Land Trust

How does one go about setting up a land trust?

It depends on the state. The Illinois Land Trust, the one found in real estate circles, doesn’t work in every state. It also depends on the property and how you plan to use it. They are good for estate planning wrt investment property, but have zero asset protection benefits since they are normally grantor trusts. You can use some kind of trustee to limit liability, but then you have to actually pay the trustee to manage the property and face possible adverse tax consequences. If you plan to manage the property yourself, then you have just blown the whole point of using the trustee. Under no circumstances do you put a personal residence into a land trust unless you are willing to give up your homestead.

That was the long answer. The short answer is find a local attorney who actually practices in this area and have him review your situation. You can use the first one as a template to set up any more you need as long the trusts won’t be too different. Don’t forget to run everything past your tax expert to make sure you aren’t paying extra taxes.