Posted by John Merchant on June 29, 2006 at 20:18:33:
I’m always put on guard when I hear a layman hotly promoting trusts to hold RE, because there are some pretty “shysterish” organizations always pushing the heck out of trusts…not really just in principle, but trying to hustle business where they’d get a fee, cut or commission.
I do some Legal Moderating on another site and we’ve got some clowns there who keep on hustling trusts despite being warned and frequently deleted…and they’re doing it for referral fees if the onlooker falls for their “expert” advice and hires one of their alleged experts for trust work.
Mike,
There is a process in setting up land trusts.
Here is the basic order.
The seller or person on the deed OR title vests his/her title to their designated trustee.
The settlor or grantor beneficiary (YOU) then can assign beneficial interest to another person YOUR LLC or other corporte entitiy another trust and so on.
I would not do this yourself have an attorney or real estate professional review it who understands these type of trusts since if done wrong you will not gain the benefits realized in doing it correctly…
As to the benefits well first off you are abiding by the Garn St Germain act of 1982 thus avoiding a due on sale issue with your lender. You are also asset protectng your property and the LLC will protect your members in any real estate investments you are involved in…Your name comes off the public record so no body willknow you own or in the case of a trust control real estate…
I work with trusts and can help you if you like feel free to contact me at 702-400-7632.
Posted by John Merchant on June 17, 2006 at 16:50:00:
“I would not do this yourself have an attorney or real estate professional review it who understands these type of trusts”
First, I’ve known lots of very smart & highly experienced RE Agents and Brokers, but I don’t recall but maybe 1-3% who had any knowledge of Trust law.
Secondly, only a lawyer could legally draft a Trust doc for a client or even advise client on the relevant law or what form to use…far too risky for REA to attempt, and he would be or should be very scared that the client, relying on his advice, then would get himself in trouble and blame the REA or his brokerage.
Only docs a REA can legally draft are basic RE P&S Agreements, and Agreements to lease, option, etc…and basically he’s only got the right to complete those docs that have been lawyer drafted, such as MLS docs.
Those preliminary docs that a REA is authorized to prepare should then go to escrow to finalize, and escrow is in fact & law only permitted to complete lawyer OK’d RE docs.
Sometime ask your escrow to draft an original doc and you’ll get a mighty fast rebuff and refusal.
"I work with trusts and can help you if you like feel free to contact me at 702-400-7632.
So you’re a lawyer who’s legally authorized to draft and advise on trusts?
Posted by colvegas07 on June 22, 2006 at 18:40:09:
John,
No sir Iam not but the affiliated company I work with has a specialized team of land trust attorneys who work on that legal area,I just assist as an investor in the creative structuring side of things. I obviously do not do any type of legal review.
John I have a great deal of respect for your legal knowledge and this board and you are absolutley correct that any land trust needs to reviewed by attorneys well versed in land trust legislation in all 50 states…
A good example is if you do a trust in Florida there needs to be a clause that addresses RICO statues for that state so they are state specific so they are legal from the state’s point of view.
I have seen too many situations where investors or as you stated brokers/realtors try to do it themselves and wonder why they are in a contentious litigation that is a WHOA!!!
The basic mistake investors make in setting up trust w/o legal advice is regarding the issue of merger where the entity or corp is the trustee and the beneficiary so basically you have a dry or abusive type trust that can be pierced if a charging order comes your way… just a thought!!
John thanks for your view and follow-up on this.
Thanks and good luck to you mike on your transaction.
Um, affiliated as in referring business to a law firm for money? Not that you are necessarily doing anything illegal here yourself, but it is unethical for a lawyer to use “affiliates” to get them business and pay them for it. Lawyers have been disbarred for year doing this. They are called “chasers”, as in “ambulance chasers” (people who give out the lawyer’s card to victims in the emergency room in exchange for a fee if the lawyer gets the client). Sounds like that’s what you are doing here??
I agree with you only to the point that people in general should hire lawyers when they have any doubt as to how to fill out papers or the proper paperwork for a deal. But in the case of a land trust, it’s about as simple as it gets.
This RICO thing you mentioned, I have no idea what you are referring to, but I am very familiar with Florida Land Trust law and there’s nothing even VAGUELY on point there, and there’s no such thing as “piercing” or “charging orders” when it comes to trusts. That’s LLCs. In short, it sounds like you have just a little information and you’re trying to sell some legal services.
Posted by John Merchant on June 22, 2006 at 20:59:35:
CV, a very well done response but still, ol’ buddy, your post is a forum violation because it’s an ad for your trust co.'s services. All ads are supposed to be paid for and agreed to, or left out.
Although I might fancy myself a genius in a number of different legal arenas (yeah, right!), I don’t have the right to a free ad here anymore than the next guy.
Please don’t post any more.
Hey, I’ll bet Jeanne or Terry wouldn’t toss it if you wanted to pay for an ad here
To get down to specifics on trust law, you’re right that it IS a subject that needs to be addressed by lawyers practicing in that field, and is not something on which laymen have any real business advising on.
