Legacy & Estate Planning
Securing your legacy across generations
Overview
Building wealth across a lifetime is only the first chapter. At GECA, we help families — particularly those with assets and interests in both Africa and the UK — structure their affairs so that wealth transfers smoothly, efficiently, and in accordance with their wishes across generations.
Our Approach
Our approach to estate planning is holistic and deeply personal. We take time to understand your family's dynamics, values, and goals before designing structures. We then work in close coordination with your other advisors — investment managers, accountants, and local counsel in each jurisdiction — to ensure every element of your plan is coherent and legally robust.
Service Areas
What We Do
Estate Planning & Wills
Comprehensive will-drafting for UK and Nigerian sited assets, including coordinated dual-jurisdiction wills for diaspora clients. We ensure testamentary documents are valid, unambiguous, and properly executed in each relevant jurisdiction.
Trusts & Asset Protection
Discretionary and fixed interest trusts structured under English law for multigenerational wealth transfer, asset protection, and probate avoidance. We advise on trustee selection, investment mandates, and ongoing trust governance.
Business Succession
Structured succession planning for family-owned businesses — including share restructuring, management transition frameworks, buy-sell agreements, and the legal documentation required to protect value across the handover.
Probate Management
End-to-end probate administration in the UK and, through our partner network, in Nigeria. We guide executors and families through the legal process, manage disputes where they arise, and ensure estate administration is completed efficiently.
Family Governance
Facilitation of family governance processes including family constitutions, family councils, and distribution policies. We help families align on values, roles, and decision-making structures before conflict arises.
Fiduciary Services
Acting as professional trustees, executors, or powers of attorney where families require independent, experienced fiduciaries. Our fiduciary engagements are governed by formal mandates with full accountability to beneficiaries.
Practice Note
Requirements for Creating a Trust
Decide Upon the Assets
You will need to list the items and value of those items that have been allocated, or will otherwise be acquired, at trust inception.
Appoint Trustee(s)
Select two or three individuals or a management company you trust that will be appointed as initial trustee(s) who are willing to take on significant legal authority with control over the trust assets.
Determine the Beneficiaries
Compile a list of people or entities that will be entitled to receive benefits and include the percentage of those benefits to which each beneficiary is entitled.
Outline the Terms
A trust is generally created by way of a deed. A trust deed is a legal document prescribing the rules that govern your fund and the powers of the trustee(s). It includes the following:
- The name of the Trust
- Objectives of the Trust
- Original trust assets
- The beneficiaries
- How benefits are to be paid (either via lump sum or income stream)
- How the trust may be settled (that is, terminated)
- The rules for the operation of the trust's bank account
Specify the Trust Deed
The trust deed will need to specify the following:
- The identities of the trustee(s) and beneficiaries [National Insurance Numbers and UTR Numbers]
- Which assets are being passed into the trust for management by the trustee(s)
- How the money or property is to be managed [limitations on the powers of the Trustees]
- The permitted use of the money [e.g. what type of investment should the fund be employed?]
- Who receives the money or property when the trust is terminated
Our Clients
Who We Serve
High-net-worth individuals and families
Corporate executives and entrepreneurs
Family-owned businesses
Charitable foundations and NGOs
Diaspora Nigerians seeking asset protection at home
Why GECA
Our Difference
Integrated Expertise
Financial, tax, and legal capabilities in a single practice — one relationship, not three separate engagements.
African Market Depth
Decades of on-the-ground experience across Nigeria, the UK, and 15+ jurisdictions. We know the markets, not just the textbooks.
High Level Attention
Partners and directors lead every engagement. Our clients are never handed to junior staff after the pitch.
Long-Term Partnership
We measure success by client outcomes, not transaction count. Our relationships are built to last across engagements and generations.