Related documents
- Is amended by Land Consolidation Act
LAWS OF KENYA
TRUSTEE ACT
CAP. 167
- Published in Kenya Gazette Vol. XXXI—No. 61 on 22 November 1929
- Assented to on 16 November 1929
- Commenced on 16 November 1929
- [Amended by Trustee (Amendment) Ordinance, 1948 (Act No. 85 of 1948) on 11 December 1948]
- [Amended by Land Consolidation Act (Cap. 283) on 28 July 1959]
- [Amended by Variation of Trusts Ordinance, 1959 (Act No. 47 of 1959) on 17 November 1959]
- [Amended by Kenya (Land) Order in Council, 1960 (Legal Notice 589 of 1960) on 7 December 1960]
- [Amended by Kenya (Amendment of Laws) (Written Laws) Order, 1963 (Legal Notice 2 of 1964) on 12 December 1963]
- [Amended by Kenya (Amendment of laws) (Miscellanous Amendments) (No. 3) Order, 1964 (Legal Notice 168 of 1964) on 12 December 1963]
- [Amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 1967 (Act No. 9 of 1967) on 21 April 1967]
- [Amended by Trustee (Amendment) Act, 1967 (Act No. 22 of 1967) on 25 August 1967]
- [Amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 1969 (Act No. 10 of 1969) on 27 June 1969]
- [Amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 1971 (Act No. 14 of 1971) on 11 June 1971]
- [Amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 1972 (Act No. 13 of 1972) on 17 November 1972]
- [Amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 1974 (Act No. 4 of 1974) on 20 April 1974]
- [Amended by Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 1978 (Act No. 13 of 1978) on 10 November 1978]
Part I – PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Trustee Act.2. Interpretation
In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—“authorized investments” means investments authorized by the instrument, if any, creating the trust for the investment of money subject to the trust, or by law;“bank” means a bank licensed as such under the Banking Act (Cap. 488);“building society” means a society registered under the Building Societies Act (Cap. 489) and declared by the Minister, by notice in the Gazette, to be a building society for the purposes of this Act;“contingent right” as applied to land includes a contingent or executory interest, a possibility coupled with an interest, whether the object of the gift or limitation of the interest or possibility is or is not ascertained, also a right of entry, whether immediate or future, and whether vested or contingent;“convey” and “conveyance” as applied to any person include the execution by that person of every necessary or suitable assurance (including an assent) for conveying, assigning, appointing, surrendering, or otherwise transferring or disposing of land whereof he is seized or possessed, or wherein he is entitled to a contingent right, either for his whole estate or for any less estate, together with the performance of all formalities required by law for the validity of the conveyance;“court” means the High Court or a judge thereof;“financial institution” means a financial institution licensed as such under the Banking Act (Cap. 488);“fixed-interest security” means—(a)a security which, under its terms of issue, bears a fixed rate of interest; or(b)a mortgage of immovable property; or(c)a deposit, whether fixed-term or otherwise with a bank or financial institution, building society or the Kenya Post Office Savings Bank;“instrument” includes Act;“land” includes land of any tenure, and mines and minerals, whether or not severed from the surface, buildings or parts of buildings, and other corporeal hereditaments; also a rent and other incorporeal hereditaments, and an easement, right, privilege, or benefit in, over, or derived from land, but not an undivided share in land; and in this definition “mines” and “minerals” include any strata or seams of minerals or substances in or under any land, and powers of working and getting them, but not an undivided share thereof; and “hereditaments” means immovable property which under an intestacy would devolve on an heir;“mortgage” and “mortgagee” include a chargee or charge by way of legal mortgage under the Registration of Titles Act (Cap. 281) or the Registered Land Act (Cap. 300), and relate to every estate and interest regarded in equity as merely a security for money, and every person deriving title under the original mortgagee;“pay” and “payment” as applied in relation to stocks and securities and in connexion with the expression “into court” include deposit or transfer in or into court;“personal representative” means the executor, original or by representation, or administrator for the time being of a deceased person;“possession” includes receipt of rents and profits or the right to receive them; “income” includes rents and profits; and “possessed” applies to receipt of income of and to any vested estate less than a life interest in possession or in expectancy in any land;“property” includes immovable and movable property, and any estate, share and interest in any property, immovable or movable, and any debt, and any thing in action, and any other right or interest, whether in possession or not;“rights” includes estates and interests;“sale” includes an exchange;“securities” includes stocks, funds and shares; and “securities payable to bearer” includes securities transferable by delivery or by delivery and endorsement;“stock” includes fully paid-up shares, and so far as relates to vesting orders made by the court under this Act, includes any fund, annuity, or security transferable in books kept by any company or society, or by instrument of transfer either alone or accompanied by other formalities, and any share or interest therein;“transfer” in relation to stock or securities includes the performance and execution of every deed, power of attorney, act and thing on the part of the transferor to effect and complete the title in the transferee;“trust” does not include the duties incident to an estate conveyed by way of mortgage, but, with this exception, the expressions “trust” and “trustee”extend to implied and constructive trusts, and to cases where the trustee has a beneficial interest in the trust property, and to the duties incident to the Trustee office of a personal representative, and “trustee” where the context admits, includes a personal representative, and “new trustee” includes an additional trustee;“trust corporation” means the Public Trustee or a corporation appointed by the court in any particular case to be a trustee or a corporation which is for the time being a trust corporation within the meaning of the Law of Succession Act (Cap. 160);“trust for sale” in relation to land means an immediate binding trust for sale, whether or not exercisable at the request or with the consent of any person, and with or without power at discretion to postpone the sale;“trustees for sale” means the persons (including a personal representative) holding land on trust for sale.[Act No. 8 of 1956, s. 2, Act No. 27 of 1959, Sch., L.N. 589/1960, Act No. 25 of 1963, Sch., Act No. 22 of 1967, s. 2, Act No. 14 of 1971, Sch., Act No. 4 of 1974, Sch.]3. Application of Act
Part II – INVESTMENTS
4. Authorized investments
5. Discretion of trustees
The power conferred by section 4 shall be exercised according to the discretion of the trustee, but subject to any consent or direction required by the instrument, if any, creating the trust or by law with respect to the investment of the trust funds.6. Power to retain investment which has ceased to be authorized
A trustee shall not be liable for breach of trust by reason only of his continuing to hold an investment which has ceased to be an investment authorized by the trust instrument or by the general law.7. Enlargement of powers of investment
8. Investment in bearer securities
9. Loans and investments by trustees not chargeable as breaches of trust
10. Liability for loss by reason of improper investment
11. Powers supplementary to powers of investment
12. Power to deposit money at bank and to pay calls
Part III – GENERAL POWERS OF TRUSTEES AND PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES
General Powers
13. Power of trustees for sale to sell by auction, etc.
14. Power to sell subject to depreciatory conditions
15. Power of trustees to give receipts
16. Power to compound liabilities
A personal representative, or two or more trustees acting together, or, subject to the restrictions imposed in regard to receipts by a sole trustee not being a trust corporation, a sole acting trustee where by the instrument, if any, creating the trust, or by law, a sole trustee is authorized to execute the trusts and powers reposed in him, may, if and as he or they think fit—17. Power to raise money by sale, mortgage, etc.
18. Protection to purchasers and mortgagees dealing with trustees
No purchaser or mortgagee, paying or advancing money on a sale or mortgage purporting to be made under any trust or power vested in trustees, shall be concerned to see that the money is wanted, or that no more than is wanted is raised, or otherwise as to the application thereof.19. Devolution of powers or trusts
20. Power to insure
21. Application of insurance money where policy kept up under any trust, power or obligation
22. Deposit of documents for safe custody
Trustees may deposit any documents held by them relating to the trust, or to the trust property, with a banker or banking company or any other company whose business includes the undertaking of the safe custody of documents, and any sum payable in respect of the deposit shall be paid out of the income of the trust property.23. Reversionary interests, valuations and audit
24. Power to employ agents
25. Power to concur with others
Where an undivided share in the proceeds of sale of land directed to be sold, or in any other property, is subject to a trust, or forms part of the estate of a testator or intestate, the trustees or personal representatives may (without prejudice to the trust for sale affecting the entirety of the land and the powers of the trustees for sale in reference thereto) execute or exercise any trust or power vested in them in relation to that share in conjunction with the persons entitled to or having power in that behalf over the other share or shares, and notwithstanding that any one or more of the trustees or personal representatives may be entitled to or interested in any such other share, either in his or their own right or in a fiduciary capacity.26. Power to delegate trusts during absence abroad
27. Power for trust corporations to act jointly as trustees and hold property as joint tenants
Indemnities
28. Protection against liability in respect of rents and covenants
29. Protection by means of advertisements
30. Protection in regard to notice
A trustee or personal representative acting for the purposes of more than one trust or estate shall not, in the absence of fraud, be affected by notice of any instrument, matter, fact or thing in relation to any particular trust or estate if he has obtained notice thereof merely by reason of his acting or having acted for the purposes of another trust or estate.31. Exoneration of trustees in respect of certain powers of attorney
A trustee acting or paying money in good faith under or in pursuance of any power of attorney shall not be liable for such act or payment by reason of the fact that at the time of the act or payment the person who gave the power of attorney was subject to any disability or bankrupt or dead, or had done or suffered some act or thing to avoid the power, if this fact was not known to the trustee at the time of his so acting or paying:Provided that—32. Implied indemnity of trustees
Maintenance, Advancement and Protective Trusts
33. Power to apply income for maintenance and to accumulate surplus income during a minority
34. Power of advancement
35. Protective trusts
Part IV – APPOINTMENT AND DISCHARGE OF TRUSTEES
36. Limitation of the number of trustees
37. Power of appointing new or additional trustees
38. Supplemental provisions as to appointment of trustees
39. Evidence as to a vacancy in a trust
40. Retirement of trustee without a new appointment
41. Vesting of trust property in new or continuing trustees
Part V – POWERS OF NEW TRUSTEES
Appointment of New Trustees
42. Power of court to appoint new trustees
43. Power to authorize remuneration
Where the court appoints a person or corporation, other than the Public Trustee, to be a trustee either solely or jointly with another person, the court may authorize that person or corporation to charge such remuneration for his or its services as trustee as the court may think fit.44. Powers of new trustee appointed by the court
Every trustee appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction shall, as well before as after the trust property becomes by law, or by assurance, or otherwise, vested in him, have the same powers, authorities, and discretions, and may in all respects act, as if he had been originally appointed a trustee by the instrument, if any, creating the trust.Vesting Orders
45. Vesting orders of land In any of the following cases—
46. Orders as to contingent rights of unborn persons
Where any interest in land is subject to a contingent right in an unborn person or class of unborn persons who, on coming into existence, would, in respect thereof, become entitled to or possessed of that interest on any trust, the court may make an order releasing the land or interest therein from the contingent right, or may make an order vesting in any person the estate or interest to or of which the unborn person or class of unborn persons would, on coming into existence, be entitled or possessed in the land.47. Vesting order in place of conveyance by infant mortgagee
Where any person entitled to or possessed of any interest in land, or entitled to a contingent right in land, by way of security for money, is an infant, the court may make an order vesting or releasing or disposing of the interest in the land or the right in the same manner as in the case of a trustee under disability.48. Vesting order consequential on order for sale or mortgage of land
Where any court gives a judgment or makes an order directing the sale or mortgage of any land, every person who is entitled to or possessed of any interest in the land, or entitled to a contingent right therein, and is a party to the action or proceeding in which the judgment or order is given or made or is otherwise bound by the judgment or order, shall be deemed to be so entitled or possessed, as the case may be, as a trustee for the purposes of this Act, and the court may make an order vesting the land or any part thereof for such estate or interest as the court thinks fit in the purchaser or mortgagee or in any other person.49. Vesting order consequential on judgment for specific performance, etc.
Where a judgment is given for the specific performance of a contract concerning any interest in land, or for sale or exchange of any interest in land, or generally where any judgment is given for the conveyance of any interest in land either in cases arising out of the doctrine of election or otherwise, the court may declare—50. Effect of vesting order
A vesting order under any of the foregoing provisions shall, in the case of a vesting order consequential on the appointment of a trustee, have the same effect—51. Power to appoint person to convey
In all cases where a vesting order can be made under any of the foregoing provisions, the court may, if it is more convenient, appoint a person to convey the land or any interest therein or release the contingent right, and a conveyance or release by that person in conformity with the order shall have the same effect as an order made under the appropriate provision.52. Vesting orders as to stock and things in action
53. Vesting orders of charity property
The powers conferred by this Act as to vesting orders may be exercised for vesting any interest in land, stock or thing in action in any trustee of a charity or society over which the court would have jurisdiction upon action duly instituted, whether the appointment of the trustee was made by instrument under a power or by the court under its general or statutory jurisdiction.54. Vesting orders in relation to infant’s beneficial interests
Where an infant is beneficially entitled to any property, the court may, with a view to the application of the capital or income thereof for the maintenance, education or benefit of the infant, make an order—55. Orders made upon certain allegations to be conclusive evidence
Where a vesting order is made as to any land under this Act founded on an allegation of any of the following matters—Jurisdiction to Make Other Orders
56. Power of court to authorize dealings with trust property
57. Persons entitled to apply for orders
58. Power to give judgment in absence of a trustee
Where in any action the court is satisfied that diligent search has been made for any person who, in the character of trustee, is made a defendant in any action, to serve him with a process of the court, and that he cannot be found, the court may hear and determine the action and give judgment therein against that person in his character of a trustee as if he had been duly served, or had entered an appearance in the action, and had also appeared by his advocate at the hearing, but without prejudice to any interest he may have in the matters in question in the action in any other character.59. Power to charge costs on trust estate
The court may order the costs and expenses of and incidental to an application for an order appointing a new trustee, or for a vesting order, or of and incidental to any such order, or any conveyance or transfer in pursuance thereof, to be raised and paid out of the property in respect whereof it is made, or out of the income thereof, or to be borne and paid in such manner and by such persons as to the court may seem just.60. Power to relieve trustee from personal liability
If it appears to the court that a trustee, whether appointed by the court or otherwise, is or may be personally liable for any breach of trust, whether the transaction alleged to be a breach of trust occurred before or after the commencement of this Act, but has acted honestly and reasonably, and ought fairly to be excused for the breach of trust and for omitting to obtain the directions of the court in the matter in which he committed the breach, then the court may relieve him either wholly or partly from personal liability for it.61. Power to make beneficiary indemnify for breach of trust
62. Power to vary trusts
Payment into Court
63. Payment into court by trustees
Part VI – GENERAL
64. Indemnity for acts done pursuant to Act
This Act, and every order purporting to be made under this Act, shall be a complete indemnity to all persons for any acts done pursuant thereto, and it shall not be necessary for any person to inquire concerning the propriety of the order, or whether the court by which the order was made had jurisdiction to make it.65. Rules of court
The Chief Justice may make rules of court regulating the practice and procedure in respect of any proceedings in the High Court under this Act.66. Act binding on Government
The provisions of this Act bind the Government.History of this document
10 November 1978 this version
20 April 1974
17 November 1972
11 June 1971
27 June 1969
25 August 1967
Amended by
Trustee (Amendment) Act, 1967
21 April 1967
12 December 1963
07 December 1960
Amended by
Kenya (Land) Order in Council, 1960
17 November 1959
Amended by
Variation of Trusts Ordinance, 1959
28 July 1959
Amended by
Land Consolidation Act
11 December 1948
Amended by
Trustee (Amendment) Ordinance, 1948
22 November 1929
16 November 1929
Assented to
Commenced
Cited documents 9
Act 9
1. | Land Registration Act | 5880 citations |
2. | Law of Succession Act | 4192 citations |
3. | Land Act | 3533 citations |
4. | County Governments Act | 1553 citations |
5. | Companies Act | 1532 citations |
6. | National Land Commission Act | 373 citations |
7. | Banking Act | 348 citations |
8. | Mental Health Act | 323 citations |
9. | Building Societies Act | 21 citations |
Documents citing this one 51
Judgment 43
Act 5
1. | Limitation of Actions Act | 3088 citations |
2. | Tax Procedures Act | 1243 citations |
3. | Unclaimed Financial Assets Act | 135 citations |
4. | Public Health Act | 94 citations |
5. | Public Trustee Act | 4 citations |
Legal Notice 3
Subsidiary legislation
Title
|
Date
|
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The Trustee Act - Certificate Under Section 4(1)(D) | Legal Notice 172 of 1969 | 25 July 1969 |