Research On Legal Issues Of Family Charitable Trust In China

Family charitable trust is a kind of mixed trust,which plans personalized charitable scheme for the family,supplemented by the protection,management and inheritance of family wealth,and integrates the purpose of public welfare and private interest.There are four main types of family charitable trust: Pure Family Charitable Trust,Trust of Trust,Charitable Lead Trust and Charitable Remainder Trust.The uniqueness of family charitable trust determines its unique value advantages,which can not only promote the development of charity,but also protect and inherit family wealth,optimize family governance and provide tax planning.Family charitable trust system originated from equity,and has experienced the process of germination,establishment and development.At the beginning of the development of family charitable trust,the purpose of maintaining the family’s private interests occupied the mainstream of the purpose of trust.Since then,the purpose of private interests and the purpose of charity have gradually become the main purpose.In the future,the mixed nature of family charitable trust will become weaker,and will infinitely tend to pure charitable trust.Therefore,the relevant rules of charitable trust can be used for reference in family charitable trust.Family charitable trust in China is in its infancy,and there are inevitable problems in law and practice.First,the imbalance of the rights of the parties in the family charitable trust.This is reflected in the fact that the trustor’s rights are too large,there is the possibility of abusing the trust to evade the law,and there may also be excessive interference in the trust,infringing the interests of the trustee and the beneficiary.Family trustees(family members acting as trustees)may violate the fiduciary duty and interfere improperly in the determination of the ultimate beneficiary of charity.There are also conflicts of interest between family beneficiaries and charity beneficiaries.Second,the trust property registration system is not perfect.It is shown in the following aspects: the standard of trust property registration is not specific,the registration institution is not unified,and there is a problem of family privacy protection in trust property registration.Third,the family charitable trust faces the tax exemption problem.The tax exemption standard of charitable trust is not specific,the tax subject is not clear,mixed trust is not qualified for tax exemption,and it is difficult to set up trust with special property such as equity.Fourth,there are deficiencies in the supervision of family charitable trust.This is reflected in the unclear supervision subject,loopholes in the supervisor system and imperfect information disclosure mechanism.In order to promote the development of family charitable trust in China,we can improve it from the following aspects.First of all,we should reasonably distribute the rights and obligations of the parties to the family charitable trust.The rights of changing and revoking the trust,dismissing the trustee and changing the beneficiary should be changed from the legal rights to the contractual rights reserved by the trust documents,and the protection of the trustor’s right to know should be strengthened.In order to give full play to the professional and initiative of the trustee,we should pay attention to enhancing the fiduciary duty of the family trustee and strengthening the rights of the professional trustee(such as the trust company acting as the trustee).The legal status of charitable organizations as beneficiaries of charity distribution is clarified,and the right boundary between family beneficiaries and charity beneficiaries is defined.Secondly,improve the trust property registration system.It is suggested that Article 10 of the trust law should be amended and perfected,the registration of trust property and real right should be distinguished,and a registration system that meets the needs of trust development should be established.Registration antagonism can be adopted for registration effectiveness,and on this basis,registration institutions should be further unified.Thirdly,we should improve the tax system of family charitable trust.The tax exemption standard of charitable trust should be refined,the tax incentives qualification of mixed trust should be affirmed,and it should be clear that the trust with special property such as equity can also enjoy tax incentives.Finally,we should strengthen the supervision of family charitable trust.We should not only clarify the regulatory subject status of the CIRC and the Civil Affairs Department,but also make up for the loopholes in the supervisor system of private trust and mixed trust.In addition,we should improve the information disclosure mechanism,unify the scope of disclosure content,clarify the responsibilities of the trustee as the subject of information disclosure obligations,and improve the reward and punishment and supervision methods of information disclosure.