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A Modern Idea: The Fund That Acts Like a Trust
For decades, wealthy families and business owners in Europe have turned to Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, or Switzerland to create complex trusts or foundations for succession and asset protection.
Estonia, in contrast, has never had a formal “trust law.”
But that’s exactly where the opportunity lies.
Because when you strip away the old legal jargon, a trust is ultimately about three things:
👉 Protecting assets
👉 Defining who benefits
👉 Allowing controlled transition of decision-making
And it turns out that Estonia’s usaldusfond structure — when applied creatively — can do all three, legally, flexibly, and transparently.
A Modern Idea: The Fund That Acts Like a Trust
Until recently, there was no straightforward way to replicate a trust in Estonia — because the concept didn’t exist in our legal system.
But by rethinking the usaldusfond through the lens of modern fund management, we realized it can achieve exactly what families and founders seek in a trust — control, continuity, and confidentiality — within a regulated EU framework.
At Poolside, we’ve been pioneering this approach:
using the usaldusfond as a modern, trust-like vehicle for wealth and legacy management.
It’s simple, compliant, and elegantly structured.
How It Works
Under Estonia’s Alternative Investment Fund framework, an ‘usaldusfond’ can operate as a functional trust.
It’s a fully legal, EU-regulated vehicle that allows a founder to transfer assets, define beneficiaries, and retain strategic control.
In Poolside’s model:
- The business owner becomes the Fund Adviser — continuing to make the key business and investment decisions.
- The investors represent the family or other beneficiaries — those entitled to proceeds or distributions.
- The GP (Fund’s General Partner) acts as the trustee, bound by the Limited Partnership Agreement (LPA) and Fund Management Agreement (FMA).
This creates a contractual ecosystem that mirrors the economic and governance logic of a trust — but without the rigid, multi-jurisdictional complexity of traditional trust setups.
Why It Matters
Many entrepreneurs have reached a point where succession is no longer theoretical — but they’re not ready to step aside entirely.
An usaldusfond allows a gradual transfer of control and ownership, where rights, profits, and decision-making can shift over time.
Key advantages:
✅ Fully customizable governance — voting, distributions, and conditions set by agreement
✅ Different investor rights and classes, enabling complex family or partner arrangements
✅ Discreet ownership — investor registry is maintained by the Fund Management Company, not public
✅ Replaceable roles — GP, adviser, or adviser’s company can be replaced seamlessly
✅ Any asset class — shares, real estate, private equity, digital assets, vessels, even art
✅ Tax transparency — no double taxation, no withholding tax
✅ Global investor compatibility — investors can be from anywhere
And crucially, you don’t have to worry about compliance, reporting, or legal updates — Poolside takes care of all that.
Why It’s Better Than a Regular Company
Many family offices still rely on a regular OÜ (limited liability company) or holding structure.
But an OÜ binds ownership and control together.
A fund separates:
- who owns
- who controls
- who benefits
That’s what a trust is meant to do — but in Estonia, you can now achieve it under an EU-regulated fund model, fully digital and paperless, without waiting for a trust law that may never come.
At Poolside, we design and manage such funds every day — for clients from Germany, Sweden, Japan, Italy, Brazil, Ukraine, and Estonia.
We believe the usaldusfond isn’t just another legal form — it’s the next-generation wealth vehicle for entrepreneurs who want to protect what they’ve built while staying in control of it.