Family entrepreneurship is considered to be the most widespread type of business, prevailing in quantitative terms in countries with developed market economies. The article analyzes family entrepreneurship, its role in the system of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship of the Russian Federation. Some approaches to the concept and essence of family entrepreneurship are analyzed. The legal nature of family business and peculiarities of family entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation are revealed. The general scientific principles of system approach and comparative analysis became the methodological basis of the research. The peculiarities of family entrepreneurship and the legal status of family enterprise are determined. Prospects of development of family entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation are defined and the conclusion about allocation of family entrepreneurship in an independent kind of entrepreneurial activity and about necessity of its special normative-legal regulation is made.