Both Czech and Hungarian trusts celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2024. These modern structures were introduced in response to the limitations of earlier succession-planning mechanisms and, together with other legal instruments, provided new tools for wealth management, estate planning and asset protection, which have reshaped the estate-planning environment.

Trust Laws in the Czech Republic and Hungary explores the issues and challenges encountered when introducing common law trust concepts into civil law legal systems. It also reviews the legal and practical aspects of trusts in these two – quite different – jurisdictions, and the book is divided into two parts which deal separately with Czech and Hungarian solutions.

Authored by well-known experts in this field, chapters cover the basics of the structures, providing a broad overview of key points including:

the legal and regulatory formalities;
trustees: their duties and responsibilities;
beneficiaries;
taxation; and
the practical uses of trusts for estate planning and asset protection.

This title provides the only systematic review of Czech and Hungarian trust laws in English. It is an invaluable reference work to help lawyers and other private client advisers structure their clients' wealth. Additionally, professional trustees involved in the administration of Czech and Hungarian trusts, as well as accountants and tax advisers dealing with the tax treatment of trusts in the CEE region, will find this to be an indispensable guide.

Michaela Dražková
Attorney at law, EMUN
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaela-dra%C5%BEkov%C3%A1-83731b133/

Michaela Dražková is an attorney at law specialising in capital market law and AML/CFT regulation. Michaela earned both her doctoral titles (JUDr, PhD) in law and legal science and theoretical legal sciences and her economic title (Ing) in economic policy and administration from Masaryk University in Brno.
Michaela is a member of the Czech Bar Association, the Ethics Committee of the Capital Market Association of the Czech Republic and a full STEP member. As the head lawyer at EMUN – a leading Czech multifamily office dedicated to efficient and comprehensive asset management of major clients and the first corporate trustee of trusts licensed by the Czech National Bank – she focuses on setting up succession and wealth transfer services in the area of structuring and administration of trusts and investment, especially private portfolio management and the establishment of qualified investor funds.

Daniela Gadasová
Partner, CEEtax
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-gadasova-91011181/

Daniela Gadasová is a partner at CEEtax in Prague, Czech Republic. She specialises in personal, estates and IP management for clients. Daniela has been involved in directorship and private affairs governance since 1995, managing the private and business affairs of celebrity athletes and entertainers. She directs various companies and foundations, and acts as a trustee.
Daniela formerly worked for the Czech Ministry of Culture, analysing the internal structures of cultural organisations – comprising governmental organisations as well as private foundations – all over Europe. She was also executive director of a private family philanthropic foundation, as well as the CEO of the first and only private copyright agency in the Czech Republic, representing and managing, amongst others, the business and private financial affairs of the country’s president, Vaclav Havel.
Daniela is a member of STEP and of the Asociace pro podporu a rozvoj svěřenských fondů (APRSF).

Bohumil Havel
Associate professor, Charles University; Of counsel, PRK Partners
[email protected]
https://www.prkpartners.com/our-team/bohumil-havel

Bohumil Havel is an associate professor at the Faculty of Law of Charles University and a research fellow at the Institute of Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He specialises in legal entities, company law and insolvency law. He is also the author of the Czech Law on Business Corporations and the Czech Law on Preventive Restructuring.
He is an attorney at law who focuses on the administration of foreign property, including the establishment of companies, foundations and Czech trust-like institutions, their interconnections and the setting up of intergenerational transfers. He is also a member of STEP.
Bohumil has also collaborated and cooperates with the Czech Ministry of Justice in the drafting of a number of legal regulations (eg, the Civil Code) and is a member of the Legislative Council of the Government of the Czech Republic.

Štěpán Holub
Partner, Holubová advokáti s.r.o.
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pravnik/

Štěpán Holub is a partner at Holubová advokáti s.r.o., specialising in real estate and multigenerational planning for international clients, with a focus on cross-border issues. He holds a law degree from Charles University, Prague, and has studied in Stockholm. His career includes roles as an attorney-partner since 2008 and a judge at the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic since 2019. A recognised speaker on trusts and estate planning, he has contributed to major conferences and publications, including the STEP Handbook for Advisers. Štěpán is a member of the Czech Bar Association, STEP and AIJA, and is proficient in Czech, English, German and Swedish. His achievements include extensive pro bono work and contributions to AIJA.

István Illés
Board member, APELSO Trust
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/istvan-illes-ll-m-mba-2543a321/

István Illés is a founding partner of APELSO Trust Zrt, a licensed trust company belonging to the APELSO Wealth Management Group. István is a wealth and estate planning expert and a practising attorney at law in Budapest, Hungary. He also acquired an LLM degree in United States and global business law at Suffolk University (Boston, MA), as well as an MBA at Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem.
In 2010, István prepared a study on trusts and analogous civil law instruments as part of a research programme financed by the Law Reform Committee of the New Hungarian Civil Code. Since then he, together with György Antall, has advised many high-profile Hungarian individuals on their family structures such as wills, trusts, family arrangements and holding companies.
More recently, the APELSO Group acquired a licensed alternative investment fund manager known as APELSO Capital Zrt. István played a major role in transforming the whole group into Hungary’s first comprehensive wealth management firm.

Petr Jakubec
Attorney at law, ROSE Legal s.r.o., advokátní kancelář
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/petr-jakubec-ab98a389/

Petr Jakubec serves as a senior counsel at ROSE Legal, specialising in various areas including commercial law, contracts, real estate, litigation, alternative dispute resolution, asset management and succession planning, including inheritance law. He earned his doctorate in law from Charles University in Prague in 2003 and has been practising as an attorney since 2006 after becoming a member of the Czech Bar Association.
As one of the co-founders and longstanding chairman of the non-profit Asociace pro podporu a rozvoj svěřenských fondů (the Czech Trust Association), Petr is actively involved in addressing the legal complexities of trust funds. He is a recognised trustee in the Czech Republic and a registered trust and estate practitioner (TEP). Since 2014, he has been providing advisory services for the establishment and management of trusts and private foundations, with a focus on asset planning and succession.

Ivan Kovář
Partner, BDO Czech Republic
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivankovar1/

Ivan Kovář works as a tax advisory partner at BDO. He graduated from the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen and has over 25 years of experience in tax consultancy. He has extensive knowledge in corporate income tax, tax structuring and tax optimisation. Since 2000 he has been a certified tax adviser with the Chamber of Tax Advisers of the Czech Republic. He specialises in assisting Czechowned companies and entrepreneurs in distributing funds from their businesses.
Additionally, he has been researching trusts since their introduction and he is also a frequent speaker and publisher. He is the author of multiple chapters in the book Trusts, Opportunities and Risks (Svěřenské fondy, příležitosti a rizika) published by C. H. Beck in 2018 in Prague.

Petr Laštovka
Partner, EMUN
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/petr-la%C5%A1tovka-35857910/

Petr Laštovka is a founding partner and chairman of the board of EMUN – a leading Czech multi-family office dedicated to efficient and comprehensive asset management of major clients and the first corporate trustee of trust funds licensed by the Czech National Bank. Petr is a prominent personality in the world of finance and a graduate of the Faculty of Finance and Accounting at the University of Economics in Prague. He worked as an auditor and tax adviser at TPA consulting company and later took the position of division director focusing on investment banking. He is also a member of STEP. Within EMUN, Petr focuses mainly on asset structuring, creation of holdings and Czech and foreign trust and foundation structures. In addition, Petr has extensive experience in trust fund administration. Since 2014, as an individual, he has been a trustee of dozens of trusts, which he administered until 2023, when their administration was transferred to EMUN investiční společnost, a.s. As a result, he can compare the rules and requirements for individual trustees with those for corporate trustees. Petr contributes significantly to the transfer of international practice in the creation and administration of trusts and foundations to the Czech Republic, the development of the field of asset management and the cultivation of this environment within the country.

Csaba Magyar
Managing partner, Crystal Worldwide Law Firm
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-csaba-magyar-crystal-worldwide/

Csaba Magyar graduated in law and later attained Accredited Tax Consultant certification. He passed the bar examination before attaining accreditation as an insolvency practitioner and asset controller. He became a chartered international tax expert, later graduating as a trust and estate practitioner. He is a postgraduate specialist in investment funds, corporate finance and stock exchange, the cofounder of the Society of Hungarian Trust and Estate Practitioners and vice-chair of the Association of Hungarian Tax Experts.
Csaba holds seminars and courses on international taxation and trust law in a number of training institutes and universities for tax advisers and lawyers. During his tenure at Crystal Worldwide Law Firm, he has focused primarily on wealth planning, tax advice and business consulting. He combines expertise in asset protection strategies and international tax structuring, including handling complex transactions and managing cross-border investment issues.

Ákos Menyhei
Managing partner, Primus Wealth; Aliant-Menyhei-Molnár-B. Szabó Law Firm
[email protected]
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/menyhei1/

Ákos Menyhei is managing partner of Primus Wealth and Aliant-Menyhei-Molnár-B. Szabó Law Firm in Budapest, as well as a member of STEP. Ákos has extensive international experience in providing tax and estate planning, as well as structuring and wealth management services to high-net-worth families and individuals around the globe. He is a co-author of Limits to Tax Planning (Linde Verlag, 2013), The Trust (HVG-ORAC 2014, 2018 and 2023), Business Law in Hungary (Patrocinium, 2016) and The Foundation (HVG-ORAC, 2021), and the editor of Introduction of the Trust in Hungary and the International Practice (HVGORAC, 2017). Since 2014 he has been a regular contributor to the Oxford Journals-published Trusts & Trustees periodical. His research interests include the implementation of the trust in civil law jurisdictions. He is an h.c. assistant professor in the trustee diploma programme of St Stephan University, Budapest.

David Neveselý
Partner, Havel & Partners
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-nevesel%C3%BD-a4608247/

David Neveselý specialises in mergers, acquisitions, corporate law (with a special emphasis on local and cross-border mergers and transfers), financial law, collective investment law and tax-motivated transactions. He shares responsibility for providing legal and tax advice to private clients, including the ultimate beneficial owners of successful local and foreign groups of companies belonging to the Czech Top 100 and top managers, and also artists and athletes.
David has advised clients on numerous acquisitions, divestitures and group restructurings on both the buy and the sell sides, mainly in the areas of private equity, construction, the automotive industry, banking and finance. Before joining Havel & Partners, he worked as a lawyer for nearly five years with a leading Czech consultancy providing comprehensive economic advisory services with a special focus on tax planning. David has been repeatedly listed in Chambers in the field of private wealth for the Czech Republic, often the only Czech individual cited. He is a member of the Czech Bar Association.

Paolo Panico
Chair, STEP Europe
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paolo-panico-7276048/

Paolo Panico is a Scottish solicitor, a Registered European Lawyer in Cyprus, and a Romanian avocat. He was also an avocat à la Cour in Luxembourg until 2022 and a licensed legal adviser (conseil juridique) in Monaco until 2023. He is a director of trust companies in Luxembourg, Cyprus, and Wyoming, US. Paolo is an academic supervisor for the Certificate in International Family Wealth at the International University of Monaco and teaches courses for the master’s in wealth management at the University of Luxembourg and the LLM at the University of Liechtenstein. His publications include International Trust Laws (2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2017) and, as an editor, Trust Laws in Cyprus: An International Perspective (Globe Law and
Business, 2022).
He is the deputy chairman of STEP Worldwide and chairman of the STEP Europe Region, a member of the board of directors of the Associazione Il Trust in Italia, and an academician of The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (TIAETL).

Vlastimil Pihera
Partner, Kocián Šolc Balaštík
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pihera-vlastimil-28687a3a/

Vlastimil Pihera is a partner at Kocián Šolc Balaštík, one of the oldest and most renowned law firms in the Czech Republic, and a research fellow at the Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He has more than 25 years of experience in the law of corporations, foundation and trust law and financial market regulation. He is the author of numerous publications in the Czech Republic and abroad.
Vlastimil is a member of the Appellation Commission of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, and the ethics committees of the Association for Capital Markets and the Czech Association of Financial Advisory and Intermediary Companies. He is recommended by the prestigious Chambers & Partners Guide and the IFLR1000 Guide as an expert on capital markets in the Czech Republic. Vlastimil has
been a full STEP member since 2023.

Jiří Pokorný
Associate, Havel & Partners
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ji%C5%99%C3%AD-pokorn%C3%BD-736190138/

Jiří Pokorný specialises primarily in advising private clients on the creation of family office structures and trusts and endowment funds, family and inheritance law, corporate law and public benefit entities.
In providing comprehensive legal and tax advice to private clients, who include the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the Czech and Slovak Republics, Jiří focuses mainly on the creation of family offices, that is, property management structures that ensure not only the continuity and transfer of personal (family) property, the elimination of fragmentation of family property (according to the so-called ‘aristocratic standard’), provision for minors or incapacitated persons, protection from potential creditors and participation in companies and cooperatives, but also the fulfilment of charitable purposes and public benefit activities.
Jiří Pokorný joined Havel & Partners as a student in 2017, becoming a junior associate in 2019 and, after passing the Bar examination, an associate in 2022. Jiří is a member of the Czech Bar Association.

István Sándor
Attorney at law, Kelemen, Mészáros, Sándor and Partners
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/istv%C3%A1n-s%C3%A1ndor-45a2853a/

István Sándor is professor of law at the faculty of law of Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He is also a practising lawyer and graduated as a political scientist. In addition, he is a private professor at the faculty of law of Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary. He earned a doctorate from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (DSc) and is chair of STEP Hungary. He has visited several universities as research fellow or visiting lecturer and has been a speaker at numerous international conferences. He specialises in commercial law, company law and trust law. István has published several books and articles on company law, trust law, legal history and civil law.
In 2017, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary in the civilian division, and in 2021 he received the Academic Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Sára Seszták
Partner, Seszták Ügyvédi Iroda
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-sesztak-3a726478/

Sára Seszták is the head attorney at Seszták Ügyvédi Iroda. She graduated from the faculty of law and political sciences of Eötvös Loránd University in 2018. During her studies, she had the privilege of being a member of the István Bibó College for Advanced Studies. After graduation, she was awarded a scholarship to pursue further studies in the United States of America at the Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law, where she had the opportunity to study various areas of intellectual property law. Sára has gained extensive experience in intellectual property law, corporate law, commercial law and trusts and foundations.

Helena Svárovská
Director, J&T Family Office
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/helena-sv%C3%A1rovsk%C3%A1-14b58773/

Helena Svárovská has been with J&T since 2003, when she joined J&T BANKA in the private banking department, initially as part of the back office team, but gradually transitioning to focus on the highest segment of clients. Currently, she serves as the director of J&T Family Office, where she primarily deals with asset management and intergenerational wealth transfer. She is responsible for financial planning, personnel matters, and the company’s strategic development.
Helena began her professional career during her studies when she joined the Czech Consolidation Agency. She graduated in economics from the University of Economics in Prague.

Gábor B Szabó
Attorney at law, Aliant-Menyhei-Molnár-B. Szabó Law Firm
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-gabor/

Gábor B Szabó is a partner at Aliant-Menyhei- Molnár-B. Szabó Law Firm in Budapest, Hungary. He is also a managing member of the board of trustees of Primus Asset Management Foundation, the first Hungarian multi-family office. He has specialised in several forms of private asset management, trusts, foundations, equity funds, corporations, hybrid structures and international tax planning for over 30 years.
He is one of the professional pioneers of the Hungarian trust and asset management foundation. He was actively involved in the lawmaking processes and among the first service providers in this sector. Gábor was a member of International Tax Planning Association (ITPA) for over 15 years and has been a member of STEP since 2012. He is a regular speaker at conferences, co-author of several industry books and the author of numerous professional articles.

James Turnbull
Independent family succession adviser, Uplift
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-turnbull-cz/

James Turnbull holds a law degree and is enrolled as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand. He is a board member of the Asociace pro podporu a rozvoj svěřenských fondů (the Czech Trust Association) and a full member of STEP. He founded Svěřenské fondy a trusty s.r.o., the Czech Republic’s first professional trust administration company, in 2014, and now works as an independent succession planning adviser to high-net-worth families throughout the CEE region. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of PTT CZ s.r.o., a specialist provider of business trustee services.
James has played an important role in the development of the trust sector in the Czech Republic through seminars and publications. He is co-author of the leading Czech trust textbook, Svěřenské fondy krok za krokem (Trust Funds Step by Step), and is one of the lecturers on the APRSF Trustee Accreditation course.