deed. These are often used for family wealth planning, holding investments, owning property, or holding shares in a private company.
 

Testamentary trusts

Created in a Will and only come into effect on death. These are commonly used to protect inheritances for minor children or dependants who need structured financial support.

Special trusts

Recognised for certain tax purposes in specific circumstances, often linked to beneficiaries with disabilities or other defined criteria. These trusts require careful drafting and ongoing compliance.

Discretionary vs vesting trusts

This is a functional distinction. In a discretionary trust, trustees decide when and how beneficiaries benefit within the deed’s framework. In a vesting trust, beneficiaries’ rights to income are more fixed. The choice affects control, flexibility, and tax outcomes.

Why allow Nont Fiduciary to administer your trust

Trust administration is not “set and forget”. The modern compliance environment requires discipline. Banks are stricter, beneficial ownership transparency requirements are expanding, and poor trust governance is increasingly challenged.

  • We ensure trustees follow the deed, pass proper resolutions, and keep minutes and records up to date
  • We assist with trustee appointments, independent trustee support, and governance best practice
  • We maintain accurate beneficiary information and relevant registers and documentation
  • We support banking and institutional requests to prevent delays and account restrictions
  • We coordinate accounting and tax compliance so that trust tax returns and reporting are handled properly
  • We assist with trustee appointments, independent trustee support, and governance best practice

F.A.Q.

The executor is the person appointed to act. Administration is the overall legal process the executor follows to wind up the estate.

Report the estate, obtain authority, identify and value assets, call for creditor claims, settle debts and taxes, prepare the L&D account, allow inspection, then distribute and transfer assets.
Usually an executor appointed in a Will and issued Letters of Executorship by the Master. For smaller estates, the Master can appoint a representative with Letters of Authority.
Not in the normal sense. A deceased estate must be handled by a person with legal authority from the Master, either an executor (Letters of Executorship) or a representative (Letters of Authority).
If there is a valid Will, the Will governs. If there is no Will, intestate succession rules apply, typically prioritising spouse and descendants, depending on the family structure.
Only once properly appointed and authorised, and then in line with bank processes and estate rules. Estates are generally “frozen” until the Master’s authority is in place.

An “administrator” is often used informally to describe the person managing the estate. In practice, they collect assets, settle debts, prepare accounts, and distribute inheritances under authority from the Master.

South Africans often use “probate” loosely, but the local process is the Master’s supervision of the administration of deceased estates through Letters of Executorship/Authority and the L&D account process.
Family members can raise objections, challenge conduct, or dispute aspects of the process through the Master’s Office procedures and, in serious cases, through court processes.
Assets generally cannot be distributed without the proper Master’s authority. Smaller estates may follow the Letters of Authority route rather than full Letters of Executorship, but authority is still required.
It is the legal process of collecting and managing estate assets, paying debts and taxes, accounting properly, and distributing what remains to heirs and beneficiaries.

Banks typically require the Master’s authority (Letters of Executorship or Letters of Authority) before they will release or transact on deceased estate accounts.

Banks typically require the Master’s authority (Letters of Executorship or Letters of Authority) before they will release or transact on deceased estate accounts.

Accounts in the deceased’s name are usually restricted/frozen once death is recorded, and the executor or appointed representative must then follow the authorised estate process.

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