NFA Trust lawyers sticky

[jedi]

T. Lex hit upon the important factor; trusts are meant to be private. If someone is drafting trusts that are ending up in appellate court, is that the person you want to go to?

If it passes the court process (the trust legality) then yes the ATTY that drafted that is who I want as they have proved experience in a trust that passed the eyes of the court.

 

[CountryBoy19]

More like it broke down and went amuck. Not much of anything worth while in it.

I don't know that it really went amuck...

Just a few guys arguing their opinion. Only one opinion was backed up by evidence and the other opinion was back up by... well... their misconceptions and preconceived notions. The other opinion wasn't willing to get off his arse and do a little self-discovery to change those misconceptions and preconceived notions...

Seems pretty cut-and-dried to me...

 

[Eddie]

If it passes the court process (the trust legality) then yes the ATTY that drafted that is who I want as they have proved experience in a trust that passed the eyes of the court.

I understand what you are saying but there are some logisitcal problems with waiting on a "NFA" trust to be tested by the appellate court and then going to the lawyer who drafted that trust.

First off most of the people who hire me to draft "NFA" trusts are younger than me. There is not likely to be any sort of litigation during their lifetime since the Settlor normally makes themself trustee. If the items get transferred into the trust initially then that is where they will tend to sit through out the settlor's lifetime. If the BATFE doesn't like the trust in the first place then they won't permit the initial transfer of the items into the trust. Trust litigation, with the exeption of litigation over debt, tends to occur after the settlor's death. (This is when the beneficiaries of the trust and other heirs of the estate and the creditors start fighting over who gets what.) Thus unless there is an unfortunate incident, odds are that litigation over trusts that I am creating now will occur after my clients have died and since I am middle aged I will likely be dead as well when that happens. This is probably what you will find when a case finally does wind its way up to the appellate court; that the attorney that originally created it the trust is dead or retired.

As T-Lex points out, only a small percentage of things that lawyers draft are challenged on appeal. If a trust is drafted in accordance with Indiana Law there may be no basis for anyone to ever appeal it.

Finally, even if a trust is appealed, it is more likely to be on a run of the mill issue like a creditor trying to break the trust to get at the items for their cash value rather than some sort of state level litigation over the NFA status of the items in the trust.

 

[Newbomb92]

Any updates?

 

[retyree98]

No idea of cost or timeline....He truly is a lawyer...lol
I think the best thing I could do is allow my wife to fix the problem once I'm gone.
First, she knows everything
second, she can do everything better than I can
third, I'm not around to hear her complain about it
and finally, when she is told it has to be fixed before she can sell and get the money, I know she will get it done post haste and no one will slow her down.

 

[Steve B]

No idea of cost or timeline....He truly is a lawyer...lol
I think the best thing I could do is allow my wife to fix the problem once I'm gone.
First, she knows everything
second, she can do everything better than I can
third, I'm not around to hear her complain about it
and finally, when she is told it has to be fixed before she can sell and get the money, I know she will get it done post haste and no one will slow her down.

Now that's funny!

 

[Chesh97]

If a trust is drafted in accordance with Indiana Law there may be no basis for anyone to ever appeal it.

Everything I have researched in the Indiana Code - There isn't much legal verbiage required. I reallt don't see why the Quicken Software route wouldn't work just fine. There is no required NFA language needed. All that is needed is a valid trust. In Indiana, that isn't a whole lot.