Gun Trust Lawyer®

March 25, 2015

Invalid Gun Trusts

ATF has a history of approving Form 4 transfers to invalid trusts. Today, I received another example of an invalid trust that ATF had already approved a transfer for a suppressor. As more people are learning about gun trust we are seeing more poorly written and in some cases invalid gun trusts.

Most invalid trusts are invalid because they do not name a beneficiary or someone lists themselves as the beneficiary. With the trust we received today, the trust did not meet the minimum signing requirements for the state where it was created.

I recently purchased a trust from a major suppressor manufacture, that had the same problem and while I live in Florida, the trust that was created online would would not be valid in Florida. In addition, I made a typographical error entering the information and my repeated attempts to contact the company to fix the issue have been ignored. For a company who prides themselves on customer service, this has been disappointing. For the time being we would warn people to stay away from “easytrust” which is being advertised by a suppressor manufacture. The trust has many of the problems associated with traditional trusts that can create liability for the trustees and beneficiaries of a poorly written gun trust and the one I received would not be valid in my state unlike their claims.

While talking with the client of the invalid trust, it turned out that he had received the trust from a friend of his who told him it was prepared by a lawyer. It would appear that the trust was not prepared by a licensed attorney or the lawyer was not familiar with trust law, gun law, or both. A Gun Trust is very different than a revocable trust and one needs to consider each and every power and instruction in a trust and how they will interact with firearms owners and their desires to draft a well written gun trust.

With many online gun trusts popping up it is important to realize that a trust is not valid, nor is possession legal, just because the ATF approves a transfer. If you have an invalid trust and are in possession of a firearm restricted by the NFA, you in violation of the NFA and could face both civil and criminal penalties.

A few benefits of a properly drafted Gun Trust include:

The ability to tell your representatives how to properly transfer these firearms upon your death regardless of the state that they live in;
The ability to move states and maintain a trust that is easily recognized as valid in other states;
The ability to deal with co-trustees and beneficiaries in multiple states;
The ability for your minor children to use the NFA firearms with adult supervision and parental consent;
The ability to transfer assets to children, even below the age of 18, when they reach an appropriate age, while giving the someone the ability to make distribution decisions based on mental state, physical location, legality of the transfer, and age;
The ability to make unequal distributions so that firearms do not have to be liquidated to give equal distributions;
The ability of the Trustee to refuse assets transferred by will or other means when the NFA and state requirements are not complied with; Continue reading

January 19, 2015

Gun Trusts for those on Probation (even for Driving)

by David M. Goldman

In Florida, it is illegal for an individual to be on probation to own, possess, or use a firearm without permission of a Judge and his or her probation officer. While initially, this may sound reasonable because in our minds we tend to associate probation with criminals and felons, many of us do not realize that this also applies to those on probation for misdemeanor and driving offenses. Still don’t see a problem? What about a DUI or reckless driving charge? Did you know that you or your spouse could go to jail for owning, using, possessing, or having access to a firearm while on probation for a driving charge?

Most Jacksonville Criminal Defense Lawyers may not know to ask their clients about firearms in these circumstances and may be advising their clients incorrectly when charged with a DUI or reckless driving charge. A Gun Trust can be designed to manage your firearms without risk of loss and criminal prosecution while an individual or family member is on probation.

If you live in another state, you may check to see if the terms of probation include restrictions on ownership, transfer, possession, and use of firearms or weapons.

August 21, 2014

Nolo Says Don’t Create A Gun Trust With Their Products

by David M. Goldman

Today I ran across an entry on Nolo’s website addressing the appropriateness of using their living trust software, commonly referred to as Quicken, or Will Maker, to make a Gun Trust. The same issues would exist for Legal Zoom or other standard trust software. Thousands of people and many gun dealers have prepared gun trusts using Nolo’s software. The problem is the software was never designed for Gun Trusts and their trust may cause legal problems for their family and friends.

Nolo states:

Can I use a Nolo living trust to make a gun trust?

August 3, 2014

Gun Trust and ATF 5320.1 Form 1 Approval in 35 days

by David M. Goldman

I recently published an article on Gun Trusts and an amazing 1 day approval. I felt that this was an unusual circumstance and decided to submit an electronic ATF Form 1 back on July 26th using my personal Gun Trust to test out the current time for approvals on using a Trust from a Gun Trust Lawyer®.

While I was not surprised to have not received an approval on July 27th, I have been checking the status regularly. I was surprised to receive an approval early Saturday morning August 2, 2014. This approval was not anywhere as quick as our clients 1 day approval, but only took 35 days to get approved which is amazing considering that many are reporting 9-14 months for a paper approvals. Not only was the approval quick, but the email notification came with an attachment which contained a copy of my Form 1. The process for printing the approval was more complex than it needed to be and I guess that the ATF decided they could cut down on the amount of communication and support by just sending a copy. A wise move by the ATF.

Please let us know about your approval times so we can see if others are experiencing similar results.

January 23, 2014

ESTATE PLANNING FOR GUN OWNERS

by David M. Goldman

Keeping Your Personal Representative or Executor Out of Jail

If you own firearms, you should reevaluate the trustees, successor trustees and beneficiaries in any estate planning documents. It is important to avoid people who are prohibited people from owning or being in possession of firearms and ammunition.

Many people do not even know that they may be a prohibited person. There is not an easy way to determine if someone named in your documents is a prohibited person or not without asking them a bunch of questions. In addition, certain items you may own may be illegal in some states and even if the person is not prohibited, it may be a crime for them to take these items to a location where they are prohibited.

November 27, 2013

Cyber Monday Gun Trust Specials Save up to 30%

by David M. Goldman

For those of you who have been thinking about purchasing a Gun Trust we are offering specials on the Base, Advanced, and Professional Gun Trusts.

The Base Gun Trust which you create yourself online and does not come with legal support retails for $349 and has been on sale before for as low as $199 but you can purchase a prepaid code for only $149.

The Advanced Gun Trust is designed for the person who wants a Gun Trust created and customized by an attorney for their specific family circumstances and desires. The Advanced Gun Trust provides the ability to communicate with an attorney regarding federal and state specific issues without any additional costs. Because your specific situation is considered when creating this trust, the Advanced and Professional versions of the Gun Trust can help minimize the potential effects of future legislative and or tax changes that may be associated with transfers during you life and after your death. The Advanced Gun Trust is a revocable trust and very easy to change. Use of this Gun Trust will require a transfer of the firearms at some point after your death. The local attorney’s fees and telephone and email support are included in this Gun Trust and the normal price on this trust is between $600 and $750 depending on the state you live in. You can purcahse the Advanced Trust today for the special price of $495

September 8, 2013

Gun Trust, LE Advanced SBR, and Engraving Special

by David M. Goldman

If you have been thinking of buying an SBR, now is the time to do it before the ATF changes the CLEO requirements. On Monday September 9th ATF will be publishing proposed changes to the CLEO requirements for Gun Trusts and changes are expected after the expiration of the 90 day comment period.

I have personally purchased one of these guns and am awaiting approval from the ATF.

This special is good while supplies last. Currently there are 1500 units in stock and ready to ship.

This is an incredible deal on a SBR for our Clients. This gun uses IMI Parts ( Israel Military Industries). The IMI parts are M16 Nickel Baron bolt carrier group, Flip up gas block sight with quick deployment points on both sides, 7 1/4 polymer quad rail with QD attachment on the bottom front, MilSpec trigger parts group, Buffer Tube with 6 position stops, buffer, and buffer spring. This SBR is manufactured by GPI in Jacksonville using the GPI 7075 Precision ambi marked lower receiver. Bullet pictograms with save, semi, and auto, black type 3 anodize matching precision 7075 A3 flat top upper, also type 3 anodized.

Standard Features also include:

GPI QD stock place – picture below
Billet winter trigger guard
11.5 inch 1/9 twist, 4150 CMV match barrel with 1/2 x 28 standard threads.
A2 Flash hider

Riffle comes complete with 1 IMI 30 round Battle Magazine, This bundle include engraving of your Trust Name meeting ATF requirements, the $999 Price include a Base Gun Trust, and Form 4 for those who pick up from GPI in Jacksonville or Form 3 to your local dealer included.

$899 for Package for our existing gun trust clients or
$999 including a Base Gun Trust which can be upgraded to our Advanced or Professional Trust.

Up to 10 additional IMI battle Magazines can be purchased for $12 each with each firearm.

LE price on this gun without ATF paperwork, engraving, or Gun Trust is $1375 Retail price with everything is $1795
Place your order by sending and email to sales@gpigun.com or calling (904) 425-2791.

Click the link below for additional images Continue reading

August 5, 2013

Common Gun Trust and Free Gun Trust Mistakes

by David M. Goldman

A NFA Trust or Gun Trust is a type of revocable living trust that is created for the main purpose of possessing Title II firearms. In our review of many so-called Gun Trusts we have seen that most do not properly address firearms ownership, transfer and possession. (If you have a gun trust you would like reviewed, just let us know and we woudl be happy to review it under the federal laws for free) Many are regular trusts and many only have a few firearms related terms. If almost every provision in your trust does not deal with firearms, it is not a real Gun Trust from a Gun Trust Lawyer®.

A Gun Trust is a NFA Trust that is appropriate for regular firearms as well as Title II firearms (those sold by Class 3 SOT FFLs). Often times, people who wish to purchase Title II firearms with a trust choose to hire an attorney who has not studied and does not fully understand the NFA and estate planning. As a result, many so called NFA Trusts or Gun Trusts other than those provided by a Gun Trust Lawyer® do not comply with the Gun Control act of 1968, the National Firearms Act and other local and state specific gun laws. These trusts often contain several defects or mistakes and may lead to illegal possession or transfer of Title I and Title II firearms.

Mistake #1: Omitted Necessary Provisions

December 24, 2012

An Overview of NFA Gun Trusts? What is a Gun Trust

by David M. Goldman

Many of you have asked your estate-planning lawyer about Gun Trusts and have not been able to find anyone who knows about them. This is not hard to believe because other than some materials I have produced or talked to others about there is no text book on gun trusts.

We work with lawyers in every state to help them prepare gun trusts for clients in their state while providing them a resource for the knowledge and information necessary to understand the ownership, transfer and possession of firearms.

In 2006, I recognized the need to create a Trust for NFA and regular firearms. It was at that time, that I created the Gun Trust. A Gun Trust is based on the traditional concepts of estate planning. Traditional trusts deal with all types of assets that are primarily financially based, but a Gun Trust only deals with firearms. They are not meant to circumvent federal or state laws, as many would have you believe. Trusts were clearly contemplated as owners of firearms by the National Firearms Act. The National Firearms Act (NFA), requires a tax to be paid to own, possess or transfer guns such as machine guns, short barreled rifles and shotguns, silencers or sound suppressors, and AOWs. They are referred to as Title 2 firearms because they are regulated under Title 2 of the 1968 Gun Control Act. Normal firearms are regulated under Title I of the Gun Control Act. Many people mistakenly call them Class 3 weapons, but Class 3 refers to a license or Special Occupational Tax (SOT) that an FFL must obtain prior to buying or selling Title II Firearms.

December 23, 2012

Protecting your Firearms for Generations

by David M. Goldman

How can a Gun Trust protect my guns for my children and other family members?

Recently we have had many inquires as to how a Gun Trust can be used to protect firearms from future or currently pending legislation. First let me say that while no previous gun law has taken away the current owners rights, there is no guarantee that a future law would not attempt to do so. In other words, no one can guarantee you what will happen in the future. If we look at the firearms restrictions that have been imposed on US citizens over the last 200 years we see that all legislation has been designed to restrict future purchases and transfers of firearms and even attempts to totally ban firearms have allowed those who already possess them to keep their guns.

All of our Gun Trusts are designed to own regular and NFA firearms including the so-called “Assault Weapons”. Our lower end trusts are based on revocable trusts that will end at sometime after the death of the person who creates it. We do have a Professional gun trust which is designed to offer both asset protection and multi generational ownership of the firearms.