Setting up & Administering Trusts

Protecting what matters most

Understanding Trusts in Zimbabwe

A trust is one of the most powerful legal tools available for protecting assets, providing for loved ones, and ensuring that your wealth is managed and distributed according to your exact wishes, both during your lifetime and for future generations.

Properly structured, a trust offers robust protection against future financial risks, provides for dependants with special needs, supports charitable objectives, and forms the cornerstone of an enduring estate plan.

Setting up and administering a trust requires careful legal drafting, a thorough understanding of your personal and financial circumstances, and ongoing attention to ensure the trust continues to comply with Zimbabwean trust law and serve its intended purpose as life changes.

At Mataba Attorneys At Law, we guide clients through every aspect of trust law, from the initial decision on whether a trust is the right vehicle, through the meticulous drafting of the trust deed, to formal registration and ongoing governance.

Why Establish a Trust?

  • Asset Protection: Safeguards family property and assets from external claims or business risk.

  • Continuity: Ensures seamless management of assets without waiting for estate probate processes.

  • Tailored Governance: Allows founders to set precise conditions on how and when beneficiaries receive support.

Our Trust Services

Trust Formation & Registration

  • Family & Inter Vivos Trusts: Created during your lifetime to hold, protect, and manage family property, financial assets, or business shares for beneficiaries.
  • Testamentary Trust: Established through your last Will and Testament to manage inheritances for minor children, elderly dependants, or specific beneficiaries after death.
  • Deed Drafting & Notarial Execution: Drafting comprehensive, clear trust deeds that define trustee powers, beneficiary rights, and asset distribution protocols before execution before a Notary Public.

Trust Administration & Compliance

  • Ongoing Trust Administration: Assisting appointed trustees in maintaining compliant trust records, property deeds, and minutes of trustee meetings.
  • Trustee Advisory Services: Guiding trustees on their legal and fiduciary duties under Zimbabwean trust law to avoid personal liability or mismanagement.
  • Charitable & Philanthropic Trusts: Structuring public or private charitable trusts designed for educational, religious, or community empowerment objectives.

Trust Amendments & Restructuring

  • Trust Deed Amendments: Updating older or outdated trust deeds to reflect changing family structures, legal regulations, or new beneficiaries.
  • Trustee Appointments & Resignations: Registering variations to formalize the appointment of new trustees or the removal/resignation of existing trustees.
  • Trust Dissolution & Asset Distribution: Legally terminating and winding up trusts when their core objective has been fulfilled or assets are fully distributed.

When Should You Consider Setting Up or Updating a Trust?

  • When you want to ensure family real estate or business interests are shielded from potential commercial risks, business debt, or future personal claims.

  • When planning for minor children, elderly dependants, or family members with special needs who require long-term financial management and care.

  • When transferring property or wealth across multiple generations without subjecting assets to lengthy, public estate probate processes.

  • When an existing trust deed needs updating due to changes in law, tax regulations, changes in beneficiaries, or when appointing new trustees.

We take the time to understand what you are trying to achieve and to explain your options  clearly so that the structure we put in place  genuinely reflects your intentions and gives you lasting peace of mind.