A private fund in Slovakia, too?

Slovakia will have its own private (“endowment”) fund.

Parliament today approved the new Civil Code—the first major recodification of private law since 1964. Along with it, a relatively significant amendment proposed by the KDH was also passed, introducing the concept of a private fund into Slovak law—something we, as experts in the field, have been advocating for since 2022.

✅ Why is this important?

Families and Slovak businesspeople who wanted to pass on their assets to the next generation in an orderly manner have until now often been “forced” to turn to foreign solutions—primarily Czech endowment or trust funds, or Liechtenstein private foundations.

A domestic instrument can facilitate the smooth transfer of assets or a family business without fragmenting it, with the entire structure potentially being established in Slovakia.

However, there are still several “buts.” The Civil Code merely defines a private fund. It will only be possible to establish one after the adoption of a special law that regulates its governing bodies, registry, supervision, and the protection of creditors and heirs. In addition to the fact that the law is still awaiting the president’s signature and is proposed to take effect on July 1, 2027, whether a private fund will gain a foothold in practice and how competitive it will be—for example, compared to commonly used Czech solutions— will be determined not only by the specific details of the statutory provisions and the associated tax regime, but also by whether this new framework can withstand the (not always rational) pressure from non-governmental organizations in the long term.