The Introduction of Trusts in the Czech Republic

Complete recodification of the Czech Civil Code among other changes establishes trusts, a very flexible tool which can be used by both natural and legal persons. Countless possibilities for the utilisation of trusts range from charities through intergenerational transfers of property or pension securitisation to the managing of a corporation and investment activities. The core of this paper is an analysis of three basic elements of trusts: the description of trusts, monitoring and analysing of the contemporary development, and perception of trusts by Czechs. The thesis contains detailed description of rights and duties of the settlor, the trustee and the beneficiary, also compares the Czech and foreign processing and then points out some differences and offers various recommendations. A fully processed questionnaire survey and analysis of the collected data is an integral part of this work. Low literacy about trusts has been discovered and its impact has been assessed. The survey results demonstrate the necessity of establishment of competitive conditions together with fighting negative perceptions towards trusts. The investigation further revealed important as well as unimportant features of trusts to potential settlors. These findings could be significant for the future development in this area...