Is there anyone on this forum who is familiar with creating trusts that can help me create one that is specifically suited to the needs of land investors?
For purposes of smoothly transitioning all my properties to my children and grandchildren someday, I find the argument that I should put all my properties into a trust very persuasive. I have been watching YouTube videos on this, and particularly those filmed by California attorney Edmund Yan, who specializes in teaching people how to create their own trust. I talked to a law firm that said the work to create a trust started at $3000. Definitely I am going to do it myself if I possibly can.
I find that as a land investor there are things I need to know that perhaps others do not. First, I guess the matter of creating the trust per se is standard, but there may be special considerations I should be aware of. Then there is the matter of transferring several dozen properties into it. Is there a way to expedite this one-time project? I realize a deed needs to be created for each one, and that raises a question. The videos I have been watching say to use a warranty deed form or a quitclaim deed form. However, that does not cover all the permutations. Some of the deeds I have received from the states are special warranty deeds. One county in Pennsylvania issues what it calls “repository deeds.” In transferring the deeds to my trust, shouldn’t I keep the original designation? And if the answer is yes, do I take a template for say, a quit claim deed and substitute the words “special warranty deed” or “repository deed”?
Then there is the matter of making changes to the trust. Most of the videos I watch assume this will rarely happen. They tell you to create the trust with a lawyer and on the rare occasions you want to make a change, just let him know what this is. This advice is of no use to a land investor who is buying and selling properties all the time. I need to know how to access the text of my trust (where is the trust filed, by the way?) so as to frequently change the inventory of properties. As circumstances in life change, I may also want to change the successor trustee and the names of the beneficiaries and the particulars of what each will receive. In other words, any trust I create will be a living structure that I need to be able to change as my circumstances change. There must be a better way than adding page after page of amendments, or alternately creating a new trust each time I want to make a change.
Then there are details, such as in addition to putting my personal bank accounts into the trust if I choose, do I create a bank account in the name of the trust and conduct all of the trust’s finances out of that account?
Please do not reply that I should go to a lawyer. I will just have to reply that I really want to explore doing it this way.
I look forward very much to the insights you can give me.