Gun trust???

Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
1,227
Likes
554
Location
North Shore
Feedback: 5 / 0 / 0
Been thinking of creating a gun trust for the ease of property conveyance upon my death. My wife does not have LTC and kids too young. I don’t have NFA firearms so this is just for typical firearms. Figured on naming a couple buddies as trustees so that can take them, use them, sell them etc.

Seeking some insight.
 
Have a will? If not you can do a bequeathment and that carries the weight of the law as a binding request. Otherwise you just write a letter to the family, whoever, and make a request for your wishes to be adhered to. As long as you’re not on the outs with any family at your time of death, they are generally followed in good faith.
 
If you are in MA IIRC the state does not recognize a firearms trust as only a properly licensed person may own them. One of my trustees is a Maine resident and my intent is to move all firearms there when I move full time. I only have one NFA item in the trust because of the rule change.
Red Dog Legal is very good and affordable.
Our will, also done by RDL was simple. Mine hers, hers mine, if we both die it all goes to nephews who know our wishes. Seeing how they are all gun and tool nuts the battle should be epic but I trust them enough to be fair.
The house is free and clear but so far away from their bases who knows what will happen to that. My brother and sister really are the only ones who I suspect could afford keeping it but I doubt they want it. They both prefer VT over Maine.
 
Have a will? If not you can do a bequeathment and that carries the weight of the law as a binding request. Otherwise you just write a letter to the family, whoever, and make a request for your wishes to be adhered to. As long as you’re not on the outs with any family at your time of death, they are generally followed in good faith.

The problem with a will, formal or informal, is that it has to be probated. Probate is slow, expensive, and public. Trusts are inexpensive, take into effect immediately because a trust has a settlor, trustee, and a beneficiary, and private.

There's pretty much no reason to use probate unless the estate is a total dumpsterfire and something suspicious like $500,000 in cash, a condo in Florida, a wife, a girlfriend, and two sets of children. And the family would shank each other over a quarter.

I would never do any kind of a trust for anything. It just tells the world everything that you don't want it to know. However, that only works if you have the kind of family that I have. Jack.

This is false. Wills are public documents. Trusts are private as long as the parties know each other (trust members can be family) and the parties don't run their mouths.

Will vs. Trust: What's the Difference?
 
Have a will? If not you can do a bequeathment and that carries the weight of the law as a binding request. Otherwise you just write a letter to the family, whoever, and make a request for your wishes to be adhered to. As long as you’re not on the outs with any family at your time of death, they are generally followed in good faith.
True, but only a "bequest" allows transfer of handguns across state lines without use of an FFL. My will has a "bequested to those selected by my executor". There is a legal difference between a bequest and an executor liquidating property.

I also have a spreadsheet in an envelope labeled "death instructions" in my ordnance locker. The instructions include "I expect those getting my stuff to clean the gun room, touch up paint the floor and leave it ready for alternate use by my heirs".
 
Last edited:
The problem with a will, formal or informal, is that it has to be probated. Probate is slow, expensive, and public. Trusts are inexpensive, take into effect immediately because a trust has a settlor, trustee, and a beneficiary, and private.
While it is considered unethical for an attorney to charge a percentage of an estate for legal fees, any professional you ask about probate costs will generally say X%-y% of total estate value is typical. Go figure. o_O

If you have paid off your house, it borders on financial negligence if you don't have it in a trust. Keep the non-trust assets under $25k and you can use the lower cost/faster low value probate cost in MA.
 
True, but only a "bequest" allows transfer of handguns across state lines without use of an FFL. My will has a "bequested to those selected by my executor". There is a legal difference between a bequest and an executor liquidating property.
Excellent. Thank you. I was unaware of that intricacy in the law.
 
The problem with a will, formal or informal, is that it has to be probated. Probate is slow, expensive, and public. Trusts are inexpensive, take into effect immediately because a trust has a settlor, trustee, and a beneficiary, and private.
There is no reason for a person with a will not to have a revocable trust drawn up at the same time. The speed at which a trustee can transfer funds, divide assets, divvy out monies, all in privacy with speed, much outweighs the initial cost of setting it up.
 
Back
Top Bottom