NFA Trusts...
-
NFA Trust: Where to get one? How much are they? What is the general concept of how they are setup? I am familiar with Land Trusts, but those are different than most other trusts. I would like to set up my trust to purchase suppressors and add some of my guns. Any advise or point in the right direction is appreciated.
-
Set mine up with NFALawyers.com, I think it ran me $100.
-
There are many places writing nfa trusts now for about $100. Just make sure that it is someone familiar with nfa trusts...not just regular trusts. Also, you should know the difference between revocable and irrevocable. They are two different animals with two different purposes.
-
@dddoo7 I understand the difference between revocable and irrevocable...I would assume that NFA trusts, since trustees and beneficiaries can be added and removed, meaning that the trust can be amended, would need to be a revocable trust? Is that correct?
-
I am not a lawyer...or even close to it...but here is how I understand it. You should verify this info though.
My trust is revocable. This means that it can be changed by the grantor or any one of the trustees. If you absolutely trust your trustees then this is the way to go...however keep in mind that any one of the trustees can liquidate assets or amend the trust.
There are also irrevocable trusts. The way I understand these to work is that grantor, trustees, beneficiary, and assets are added at the beginning of the trust and amendments are not allowed for. This would protect the assets as they could not be liquidated by a trustee at a later time...however if I understand this correctly one also could not add assets to the trust after it was created.
My thinking is...if I cannot trust someone...then I am not going to list them as a trustee and for sure not going to hand them a gun. If I can trust them enough to hand them a gun...then a revocable trust is all I need and is more flexible in the future.
I am working on filing a form 4 right now...and the paperwork for a trust is crazy now. It is probably 4x's as much paperwork as before. Every trustee has to be fingerprinted, submit passport photo, fill out an "i am not a criminal/i am a citizen" questionnaire, and all of that along with the form four has to be sent to the CLEO and duplicate copies to the ATF. All of that paperwork along with the trust is going to be a pretty fat flat rate envelope.
-
So in a NFA trust, who are the ones allowed to use the trust assets (guns, suppressors, etc.), the trustees, or the beneficiaries? Is it possible to specify power of direction in an NFA trust? For example, in a land trust, say I have a child with down syndrome, so I want him as the benficiary and beneficiaries have the power of direction in a land trust by default. But obviously in this case, the child is not capable of directing the trustee as to what to do with the trust property, so I set myself up at trust inception as the trust director, so I can direct the trustee, but the benefit of the trust property goes to the beneficiary.
So can I setup myself as the NFA trust director whereby the trustee will not have any power to do anything unless directed in writing by me, the director. I am thinking of me as grantor/director, my wife as trustee, and my wife and kids as beneficiaries. Can this be done? Do I have a right ideas of a NFA trust?
-
You are above my pay grade. lol.
My beneficiary is my son. At this point he is only 5 years old...so I don't even know if he will be a responsible party when he turns 18 or not. The extent of my knowledge on trusts is listed above and most of that I am only about 90% sure on. Maybe someone else has more experience with trusts than I do.
-
@dddoo7 LOL! No worries, I think I'll reach out to the attorney linked above and will pick his brain. I'll report back what I find. Thanx for all the inputs.
-
@ramirojpc In my case when I had my trust made up by NFALawyers.com I had added a beneficiary and a trustee because that is what they deemed necessary to create the trust. However with 41F coming into effect it would have been a struggle to get the required paperwork to submit my Form 4. As a result I had the trust amended to state that I, the Settlor where to be the sole responsible person listed on the trust removing the beneficiary and trustee as sole persons on the trust and as a result not requiring the 41F paperwork. So I believe that you should be able to make yourself the director where as only you can edit the trust and be the sole responsible person. However definitely reach out to your lawyer on this one, better to be safe than sorry, and report back seeing as I cant say for certain if it'll work as the NFA still has my stamp.
-
One option we have seen work well at the shop I work at is the Silencerco "Easy Trust." $139 is affordable, and I figure since Silencerco is a large driving force behind the Hearing Protection Act, they have some spiffy suit lawyers that helped make sure it is valid. But...Silencerco is going hipster, so who knows what their lawyers wear.
When I had my trust created, I went through guntrustlawyers.com, and paid a lot more. Silencerco's option didn't exist at the time.
