Forming a Trust for NFA items

[ThunderSquirrel]

I tried giving him a call a few weeks back, never heard anything.
I also used the 'contact us' email option on the website and never heard back.

[mrfish83]

I got a hold of Cave Law (without difficulty), nice guy but his price was a bit high for me. I ended up going with Douglas Turner, local to Co as well (http://www.douglasturner.com/2008/09...irearms-trust/). I feel Mr. Turner puts an excellent trust together for a fair price (still expensive, but fair).

[Graves]

I thought about going the quicken diy route but after some research it seems like a bad idea.

[DeusExMachina]

People say that but never explain why. I know lots of people that went that route. Can you tell me why not?

[Irving]

Because the Quicken trust won't have any NFA specific wording in it. Also, the ATF will approve Quicken trusts, without them necessarily being correct. So if there was ever an issue that caused you to be an object of scrutiny, they could go over your trust, see it's not right, and you lose everything, even though they approved it.

I do have another comment though. I'm under the impression that a Revocable Living Trust, is changeable, so I wonder if one could initially use the Quicken route on your first piece or two, then later, pony up the money to have a lawyer redo the trust for you.

[Graves]

I do have another comment though. I'm under the impression that a Revocable Living Trust, is changeable, so I wonder if one could initially use the Quicken route on your first piece or two, then later, pony up the money to have a lawyer redo the trust for you.

You can surly do that but you still risk messing up your initial setup which would put you in illegal possession of an NFA restricted item - no bueno. If you plan on going to a lawyer anyway, why not do it from the start?

ETA - anybody have word on what the wait times are looking like right now?

[DeusExMachina]

Because the Quicken trust won't have any NFA specific wording in it. Also, the ATF will approve Quicken trusts, without them necessarily being correct. So if there was ever an issue that caused you to be an object of scrutiny, they could go over your trust, see it's not right, and you lose everything, even though they approved it.

I do have another comment though. I'm under the impression that a Revocable Living Trust, is changeable, so I wonder if one could initially use the Quicken route on your first piece or two, then later, pony up the money to have a lawyer redo the trust for you.

Why does it have to? It is an entity, it does not exist for the sole purpose of NFA transactions.

[Irving]

That's a good question, but when dealing with the ATF, one can never know.

Graves, I don't understand how editing your trust later would make it less likely to be legal. However, I don't know anything about trusts.

[DeusExMachina]

All I'm saying is the Quicken Willmaker is used to make legal documents that have (assumedly) been made to make thousands of legal trusts for other purposes.

NFA items can be transferred to people, businesses, and trusts.

If Quicken Willmaker is a valid trust-forming authority, then there should not be an issue with transferring NFA items to that trust. That is my logic.

I'm still up in the air, though. Last time I was at Machineguntours, the guy there (who I forget his name) said Alan (the owner) knew a gun enthusiast lawyer who will form trusts for $250. I keep forgetting to call when Alan is there and get the number. For that it might be worth the peace of mind.

[Graves]

I'm not saying you cant successfully create a solid trust with Quicken, I'm just saying its in your best interest you know exactly what you're doing - I don't so I'll fork over a little coin to somebody who does.

That's a good question, but when dealing with the ATF, one can never know.

Graves, I don't understand how editing your trust later would make it less likely to be legal. However, I don't know anything about trusts.

Well I imagine when one goes off of what he/she heard or seen on the interweb to form an NFA trust, the odds of f$&#ing it up would be greater than having it made up by a lawyer who specializes in nfa trusts. I could see how $600 to cya on a $400 item sounds crazy but if your trust isn't bulletproof, you face a hell of a lot more than losing the $400 you put into your SBS.

ETA - Some good info in this thread: http://www.texasguntalk.com/forums/c...html#post14136