Cesiumsponge
Member
If you go through the legal hassle of setting up a trust, you can also use it to plan your assets in the event of your passing or incapacitation. The most important feature in my mind is having the trust handle PROPER distribution of your assets so they comply with NFA laws. You don't want to turn your remainder beneficiaries into criminals unintentionally. NFA assets cannot be distributed like normal estate property upon your death without turning people into accidental felons.
I did mine through one of two local estate attorneys who worked directly with the NFA branch of the ATF to ensure compliance in developing the GundocX system which they're nationally licensing out to other attorneys nationally to set up NFA trusts. Like medalguy says, the thoroughness and legal specifics to your particular state and personal requirements are such that no freebie Internet program can match. My trust assets will bypass probate when I pass, hence avoid public record. Considering the price attorneys charge for their time, investing an hour or two worth of attorney's fees for a trust is the ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure. All my trust documents fill up a 1" legal binder.
You aren't letting others borrow it. Those that use your equipment are considered lifetime beneficiaries (which you can designate and remove) or co-trustees (normally family members). Beneficiaries benefit from the property owned by the trust. Lifetime beneficiaries benefit when the grantor is alive. Remainder beneficiaries benefit only when the grantor is deceased (or incapacitated, if the trust is written as such). Trustees and co-trustees have legal title over trust properties.
Of course, nothing above is legal advice. I'd contact a lawyer. When I did my own freebie trust and decided to get a more complete trust that had been built by a lawyer for my specific situation, the lawyer informed me that my initial trust was invalid because it was lacking several key elements. Of course, not being a lawyer, I didn't know better and thought I did good. Just imagine the up-front cost of setting up a trust vs having the ATF knock on your door and point out your trust was invalid, and the associated legal fees needed to square away -that- problem.
I did mine through one of two local estate attorneys who worked directly with the NFA branch of the ATF to ensure compliance in developing the GundocX system which they're nationally licensing out to other attorneys nationally to set up NFA trusts. Like medalguy says, the thoroughness and legal specifics to your particular state and personal requirements are such that no freebie Internet program can match. My trust assets will bypass probate when I pass, hence avoid public record. Considering the price attorneys charge for their time, investing an hour or two worth of attorney's fees for a trust is the ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure. All my trust documents fill up a 1" legal binder.
You aren't letting others borrow it. Those that use your equipment are considered lifetime beneficiaries (which you can designate and remove) or co-trustees (normally family members). Beneficiaries benefit from the property owned by the trust. Lifetime beneficiaries benefit when the grantor is alive. Remainder beneficiaries benefit only when the grantor is deceased (or incapacitated, if the trust is written as such). Trustees and co-trustees have legal title over trust properties.
Of course, nothing above is legal advice. I'd contact a lawyer. When I did my own freebie trust and decided to get a more complete trust that had been built by a lawyer for my specific situation, the lawyer informed me that my initial trust was invalid because it was lacking several key elements. Of course, not being a lawyer, I didn't know better and thought I did good. Just imagine the up-front cost of setting up a trust vs having the ATF knock on your door and point out your trust was invalid, and the associated legal fees needed to square away -that- problem.
