Inheritance and estates, family business succession, and wills and waqf endowments.
This practice covers the legal side of passing wealth and responsibility across generations — inheritance distribution under Sharia rules, structuring a family business so it survives a founder's transition, and using wills and waqf endowments to direct assets with precision.
Families and individuals often come to this practice at a specific moment — a founder thinking about succession, an estate that needs administering, a family business at a generational crossroads — and the work is tailored to that specific moment rather than treated as a generic service.
Inheritance distribution in Saudi Arabia follows fixed Sharia shares that assign specific portions to specific heirs by relationship, rather than the fully discretionary allocation common in some other legal systems — a structure many families, particularly those with international ties or assets abroad, don't fully understand until an estate is actually being administered.
We help families understand exactly how these shares apply to their specific situation, and where assets or heirs span multiple countries, how the Saudi framework interacts with inheritance rules elsewhere.
Family business succession planning addresses the questions that inheritance law alone doesn't resolve — who actually runs the company day to day, how ownership and management authority are separated, and how a next generation with different interests or capabilities is brought in without destabilizing the business itself.
Many family businesses only address succession once a founder's health or age forces the question, and by then options are considerably more limited than if the structure had been planned years in advance.
A properly drafted will can direct up to a third of an estate beyond the fixed Sharia inheritance shares, giving families meaningful flexibility for specific wishes, charitable giving, or providing for someone outside the standard heir categories.
A waqf endowment offers a different tool entirely — dedicating an asset permanently to a charitable or family purpose, generating benefit for generations rather than being distributed and potentially dispersed. We help families understand which tool, or combination, actually fits their specific goals.
Private client matters are inherently personal, often touching family dynamics as much as legal structure, and this practice is built around long-term, confidential relationships rather than one-off transactions.
Where a private client matter intersects with a business the family owns, this practice coordinates directly with the firm's Corporate & Commercial team so ownership structuring and succession planning are handled as one coordinated picture.
Reach out well before a specific event forces the question — while a founder is still healthy and actively leading the business, before a will is urgently needed rather than merely useful, and while family relationships are calm rather than already strained by an unresolved succession question.
Message us on WhatsApp to start a confidential first conversation about your family's specific situation, at whatever pace feels right.
It's most relevant to families with meaningful assets to plan around — a business, real estate, significant savings — but the underlying questions apply to any family thinking seriously about succession or inheritance.
Yes — where a family's wealth is tied up in a business, we coordinate business succession planning with personal estate and inheritance matters as one picture.
Yes, completely — private client relationships are built on long-term trust and full confidentiality.
Not entirely — a will can direct up to a third of an estate at the testator's discretion, while the remaining two-thirds generally follows the fixed Sharia shares among the legal heirs.
Considerably earlier than most families expect — ideally while the founder is healthy and actively leading the business, since options narrow significantly once age or health forces the question.
Expert Riyadh