CIVIL LAW STATUS OF BENEFICIARIES OF A PRIVATE BENEFIT FOUNDATION

This paper examines the civil law status of the beneficiaries of a foundation (Stiftung) subject to private benefit purposes. It concerns the reasons and impact of conservative and instrumental approaches to the permissible purposes of the foundation, the classification criterion of private benefit foundations (privatnützige Stiftungen) and public benefit foundations (gemeinnützige Stiftungen), the limits to which the Germanic countries tolerate with establishment of the private benefit foundations and then defines the civil law status of the beneficiaries from the perspective of their claims to the foundation and participation in the foundation management, control and protection. As a result of the research the ways to mitigate the risks, that private foundations can create for the participants in civil law relations, are proposed in the light of the legal nature of the foundation.