NFA Gun Trust Lawyer Blog
As the deadline for registering your firearms in Connecticut approaches, most people will not have an opportunity to transfer their firearms into a Gun Trust because the law which was passed back in April took effect immediately. All hope is not lost as there are a few solutions still available for those with and without Gun or NFA Trusts.
For those who created Gun Trusts prior to April 4, 2013 and transferred all of their firearms into the trust, there is still an opportunity to change your trust in such a way as to provide multi-generational ownership for the firearms.
For those who did not create a Gun Trust and transfer their firearms into the trust prior to April 4th, there are two ways to create and protect your firearms in a Gun Trust.
- You can create and fund your Gun Trust with non prohibited assets. Then upon your death, the assets which are prohibited to transfer (most firearms) can be transferred into your trust through a valid will.
- For those who had a Gun Trust but did not transfer their regular firearms into the trust prior to April 4th, they can still modify the trust and eventually by use of a will, like in the solution above, the firearms which cannot be transferred during their life, can be transferred to the Gun Trust upon their death.
- For those who have a regular trust that was created and signed prior to 4/4/13, your lawyer probably inadvertently transferred your firearms into your trust using a general assignment. Normally this would be a problem as your regular trust could instruct your family or friends to break the law upon your death or incapacity. This mistake, creates an interesting opportunity for those with regular trusts. Your regular trust could be converted into a Gun Trust or Multi Generational Asset Protection Gun Trust and then a new trust could be created for your non firearms related assets. If you choose this option your time is limited because of the registration requirement at the end of this year.
Even if you do not have a trust at this point, there are opportunities to protect firearms in CT. Contact us to discuss your situation and we will work with a lawyer in CT who is familiar with CT’s gun laws to provide a solution that makes sense from a federal and state perspective.