Most people find out about probate the hard way.
A parent dies. Everyone is grieving. Then someone mentions that the property in Lekki, the shares in Dangote Cement, the savings accounts across three banks — none of it can move until a court says so. And Nigerian courts don’t move fast. What should take weeks takes years. Families fight. Relationships break. Lawyers get paid. The estate shrinks.
A living trust doesn’t fix grief. But it does fix probate.
What a living trust actually is
A living trust is a legal arrangement you set up while you’re alive. You transfer your assets into it — property, cash, investments, whatever you want included — and appoint a trustee to manage those assets. You can be your own trustee while you’re alive, which means nothing changes day to day. You still control everything.
The difference shows up when you die or become incapacitated. Because the assets are already held in the trust, they don’t go through your estate. They don’t go to court. They go directly to whoever you named as beneficiary, according to the terms you set.
That’s it. No probate. No waiting. No judge deciding whether your Lagos property should go to your daughter or your brother.
Why Nigerians specifically need to think about this
Nigeria’s probate process is administered through state high courts. In theory it exists to verify a will and authorise an executor to distribute an estate. In practice it routinely takes two to five years, sometimes longer. Court backlogs, missing documentation, family disputes, fraudulent claims, administrative delays — all of it adds time and cost to what should be a straightforward process.
There’s also the question of who gets involved. Once a will goes to probate it becomes a matter of public record. Extended family members, creditors, and anyone else with a claim can show up. In cultures where family financial expectations run deep, that’s not a minor inconvenience. It’s a genuine threat to whether the estate ends up where you wanted it.
A living trust sidesteps all of this because the assets technically never form part of your estate. They’re already somewhere else. There’s nothing for the court to administer.
The specific problems it solves
Delays. Your beneficiaries get access to assets without waiting for court proceedings. If your spouse needs access to funds immediately after your death, a trust makes that possible. Probate doesn’t.
Privacy. Trust documents are private. Wills in probate aren’t. If you’d rather your financial arrangements stay between you and your family, a trust is the only way to guarantee that.
Incapacity. This one surprises people. A living trust also covers the scenario where you’re alive but unable to manage your affairs — a stroke, a serious illness, cognitive decline. The successor trustee you named steps in and manages things according to the terms you set. No court application required. No family member scrambling for power of attorney.
Family conflict. Disputes over estates are common and often brutal. A well structured trust makes your intentions legally binding and harder to contest than a will. That doesn’t mean conflict disappears. It means your wishes have a better chance of being followed.
Multiple assets across locations. For families with property in Lagos, accounts in the UK, and investments elsewhere, coordinating probate across jurisdictions is a nightmare. A trust, particularly one set up with an experienced trustee, can handle this far more cleanly.
Who it’s actually for
Living trusts aren’t just for the extremely wealthy. They make sense for anyone with significant assets and specific ideas about where those assets should go.
That said, they’re most useful for people with:
- Property in their own name
- Investment portfolios or significant savings
- Dependants who will need immediate access to funds after their death
- Complex family structures (second marriages, children from different relationships, dependants with special needs)
- Assets in multiple countries
- Concerns about family conflict over the estate
If your total assets are modest and your family situation is simple, a straightforward will may be enough. But once the complexity increases, a trust starts to look less like an expensive extra and more like basic planning.
What Mulberry’s private trust team actually does
Setting up a living trust isn’t complicated in theory. In practice, it has to be done correctly or it doesn’t work. Assets that aren’t properly transferred into the trust still go through probate. Beneficiary designations that conflict with trust terms create legal problems. A trustee who doesn’t understand their obligations can cause as many problems as no trustee at all.
Mulberry Trustees works with clients to structure trusts that match their actual situation — not a generic template. That includes identifying which assets to include, how to handle property transfers, what terms to set for distributions, and who should serve as successor trustee.
For ultra high net worth clients, we also offer Timeless Legacy, which layers a living or testamentary trust over a life insurance policy to extend wealth transfer across multiple generations. The goal isn’t just to pass assets to your children. It’s to build a structure that keeps working for the generation after them.
The thing most people put off
Estate planning is one of those things everyone knows they should do and most people don’t.
Part of it is discomfort. Thinking about death and incapacity isn’t pleasant. Part of it is the assumption that there’s time. There usually is, until there isn’t.
The families who navigate these situations well are almost always the ones where someone made decisions early, while they were healthy, while relationships were good, while there was no urgency. The families who struggle are the ones where none of that happened.
A living trust is not complicated to set up. It does require some upfront thought about what you own, who you want to benefit, and under what conditions. That’s an afternoon of serious thinking and a few meetings with a trustee. For most people, that’s a reasonable price to pay for knowing it’s sorted.
If you’re not sure whether a trust makes sense for your situation, the first step is a conversation. We can tell you quickly whether it’s worth pursuing further.
Reach us at hello@mulberrycp.com or visit our contact page
