Testamentary trust as the basis for cross-border succession

The purpose of this study is to review the institution of trust as an alternative form of testamentary trust as well as the Continental Europe’s attempts to describe the trust-regulated legal relations in order to develop a common approach to its classification. The Hague Conference on Private International Law addressed this problem; as a result, the Hague Convention of 1 July 1985 on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition was developed. In practice, there are situations when the will of the testator in relation to estate is expressed in a testament or testamentary trust that creates a particular succession process. The main objective of trust, including testamentary one, is management and transfer of trustor assets to beneficiary (heirs) that corresponds to the primary purpose of succession in the states adhering to the common law system. Besides, the paper discusses the regulation of succession cases involving a foreign element by means of trust in the context of conflict of laws and substantive law.