Trusts and Choice of Law Rules in Taiwan

Taiwan has recognised trusts in its general law for 25 years now. However, it does not contain specific choice of law rules applicable to trusts. This is a regrettable state of affairs in our increasingly globalised world, where incidences of cross-border trust disputes will only be on the rise. This paper argues that the lack of a dedicated set of choice of law rules relating to trusts causes much confusion and uncertainty, not only as to how Taiwanese courts would characterise a trust dispute and the inconsistent connecting factors that would apply, but also in relation to the scope of the applicable choice of law rules (whichever they may be) and the special difficulties raised by a breach of trust claim. All these difficulties derogate from a proper recognition of the trust as a distinctive legal device and fail properly to protect the autonomy and legitimate expectations of the parties. These problems can, however, be easily surmounted by adopting the Hague Trusts Convention.