1. I'm currrently establishing a trust, I saw the major benefits as being more flexibility with maintaining the NFA items over time, ease of use by family members that are "trustees" and ease of disposition of property through the trust, versus the ATF if something were to happen to me unexpectedly.
There is the added benefit of not needing LEO signoff, but in my county I would not see that as a big obstacle, but in other counties it is a positive.
2. The NFA designated trusts deal with additional (or should deal with the additional) legalities of ownership and possession of NFA arms. I just don't personally feel good about using a cookie cutter Trust document to specifically address a very stringent law, with very serious consequences, if things went awry. I used a Trust Lawyer, and plan to establish a trust bank account, and will probably use a Notary Public thats a paralegal, versus a bank clerk, just because I'm paranoid that way... LOL I'm trying to demonstrate all of my actions were well thought-out, versus cutting corners.
My other concern is that over time, this trust will "Own" THOUSANDS of dollars in assets, a couple of SBR's, Suppressors, and if the bug ever bites an SMG/MG, and you're talking about $10-25k in value very quickly........
For a .22 cal supressor, and nothing else, it might be overkill, but if you think there is a change you might get the bug... its better to begin with the trust IMHO. Anything I buy pre-trust, would eventually be transferred to my trust, and that transfer will be another $200 + transfer paperwork fees ~$75-100... Just the money I save by starting from scratch pays for the trust...
3. Fees run from $250-500 from what I have heard. Mine was approximately $250-300, IIRC.
4. I'm not from Horry, but once you have a Trust, the LEO portion of the process goes away... There are ways to get LEO signoff, I.E. A friend of mine was in Charleston, he found out that Charleston City LEO not so easy, Charleston County Sherriff, not as bad for his SBR's... There's a little wiggle room, from whats been discussed in the past.. Not a lot, but not utter dispair, either.
With the cost of gas nowadays, the trust saves you the back and forth to the sherriffs department as well, an the arbitrary delays waiting for their "permission"
Regards,
SC
Johnnyb said:
Ok, thinkin about one of these as a future purchase, and don't see a NFA section on the board. Couple of questions
1. What are the benefits of doing a trust vs getting the stamp as an individual?
2. If I do go the trust route, do I need to get a lawyer to do it, or will I be able to do it myself with a willmaker type software, I have access to many free online legal documents thru work.
3. If I do need to use a lawyer, what is a fair fee for them to do the paperwork?
4. Has anyone in Horry County had any issues with local sherriff about these?
Sure I will come up with more questions, but this should be a good start
