NFA TRUST

[Dogfish]

I used an NFA attorney, Dennis Brislawn, to create an NFA specific trust. I can add or delete trustees and beneficiaries at will. Assign someone as a temporary trustee for a specific amount of time. The trust also fits in with my regular trust. Cost was $500 for the bells and whistles. A stock trust is about $100-200.

All my immediate familiy members are covered, as they are trustees, in addition to a few folks who would bring a shovel if I ever called them late at night.

[Tophatman]

FWIW and as always the opinion of some faceless person on the internet is worth exactly what it cost you but -

I researched trusts for a couple of months, talked to the guys at Silencer Shop, talked to a couple of local SOT's and scoured arf, thr, here and there for opinions.

The quicken trust wasn't NFA specific and the nfa trust lawyers were spouting ill at it on forums, "Oh it doesn't include this and ours do" with the implication but not outright statement that somehow made the quicken trust invalid (it doesn't).

I didnt want to use someone else's trusts I found online since they didn't have all the bells and whistles the doom and gloomers said you should have or the heavens would open up and ATF agents would pour down on you from above.

In the end I used this http://www.doityourselfdocuments.com/Es ... Trust.aspx for my trust. It's worked for 4 cans so far for me personally (not that that says much the feds don't validate your trust) and many accounts of others.

Includes everything you need, all the main documents, supplemental documents, letter to your bank on how to open an account for the trust, it's a NFA specific trust with all the NFA/Firearm legalese you could ask for. Includes all the standard defintions, down to and including how long you have to be out of touch (vanished without communication) to be considered no longer a participant in the trust. If your state has any specific trust oddities you'll get one that includes those.

For a few more bucks you can have a legal aide fill it out but it's stupidly easy, just search and replace the demo trust name with your own trust, put your trustor, trustee, successor trustee's and beneficiaries names in the right places and get it notarized.

You can read most of the trust on the link above under the demo/sample section or just risk the few bucks and get a copy for your state and if after looking at all the documents you're not comfortable with it then you lost $20 and can now go spend the $250-$500 on lawyer who'll give you the same thing.

Remember the feds don't care about your trust, only that you seem to have one, they don't vet your trust, they're not lawyers and they have no idea if your trust is valid in your state or not, they care about their forms you fill out and that's where they bust you, because you typo'd a serial number or forgot to use the word The on your form if you used the word The in the name of your trust.

While the adage you get what you pay for is always valid that doesn't mean you have to pay excessively to get a working tool.

In the end its your money and your sense of comfort. I was comfortable with this and bought a Spectre II with the savings as my first can.

[plant.one]

the BATFE may not vet the trust, but if you try to open a bank account with one you can bet the legal department of said bank is going to want to revue it.

EVERY bank i talked to, their respective corporate legal departments requested the trust for review before they would approve the account - even the ones i found that were NFA trust friendly. i'd say about half of them out and out just had a 'no gun trust' policy in place as a corporate policy. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the operation choke point stuff.


most of the account managers i spoke with in the branches were totally cool about it, in fact the guy over at chase was a recreational shooter and hunter himself.

[Sharkbite]

I used an NFA attorney, Dennis Brislawn, to create an NFA specific trust. I can add or delete trustees and beneficiaries at will. Assign someone as a temporary trustee for a specific amount of time. The trust also fits in with my regular trust. Cost was $500 for the bells and whistles. A stock trust is about $100-200.

All my immediate familiy members are covered, as they are trustees, in addition to a few folks who would bring a shovel if I ever called them late at night.

Dont forget the Lye and toilet bowl cleaner

[DynoGuy]

I just went with "199Trust", set it up with my son & wife as trustees. The setup was easy, paper work was emailed back the next day seems to be really geared to firearms not just some converted std living trust. Now just have to get everyone to the notary.

[Dogfish]

the BATFE may not vet the trust, but if you try to open a bank account with one you can bet the legal department of said bank is going to want to revue it.

EVERY bank i talked to, their respective corporate legal departments requested the trust for review before they would approve the account - even the ones i found that were NFA trust friendly. i'd say about half of them out and out just had a 'no gun trust' policy in place as a corporate policy. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the operation choke point stuff.


most of the account managers i spoke with in the branches were totally cool about it, in fact the guy over at chase was a recreational shooter and hunter himself.

Go to a community bank, as you'll usually deal with less hassles. We bank three firearms manufacturers and gun shops in our immediate vicinity.

I've been a banker for 23 years, in both large national banks and small community banks. I've never had to send a trust document for "legal review", ever, for opening a simple bank account.

A copy of the document will be required to be retained by the bank because we review the document just as we would any other entity, like and LLC or Corporation. The reason the banks require a copy of the trust is because you are requesting the ability to transact financial business in a name that is not your own. It is up to you to prove that you have the permission of the entity to do business on its behalf. Regulators (FDIC and OCC) audit all aspects of bank operations on an ongoing basis, including new accounts. If there is no documentation, the bank can suffer monetary and criminal penalties.

As long as the entity document has a section in the bylaws/articles of formation/articles of incorpration, or meeting minutes, describing specifically who may open and manage accounts for the entity, the account is opened. As long as the bank follows the "know your customer" provisions of new account opening, and follows clear instructions within the trust documents, they have no liability when opening a checking or savings account.

Corporations and LLC's can also own NFA items.

If we are managing assets for the trust, that would be an entirely different issue, and legal review would become part of the fee schedule for the relationship.

[SER]

Just got my NFA trust done by 199trust.com. It took me maybe ten minutes (faster if I would learn to type) and they are running a special. $99 and I received it in less than 24 hours. Now to get all the trustees in one place at one time.

[POWDER4SALE]

We have a former ATF agent in Orlando that's now a lawyer & does it lightening & rock solid $150.00

[Nathan-UK]

Excuse the daft question from the UK, but what is the purpose of having an NFA trust?

[BadKarmaZeroSix]

Excuse the daft question from the UK, but what is the purpose of having an NFA trust?

Because of US laws (the NFA in this case), there are 2 routes to ownership of suppressors and other items regulated by said act (such as short-barrelled rifles and shotguns...you guys in UK i believe dont have to worry about such things, because if i remember right, once you are licensed for a firearm, you can modify it however you choose other than making it fully automatic...)
the 2 choices are:
1) purchase in your own name (which requires your local chief law enforcement officer to sign, for you to submit fingerprint cards, and also for you to submit passport-like photos...
-OR-
2) form a trust to place the items in, which doesn't require any of the above.

An added bonus for some recent purchasers has been our Eforms site, which shortened the wait time on approvals, but can only be used for trusts, since they won't accept fingerprint cards, signatures, and photos online...