신탁을 통한 재산승계와 유류분반환청구권

Abstract

우리 사회에서 신탁에 의한 재산승계가 상속의 특별한 수단으로 주목받기 시작하고 있다. 미성년자 또는 제한능력자가 상속인인 경우에 금융기관을 수탁자로 신탁을 설정하여 금융기관이 상속인을 위해 상속재산을 합리적으로 관리‧처분하도록 하는가 하면 북한에 있는 자녀에게 재산을 상속시키고자 하는 경우에도 금융기관에 장기간 상속재산을 신탁하여 통일 후 재북 자녀가 신탁재산을 상속받을 수 있도록 재산승계를 설계하고 있다.그러나 신탁을 통한 재산승계는 우리 상속법의 한계 내에서 이루어져야 하기 때문에 신탁과 유류분제도에 관한 해석론이 정립되어야만 신탁을 이용한 재산승계가 법적 분쟁의 소지 없이 원활하게 이루어질 수 있다. 이런 점에서 유언신탁과 유언대용신탁이 유류분을 침해하는 경우에 구체적으로 그 유류분을 어떻게 산정할 것인지, 수탁자 또는 수익자 중 누구를 상대로 무엇을 반환 청구할 것인지에 관하여 해석론의 정립과 구체적인 입법이 반드시 필요하다고 생각한다. 이런 관점에서 본 논문은 신탁과 유류분의 관계에 관한 학계의 논의를 이론적으로 재검토하고 정책적인 측면에서 어떤 해석론을 취하는 것이 바람직한지 살펴보았다. The main characteristics of Korean inheritance law share a lot in common with the inheritance law of civil law countries. Accordingly, statutory succession has been playing as the default rule in Korea. With the rapid growth of Korean economy, however, people searched for a better way, instead of the statutory succession or testamentary gifts, to distribute their assets at their death reflecting their intentions. The social demand for a new regime of inheritance has instigated discussions in academic circles for new mechanisms which can better reflect the decedent’s intentions. Along with such social background, succession by trusts in common law countries has gathered much attention because of its flexibility in structuring estate planning. As a result, the Trust Act of Korea was substantially amended, effective as of July 26, 2012, to recognize trusts as will substitutes and trusts with successive beneficiaries.Succession by trusts makes estate planning over multi-generations possible and creates a flexible succession structure: the trustor can determine (i) how much and when the beneficiaries receive from the trust as well as (ii) when and how the trust assets shall be disposed of. However, succession by trusts can be done only within certain limitations under the Korean inheritance law. The most important limitation is the potential claim of the spouse, the children or even other relatives: it is called ‘forced share.’ The relation between succession by trusts and the forced share is an important legal issue to resolve, but there has not been yet established interpretation on how to calculate the infringed forced share and who (i.e., a trustee or a beneficiary) such claim should be filed against when succession by trusts infringes upon the forced share.In this regard, this paper examines the relation between succession by trusts and the forced share under the Korean law. In so doing, this paper examines how the elective share of the surviving spouse works in relation with revocable trusts under the U.S. law and attempts to gain insights on the above-mentioned issue under the Korea law.