Hi I am a new member and have read back through the posts but cannot quite see the answer I am looking for. How can I hide my personal prime property from all those awful public record search engines and marketers that plague modern life. I am very worried about being sued or robbed or similar. Here are the specifics:
My main house is in Atlanta GA, very small mortgage, can I just transfer the title into a trust with me as the benificiary and is this enough to get my name out of the publice records. If this happend will I loose my homestead exemption. I am planning to still actually live in the house. Thanks for any help.
Whiterabbit, (I saw many of you during the '60’s).
You can place your property into a land trust and title will be held by your trustee. A Homestead Right is a homeowner’s personal right to quiet enjoyment and freedom of claims from one’s credit against his home, within certain limitations (100% in Florida, $50,000 in California). In other states a Homestead affords homeowners a sizeable tax break…20% off normal taxes in Texas and a flat $25,000 in Florida. In certain states (Florida, specifically), placement of a property into certain trusts could nullify one’s homestead benefits. However, recent legislation there specifically provides homestead exemption for beneficiaries of land trusts. In other areas, though, it may be prudent to include in the body of the conveyance document that, “the homestead claimant has the right to use and possess the property for his or her natural life.” In some areas, an owner must file a homestead declaration annually: in others, a single (one-time) filing is sufficient.
Good luck.
Da Wiz
Couldn’t you also put the property into the name of an LLC and then gift the LLC shares to a trust?
Thanks for this, so basically all I have to do is transfer the title with the correct wording and I am done. Should I get my lawyer to do this or can I do it myself? Is it also prudent to have utilities bill to the trust?
You must remember, the Trust does not own the property, your trustee does. I place the property in the trust, then take title in an LLC.
Da Wiz
Depending on your intention determines what name everything goes into. My theory is having NOTHING in your name and separating EVERY asset that you own just in case something happens to one asset it won’t effect the rest.
If you purchase each property in the name of your investment LLC then transfer each property into a separate trust with a different LLC being the beneficiary then several things happen.
- You are not the direct beneficiary which means if you are sued nothing can be attached because you don’t own it;
- Ownership stays private since your direct name is not on anything.
Personally everything my goal is to have everything I own in a real property trust or personal property trust including cell phones, bank account, car titles, etc.
Unfortunately, most attorneys and CPAs don’t understand as much about the levels of protection as they should since they don’t understand what you really want to accomplish. An example would be the CPAs concern about trusts and tax consequences so they might vote against what i just mentioned. However, if you have ANY wealth you are subject to being sued and therefore if everything you own is up for grabs by anyone for any reason then having better tax avenues but NO assets left after being sued is moot.
My experience tells me you need to be the one that is educated enough to tell the CPA, attorney, etc what you need to accomplish and have suggestions as to how to accomplish your goals. They can then deal with the technical part of getting it set up correctly.
These opinions come from learning the hard way I’m afraid.
Good Luck
OK now I am getting confused again. My number one aim here is to get my personal address details off the public records and search engines. I am talking about one house I will still live in. I do not want to have to set up LLCs and the like if its not necessary. Can I just transfer title to some kind of entity with me as the hidden benificiary.
If I have a trust and I am named as the trustee will my name be on the title and public record or just the trusts name? If I do go the single member LLC as owner of one property will I have to file taxes each year for the LLC etc? This sounds like a lot of aggravation just to regain some kind of personal privacy. I don’t see why you can’t just ask the local county to not publish your records etc.
Place your property in trust but NEVER name yourself the Trustee. Here’s why:
When creating a simple single beneficiary land trust for just the purpose of shielding ownership from public view, one can legally name just about any one or any entity he/she would choose to function as a trustee. However, when more than one beneficiary (i.e., a trust involving other parties with disparate interests and objectives) is involved, there are severe drawbacks to using any entity other than a third-party, non-profit, corporate trustee.
USING A FRIEND OR RELATIVE AS TRUSTEE
Risky and quite probable failure to honor privacy and anonymity, especially under threat of legal action.
An individual trustee’s failure to charge a fee would not support the land trust’s validity in court. The attempt to charge a fee would not be seen as adequate unless the party were a bonded entity.
An individual trustee’s death would embroil the property in his/her own bankruptcy, Probate and other personal legal actions.
An individual would most likely never be bondable as a trustee and would likely not have the resources to provide a completely separate, free and bonded collection and bill-paying service.
An individual would not be seen by the courts as a standard trustee, charging fees “commensurate with industry standards”: therefore severely impairing the integrity and structure of the land trust.
One’s own personal appointment would not be seen by a 2nd or 3rd co-beneficiary as a mutually trustworthy holding entity. Such likely bias obviously would not be in the best interests of any of the co-beneficiaries
ONE’S SELF AS TRUSTEE
Risky and quite probable failure to honor privacy and anonymity, especially under threat of legal action.
An individual trustee’s failure to charge a fee would not support the land trust’s validity in court. The attempt to charge a fee would not be seen as adequate unless the party were a bonded entity.
If a trustee is also a beneficiary, a merger of title is created (see Doctrine of Merger), invalidating the trust if challenged in court as being a bona fide land trust.
An individual would most likely never be bondable as a trustee and would likely not have the resources to provide a completely separate, free and bonded collection and bill-paying service.
An individual would not be seen by the courts as a standard trustee, charging fees “commensurate with industry standards”: therefore severely impairing the integrity and structure of the land trust.
One’s own personal appointment would not be seen by a 2nd or 3rd co-beneficiary as a mutually trustworthy holding entity. Such likely bias obviously would not be in the best interests of any of the co-beneficiaries.
USING ONE’S ATTORNEY AS TRUSTEE
Using one’s own attorney would perhaps not pose a problem as long as no other unrelated beneficiaries were involved who would have separate and independent interests and financial objectives within the arrangement.
An individual trustee’s failure to charge a fee would not support the land trust’s validity in court. The attempt to charge a fee would not be seen as adequate unless the party were a bonded entity.
An attorney or law firm would most likely not be bonded as a trustee for land trusts; though his/her malpractice insurance may suffice as protection against malfeasance and/or errors and omissions.
An attorney or law firm would likely not be recognized as a bona fide trust holding institution by any court that would be challenging the integrity and purpose of a a co-beneficiary land trust title transfer.
One’s own attorney would not create a mutually trusted, unbiased third-party “escrow” entity. A biased attorney (acting in primary favor of a client) could wreak havoc in a contest involving dissention between/among beneficiaries.
USING ONE’S OWN CORPORATION
Would create a merger of title, invalidating the trust, should it be challenged in court as not being a bona fide land trust (see N.C. A.G.O. vs Russell and Dianne Barberio 2005)
A privately or closely held corporation would not charge legitimate fees and therefore would not likely be seen by the courts as a bona fide holding company, whose business it is to hold titles in trusts and charge fees commensurate with industry standards.
One’s own corporation would not be seen by a co-beneficiary as a mutually trustworthy, and wholly unbiased third-party holding (“escrow”) entity. Such a bias would not be in the best interests of co-beneficiaries. As well, using one’s own business entity would create a merger of title invalidating the land trust model.
USING AN OUTSIDE CORPORATION AS TRUSTEE
In virtually all states, any corporation used as a holding company must be either: 1) one’s own corporation (see above), 2) a chartered depository trust institution (e.g., Bank and Trust, Title and Trust, etc.) or, 3) a non-profit, charitable corporation established solely for the purpose of holding titles to real estate in trust for the benefit of its members.
The Third Party Non-Profit Corporation
A professional non-profit entity specifically and solely engaged in the holding of titles in land trusts. Fully staffed by full-time knowledgeable professionals.
A reasonable trustee fee is charged, which is well in line with industry standards is charged, enabling the creation and funding of an un-paid 3rd-party collection & disbursement entity (a free bill paying service for the benefit of members).
Cannot die (re. Probate issues), and is well backed financially to allow for careful adherence to all laws. rules and regulations relative to reporting and maintenance of a consistently good standing with the state.
Fully bonded as a trustee for title holding, beneficiary directed, 3rd party trustee nominee title-holding land trusts.
Fully recognized as a bona fide holding institution by any court that would/might be challenging the integrity and structure of the land trust or holding to adherence to statute and or standards in states wherein land trusts per se are specifically legislated and authorized
Functions a fully unbiased and unassociated third-party title holder (“escrow-type)” holding entity.
The proper structure of your trust is crucial to it being inpenetrable.
Da Wiz
just some answers and points of interest:
- How can I hide my personal prime property from all those awful public record search engines and marketers that plague modern life?
Answer - you will need to transfer the property out of your name to an entity or instrument that you can control.
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TRUSTS CAN AND WILL BE ATTACKED BY LAWYERS AND JUDGES. even a trustee can be ordered by a court of law to disclose the beneficiaries of the trust. then you still get sued and have to pay BIG $$$ to defend the lawsuit.
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My number one aim here is to get my personal address details off the public records and search engines.
Answer to this concern - you will always have a place where you recieve your mail. If you change your mailing address to a local Box like the ones that the UPS store rents, then your personal address will be relocated to that address. but you will still need to remove your ownership interest from the title of the home you live in.
- Can I just transfer title to some kind of entity with me as the hidden benificiary?
Answer - yes. you would want to use the Nevada C-corp with nominee director/officers and do not issue stock. If you absolutely have to issue stock, then Nevada will allow you to issue that stock to “Bearer” thus providing privacy and remaining anonymous.
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an LLC does NOT provide any privacy. Generally, the members (owners) of the LLC must be disclosed in public record, therefore eliminating objective you seek…Removing you from public record.
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If you have considerable liquid assets (CASH) that you want protected, the only way to accomplish that is to move them Offshore and outside of the jurisdiction of the federal government.
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I don’t see why you can’t just ask the local county to not publish your records etc.
Answer - thanks to “W” and the “Shooter” we all have to bear the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strenghthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act)
- Laura W. murphy, Director of the ACLU’s Washington National Office was quoted saying, “This law is based on the faulty assumption that safety must come at the expense of civil liberties. The USA Patriot act gives law enforcement agencies nationwide extraordinary new powers unchecked by meaningful judicial review.”
the Act is a direct threat to our civil libertie sand what remains of our right to PRIVACY - Bill Reed.
Thanks for all the information. I am going to start the process straight away. Another thought I had was to change all untilities etc into my wifes maiden name?