ЕВОЛЮЦІЯ ВЧЕННЯ ПРО ДОВІРЧІ ВІДНОСИНИ В НЕЗАЛЕЖНІЙ УКРАЇНІ: ВІД ПОВНОГО ЗАПЕРЕЧЕННЯ ДО ВПРОВАДЖЕННЯ У ЧИННЕ ЗАКОНОДАВСТВО

Abstract

The article addresses the development of the fiduciary relationship doctrine in Ukraine. Primarily, the paper covers the alteration in understanding the idea of trust and other trust-like constructions by Ukrainian society from the 90s of the XX century to present time. The purpose of the article is to highlight the main stages of and approaches to understanding of fiduciary relationship in general and trust and other trust-like constructions in particular, as well as to analyse their common and distinctive features in comparison to related legal institutions and to determine the prospects for their further implementation in Ukrainian law. Methodology. To shed the light on different approaches to understanding trusts and paratrust constructions, a comparative-historical method was used in the article; also the methods of analysis, ascent from abstract to concrete and system-structural methods of scientific cognition were applied. Results and conclusions. Misunderstanding of the idea of a trust has led to violation of the rights of citizens affected by financial fraud of trust companies, which has played a significant role in shaping the distrustful or negative attitude of lawyers and ordinary citizens of Ukraine to trusts and other trust-like constructions for almost two decades. The concept of trust has existed in the law of Ukraine for a long time, but mostly it is associated with the negative issues like hiding property, hiding information about the ultimate beneficial owners etc. In addition, the concept of trust is changing constantly; this indicates the evolution of approaches to understanding the institution. At present, a trust is understood as "legal relationship," while the previous version of law defines a trust through the category of a legal entity. The approach to understanding the concept of beneficial ownership in a trust differs in common law countries and Ukraine. In Ukraine, this definition covers the right of a natural person who, regardless of formal ownership, has the opportunity to exercise decisive influence over the management or economic activity of a legal entity directly or through other persons. Keywords: fiduciary relationship, trust, trust-like (paratrust) constructions, property management, Trust Convention, beneficial ownership, trustee, ultimate beneficial owner, beneficiary, controlled foreign company (CIC), revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts.