Private foundations are at this time not regulated by the legislation of the Republic of Slovenia. They are, however, regulated in Austria by the Austrian Private Foundations Act. Since the adoption of the act in 1993, approximately 3,700 private foundations had been created in Austria. We found out that the main motifs for regulating private foundations were the prevention of draining Austrian capital into countries, where private foundations could have already been created, the indivisibility of family property and, lastly, supporting and giving privileges to certain persons (mostly family members).
Private foundations greatly affect inheritance, which is why a description of the Austrian Laws of Succession are included in this Master’s Thesis. We also include a description of how much damages compulsory heirs can suffer, because they would not receive any inheritance, should the deceased person transfer all belongings to the private foundation. Thus, the amendment of the Law of Succession, which entered into force on 1 January 2017, describes all key characteristics of the current regulation regarding the reserved portion and the transfer of property to a private foundation.
The current state of private foundations regulations in Slovenia suggests that the Slovene legislature regarding the creation of private foundations could be more lax, because as it stands, private foundations can only be created for a generally beneficial or charitable purpose. It is without doubt that many unpleasant situations, where the deceased did not wish for his property to be split after death, yet it had to have been due to the reserved portion, would be resolved, should such foundations be legitimized in Slovenia. If the foundations in question are to be legitimized, it is necessary that appropriate tax laws are set up as well, as was done in Austria, since the most important goal of private foundations is to provide results for beneficiaries and not to work around tax laws, which would yield a more favorable taxation on the field of succession, as compared to the current legal basis for inheritance.
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