Slovakia: Private foundations and trust-like institutes in Slovakia

Slovak private law significantly lags behind modern European trends. Family foundations and trusts or trust-like institutions are unknown to Slovak law. None of the recently proposed reforms has yet remedied this inappropriate state. The intergenerational transfer of family property remains very complicated. The use of foreign trust structures is also restricted by Slovak private international law and negative tax consequences. This article provides an overview of the development of Slovak legislation, its current state, efforts to change the regulation of foundations, and the practical ways of evading Slovak law by using foreign legal structures—private foundations and trusts.