Setting up a gun trust

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11 years 10 months ago - 11 years 10 months ago #16376 by et1911rph
Setting up a gun trust was created by et1911rph
In a recent post FiveWhy mentioned setting up a gun trust. I've done a bit of Internet searching on the subject but would like any personal experiences and caveats that forum members have on the topic. I have a few items that I'd like to make sure stay in the family so your insights would be greatly appreciated. In particular, should it be done through an attorney that advertises this service?
Last edit: 11 years 10 months ago by et1911rph. Reason: Grammar

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11 years 10 months ago #16388 by OleCowboy
Replied by OleCowboy on topic Setting up a gun trust

et1911rph wrote: In a recent post FiveWhy mentioned setting up a gun trust. I've done a bit of Internet searching on the subject but would like any personal experiences and caveats that forum members have on the topic. I have a few items that I'd like to make sure stay in the family so your insights would be greatly appreciated. In particular, should it be done through an attorney that advertises this service?

At this moment in time I would table it.

When we have politicians yelling and screaming about gun confiscation, and talk that completely negates the 2nd, and submitting bills that all but completely outlaw all guns no matter the type or age then setting up a trust or anything that puts legal documents that can be viewed at the state and federal level is only asking for them to taken for evaluation and we know how that goes.

Many years ago there was a piece of property donated to the city or state, forgot which and it was to be a park and it stipulated it was for WHITES ONLY....the courts ruled you cannot do that and its a park but its for all people.

Thinking they cannot take your guns after your dead would be foolhardy, in fact after your dead is the best time. When the UK outlawed guns my mother in law gave up her husbands collection of FINE Shotguns. She did not know what he had or what it was worth, in fact no one in the family did and I was not in the family at that time. I have seen pics and he collected high end English shotguns (they live in England). They were given to the state for evaluation and have never been seen again, about $1/2 million was what a similar collection told me when I rattled off the models.

I have my Dad 1911 Colt 45 he was ISSUED in 1932 and its still in inventory, they would come get it in a heartbeat if they could...

I suggest you keep your guns below the govt radar...

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11 years 10 months ago #16443 by Libertarian623
Replied by Libertarian623 on topic Setting up a gun trust
Ole Cowboy is right on the money, perhaps find another way to ensure what happens when your gone.

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11 years 10 months ago #16450 by Redscout02
Replied by Redscout02 on topic Setting up a gun trust
A goood safe and let the kids know where it is is the best way. I don't what state you live in, I have though about a gun trust here in Texas but so I can get a surpressor leagle like is the only reason

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11 years 10 months ago #16460 by OleCowboy
Replied by OleCowboy on topic Setting up a gun trust
Let me also add: If you have some guns that either thru rarity or 'it was passed down from my granddad' then you owe it to yourself and the family to do a write up on each gun. There is no shortage of folks out there they have sold or will do so some gun that belonged to grandad and dad, but he always kept it in the closest and I am scared my kids will get hurt. And they sell a 1873 Winchester for $50 bucks or a 1911 Colt. If someone down the road had typed up some paperwork to go along with it al would be better off for it...

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11 years 10 months ago #16471 by et1911rph
Replied by et1911rph on topic Setting up a gun trust
Thanks for the comments. I do live in the heart of Texas and one of the reasons for the gun trust question not mentioned previously was related to obtaining a suppressor. At this time no collectible pieces but there are a couple that have been in the family and those have been designated in writing for nephews.

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11 years 10 months ago #16472 by OleCowboy
Replied by OleCowboy on topic Setting up a gun trust
Heart O Texas sounds like Bell Cty to me, lived there done that (Ft Hood) TWICE!

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11 years 10 months ago #16484 by 13fcolt
Replied by 13fcolt on topic Setting up a gun trust
A gun trust wont make the chances of confiscation any better or worse. In most states, trust laws are very lose and ambiguous and creating a trust is as simple as printing the thing and getting it notarized. There is normaly nothing to file and no one else gets a copy unless you give it to them, like in the case of sending a copy to the atf for a transfer to an NFA trust. That is all that was required when I made a trust for my kids in GA. Every state is of course different and that is the part where a lawyer comes in handy. Other states will want a county or state filing with the clerks office, which is typically a reading of the trust and stamping a seal on it for validation, again it is unusual for a copy to be kept. They will simply write in the book that the trust was validated on this day and charge a clerks fee yaddayadda.

One thing to consider is that the trust is the owner of whatever is in the trust and is a taxable entity. I have not YET heard of it happening, I say again YET, but if your firearms increase in value, like with a price hike on NFA stuff, that trust has generated taxable income that would have to be paid. Also of note, NFA or gun trusts are not new, but have been increasingly more popular and the laws may soon fall under more scrutiny.

Most of the time trust laws and inheritance do not work well together and specific language in both as to what goes where will be necessary. When my grandmother passed and my father, aunts, and uncle inherited a substantial revocable trusts it was a decade long legal battle to actually receive the trust. The trust was written in the 30's and the physical account was held at a bank that had changed hands many times ending up at Regions, who then took it upon themselves to interpret that securing the trust meant securing it from the named trustees and refused to give it up. So while they acknowledged that they had inherited the trust, and paid a quarterly amount from the trust earnings, when everyone showed up saying we are here to revoke the revocable trust and take our money elsewhere, the bank said no and the fight was on.

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