Translating Overseas Trusts into the Australian Legal System

Abstract

How is an Australian lawyer to analyse how Australian law (say, of succession, or property, or taxation) applies to a foreign trust or trust-like structure? This note deals with two issues which arise when a foreign legal institution interacts with the Australian legal system. The first is one of language: just because a “stiftung” may be translated as a trust, or a “Begünstigter” as a “beneficiary” does not mean that the legal system regards them as such. The second is whether there is a sufficient commonality with the essential features of a trust for the foreign entity to be treated as a trust.

Keywords: Stiftung, Begünstigter, foreign trusts, Hague Convention, translation of legal terms

JEL Classification: K10, K30