Prospects for the Personal Foundations Legislation Development

Abstract

In Russia, personal funds constitute one of the newest organizational and legal forms of legal entities that was introduced into the Civil Code on 1 March 2022. Personal funds have a specific legal status that combines, in essence, both the characteristics of a non-profit organization — traditional funds that have long been known to the Russian legal order, and the characteristics of a commercial organization whose main purpose is to make a profit and pay it to beneficiaries. Some features of personal funds allow them to be correlated with «AngloSaxon» trusts or private foundations of continental legal systems. The paper analyzes the legal status of personal funds, as well as problems and prospects for the development of legislation in this area. The paper substantiates the proposal to exclude control by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation at the stage of foundation creation and to strengthen notarial «control» over the foundations’ documents and the correctness of their changes by notaries. It is proposed to give a personal fund the legal status of a qualified investor. The authors argue the need to exclude from the list of information that cannot constitute a trade secret, information on the size and structure of income of a personal foundation, on the size and composition of property, on expenses, etc.