Live and In-Person Land Trust Seminars In California and Florida (Learn More)

Welcome to the most comprehensive Land Trust website in World. My name is Randy Hughes, Mr. Land Trust, and I want to teach you all the benefits of using a Land Trust to hold title to your real estate investments.

 

Why Land Trusts are used in almost every state!                    And, the History of Land Trusts.

What is a land trust? Why do I need to use a land trust? Both are very important questions. Let me be straight forward with this information. You are working very hard to accumulate property for investment. You put yourself, your family, and your children’s future at risk investing in real estate.

Land Trusts are the first line of defense to insulate yourself from the millions of lawsuits happening every year.  Do you want protection from the contingency fee lawyer (and his deadbeat client) or would you rather have a bare knuckle fight with him without any defenses in place?

You have probably noticed that it is VERY difficult to find any information about Land Trusts and how they operate. That is why people from all over the United States (and other countries) come to my website to find accurate information about Land Trusts. Most attorneys do not know how to set up and administer a Land Trust (they receive only three hours, if any, of trust education in law school). So, you cannot even rely on your local lawyer for accurate Land Trust information.

Illinois land trust law and Massachusetts business trust law set the foundation for all other states to follow. This is the reason why most land trusts today are referred to as, “Illinois TYPE Land Trusts.” See Hart v. Seymur, 147 Ill.598 (Ill. 1893). But, this does NOT mean that all Land Trusts are Illinois Trusts. Rather than drafting their own statutes, most states just model their laws after Illinois and Massachusetts. Thus, with the exception of Florida, Virginia, Texas, North Dakota, Indiana, Hawaii, Arizona, Ohio, and California: there is little statute law in any of the other states on which land trusts can be based. Consequently, Land Trusts (or a similar form) are valid in all states except Louisiana (Louisiana’s laws are based on French Civil law so check with competent counsel in Louisiana to determine usage potential)

Alabama		Indiana		Nebraska		South Carolina
Alaska		Iowa		Nevada		South Dakota
Arizona		Kansas		New Hampshire		Tennessee	**
Arkansas		Kentucky		New Jersey		Texas
California		Louisiana	*	New Mexico		Utah
Colorado		Maine		New York		Vermont
Connecticut		Maryland		North Carolina		Virginia
Delaware		Massachusetts		North Dakota		Washington
Florida		Michigan		Ohio		West Virginia
Georgia		Minnesota		Oklahoma		Wisconsin
Hawaii		Mississippi		Oregon		Wyoming
Idaho		Missouri		Pennsylvania
Illinois		Montana		Rhode Island

 

FOLLOW THIS LINK AND CLICK ON "WHATS INCLUDED" TAB

*Louisiana state law does not follow Common Law. While you can still set up a Land Trust in Louisiana, you will need local knowledgeable counsel in addition to my Home Study courses.** Tennessee does not recognize the Illinois Type Land Trust but a similar trust (a Common Law Trust will work instead). You will need local knowledgeable counsel in addition to my Home Study course in Tennessee and Louisiana. See my State-by-State Land Trust laws product for a legal reference.

For citzens of Canada and Mexico that are buying property in the USA, please note that it is perfectly legal for you to hold title to your investments in America via a Land Trust. Please call me for additional details at 1-866-696-7347.

Land Trusts are THE #1 LEGAL way to get your name out of the record books. Start creating your own Land Trusts today and understand the process. You DO NOT need to be an attorney to form your own Land Trusts.  However, below is a comment from an attorney that attended my Land Trusts Made Simple seminar.

Lynda Sands | Land Trust Attorney Hear from a successful attorney that has taken my Land Trusts Made Simple Basic and Advanced courses. She ENDORSES their use! She is a prominent California Attorney that drafts trusts agreements and closes real estate transaction for real estate investors like you. HOWEVER, you do not have to be an attorney to set up your own Land Trusts.

Let us look at some Land Trust history.

There are numerous types of “trusts” that have been used in our country over the last 200 years. In fact, Land Trusts and the law behind them followed the settlers over from England. Almost 500 years ago in medieval England, land trusts were used by the common man, “serfs”, to protect their property rights from those who were in power at the time. Trusts served not only to protect assets, but also to avoid taxes and laws of descent. Even though King Henry VIII tried to bypass the use of trusts (to prevent serfs from holding title to property in “trust” and avoiding the responsibilities of land ownership), the medieval courts of England (and most courts since) have upheld the use of land trusts and the rights of their beneficiaries.

Since most American law escheats from English Common Law, the use of trusts and the law supporting them was easily blended into American law. This was around 1795. About 100 years later, a land development company in Illinois wanted to subdivide a large piece of ground that was encumbered by a large mortgage. Since the mortgagee would not release the lots individually until the entire debt was paid off, Chicago Title became involved with the developer. Chicago Title became the trustee of the entire parcel and guaranteed would-be buyers/beneficiaries and prospective mortgage companies that free and clear title would be eventually delivered once enough lots were sold off to pay the mortgage off in its entirety. This worked marvelously.

This is where the rubber meets the road!

Enough about history! How do these Land Trusts help YOU?

I have done the research and are continuing to do so on a daily basis. This next part shows you something others will not. THE STEPS OF CREATING A FUNCTIONING LAND TRUST. I am not asking you to first buy my product to see this, I want to show you how easy it is to do this on your own. You can and will create your own Land Trusts IN AS LITTLE AS 5 MINUTES (once you have the proper knowledge). The key here is EDUCATION. You can buy the forms anywhere but, will you know how to use them to your advantage? I have been forming land trusts for over 30 years.  I teach you the creative strategies that give land trusts "teeth." Would you want to use a brain surgeon who has all the medical tools but no EDUCATION on how to use those tools? I think not.

Ready To Buy? Here is my Most Popular Land Trusts Made Simple Home Study Course

Iris Veneneracion | R.E. Club Director Iris is a club director and co-founder of Invest Club for Women in the Southern California area. Recently I spoke to her club about Land Trusts and she attended my Land Trusts Made Simple Basic Seminar. Listen to her thoughts after the all day seminar.

 

The Step-By-Step Process to Forming A Land Trust 

Ok, so you have read and heard about all the wonderful benefits to using a Land Trust to hide and protect ownership of real estate. But now you ask yourself, “how do I actually set up my first Land Trust?” The following was written by me to answer the often asked question, “what exactly do I do next?”

NOTE: The following itemization will make more sense to you if you have read my Land Trusts Made Simple Course Guides. Buy Now

Step One: Printing the Land Trust

Print out the Basic or Advanced Land Trust Agreement (referred to as T.A. in this text) from your forms CD or Download (which sample Trust Agreement you decide to print out will be determined by you after studying the course guides). If you purchased my Basic Home Study version, open the Word Document file named, “Illinois Land Trust Agreement.” If you purchased my Advanced Home Study version, open the Word Document file named, “Virginia Land Trust Agreement.” Now you have a hard copy that you can fill in and make notes. Once you are done with the first construction of your T.A., you can go back to your computer and finalize an electronic version. The following steps follow the format of the Basic Trust Agreement. 

Step Two - Setup Trustee of Trust

Your next step is to put your name in the T.A. as the Grantor (assuming you are the one forming the trust). Then, decide who will be your Trustee? My recommendations are clearly spelled out starting on page 35 of the Land Trusts Made Simple Basic Course Guide. 

However, keep in mind that it is best if you have a Trustee from the same state as the situs of your Trust Agreement. (i.e. Virginia Trustee for a Virginia Land Trust). Also, remember the best (most private) Trustee is one who lives out of your state (or at least out of your county) and has a different last name than yourself.

Step Three - Name the Land Trust

Naming your Land Trust (What’s in a name?).  Starting on page 59 of my Land Trusts Made Simple-Basic course guide I discuss the importance of choosing the “right” name for your trust. Most legal advisors will suggest you put your personal name or even your social security number in the name of your trust. If you hear this advice...RUN! You may name your trust virtually anything you want as long as the name is not infringing on copy write laws. For example, you could not name your Land Trust, “General Motors” or “General Electric.” You could, however, name your trust the “GM Motor Trust” or the “GE Investment Fund.” Naming your trust is just one little piece of a big legal puzzle that you are creating to hide and protect your assets. It may seem insignificant to some but, if you have ever experienced the prospects of a frivolous lawsuit and avoided the suit because of the name of your trust or the situs of your trust…you become a believer!

Step Four - Revocable vs. Irrevocable

Revocable vs. Irrevocable?  Paragraph 8.6 of  my Basic Land Trust Agreement requires a statement of the type of Land Trust that you are forming. You need to decide if the trust will be Revocable or Irrevocable. What is the difference? Revocable means that you can change the terms of the Trust Agreement at any time (by amending the Trust Agreement). Irrevocable means that you cannot change the terms of the Trust Agreement. The trust must remain intact (as you formed it) until the expiration of the trust term (usually 20 years) or the assets are removed from the trust.

There are also some tax considerations to determining whether a Land Trust will be Irrevocable. Some Irrevocable trusts must acquire a federal tax identification number and submit tax returns (and are taxed at a much higher rate than individual tax rates). Therefore, be sure to seek competent tax advice prior to forming an Irrevocable Land Trust. 

Step Five - Beneficiary of the Land Trust

Your next decision is to decide who will be the Beneficiary of the Land Trust?  Be careful here because if you are currently the owner of the property being placed in to the new Land Trust and you make someone other than you or your spouse the beneficiary, there could be a gift tax problem created by this action. As discussed in the Land Trusts Made Simple course guides, you may want to consider making your personal property trust, LLC or corporation the beneficiary for future asset protection benefits.

NOTE: Some advisors encourage multiple beneficiaries or co-beneficiaries. I include a sample Beneficiary Agreement in the forms (that accompany my home study course) to use if you decide to have more than one beneficiary to your Land Trust. However, I do not advise multiple beneficiaries because of the potential liability between co-beneficiaries.

Step Six - Setup the Director

Your next big decision is who will hold the Power of Direction? As you learned in the Land Trusts Made Simple course guides, he who holds the power of direction (over the Trustee) controls the trust’s destiny. So, choose this position wisely! Typically, the Beneficiary is also the Director (at least initially at the formation of the Trust Agreement). The Power of Direction can be retained forever by the Beneficiary or assigned to someone else on a temporary or permanent basis.  

Step Seven - Successor Beneficiaries

Now comes the part where you decide who will be the Successor Beneficiaries. One of the many benefits of using a Land Trust is the fact that upon the death of the Primary Beneficiary the Successor Beneficiary succeeds to full Beneficiary status immediately upon the death of the Primary Beneficiary (outside of the purview of the probate process). If you are forming a Revocable Land Trust, you may change the successor beneficiary(ies) later if you so desire. However, I still suggest you think through this decision wisely prior to naming your successors as life has a way of changing our situations quickly. 

Aaron Gallagher | Homeowner Hear this homeowner's story about how a Land Trust helped him avoid Foreclosure. Don't let the bank bully you just because you are in financial trouble. A Land Trust will give you the power to bargain with your lender.

Step Eight - Successor Trustees

Similar to number seven above (where you selected your Successor Beneficiaries), now you select your Successor Trustees in your Trust Agreement. Successor Trustees will provide for a smooth transition of title if your Primary Trustee (the initial Trustee that you select) dies, retires, quits or is fired by the Beneficiary. You can name as many Successor Trustees as you want. I suggest always using a P.O. Box for your Trustees addresses.

Step Nine - Private vs. Institutional Trustee?

You may not have a choice in how much you pay your Trustee if you use an Institutional Trustee. Typically, a “professional” trustee will charge $300-$500 dollars to set up the trust, $300-$600 dollars per year to maintain the trust, $25-$50 dollars for each signature that the trustee provides and $25-$50 dollars to perform administrative functions (like forwarding a real estate tax bill). One of the reasons why we recommend private trustees is to save on these costs. You can pay your trustee whatever you two agree on but make sure it is reasonable and customary. 

Step Ten - State Law for your Land Trust

Your next decision is going to be which state’s Land Trust laws are you going to use as the situs of your trust? If you decide to use Virginia for example, you would put the Virginia statute citation (found in paragraph 8.6 of the Advanced Trust Agreement). Or, if you are going to use Illinois trust law you would use the Illinois Statutes (found in paragraph 8.6 of the Basic Trust Agreement). Which state law you are going to use is extremely important to the asset protection benefits you are seeking. I provide extensive research in my course guides to help you make this decision.

Step Eleven - List the Property Held in Trust

List the property to be held in your land trust on the last page of the TA. Be sure to list the legal address as well as the common (street) address. Also, remember to only put one property into EACH trust!

At this point you have made all the big decisions to form your first Land Trust Agreement. All you need to do now is date your Trust Agreement (be sure it is dated prior to the date on the Deed in Trust) and get the signatures of the Trustee, Beneficiary and Notary. Be sure to NOT record the Trust Agreement----only the Deed-in-Trust gets recorded! The Trust Agreement stays in your personal files as a private contract document.

Let's take a break from the steps to discuss my competition. While I know there are very few sources of accurate land trust information, I want to make sure you understand the fundamental difference between my home study courses and others. The other courses available can be as low as $97, WOW What A Great Deal! But is it really? I say not, here is why. The last step I showed you was how to FILL IN the trust document. If I left you with that, would you feel comfortable that your trust REALLY was legal? NO!!!

A FILL IN approach with no training is what you will get with my competitors. Logically, what training could someone really offer for such a low price when attorneys are charging hundreds if not thousands of dollars TO CREATE ONE LAND TRUST?"

Step Twelve - After Creating Your Land Trust

This is the point where many investors drop-the-ball in the important process of forming their land trusts. Insuring your property properly is a very important part of being a successful real estate investor.  If you make changes in the ownership of a property it is critical that you follow a certain process to communicate those changes to your insurance company and insurance agent. Step Twelve is written to give the sequence of steps necessary to report changes, acknowledge changes being completed monitor the necessary coverage and keep all information accurate between you and the insurance company.  

Make sure that you insure your property “held in trust” properly. This is CRITICAL to receiving insurance coverage (payment of a claim) if there is a loss/claim. I highly recommend that you sit with your insurance broker, agent or advisor before you buy any property, make a change in ownership or deed your property into a land trust. I provide the step-by-step process for insuring your property held in a Land Trust in my course guides.

See how easy it is to CREATE  a LAND TRUST?

Remember how I talked about my competitors and how they give you the FILL IN approach with no training? GOOD, because if you bought their product, you would have received some of the above information. BUT WOULD YOU UNDERSTAND A LAND TRUST NOW? 

NO! You would then start looking for an attorney to help you form your land trust and s(he) would CHARGE YOU hundreds of dollars each time you needed assistance (assuming you can even find a knowledgeable land trust attorney).

The Land Trusts Made Simple System

I will make this Simple. In fact, I call my courses “Land Trusts Made Simple” which is important when covering an ESSENTIAL component of real estate investing very few talk about.

My courses not only cover the steps as I have given you above, but I explain the LOGIC behind each part of the process. THIS WILL GIVE YOU PEACE OF MIND THAT YOUR LAND TRUSTS ARE SET UP PROPERLY FOR YOUR OWN INDIVIDUAL SITUATION.

My System of Land Trust Creation

I have broken my system into two courses. You will start with the Basic Course to create your own land trust. This is all you need if you want to begin now. My Advanced Course is a MUST if you want to take your Land Trusts to a new (bullet proof) level. This advanced course will add a deeper understanding of trusts and complex privacy structures. You can also get both my Basic and Advanced Courses together in my "Complete Package" at a discounted price.

MY GUARANTEE   I will help you protect your privacy, cash and assets, have peace of mind and experience freedom that you have never felt before. If you do not see these results in 30 days, or if you are not absolutely happy, for any reason or no reason at all, I insist that you send my hard copy or digital courses back for a full refund (you keep the bonus downloads FREE) and we will still be friends. Sorry, but I cannot offer a refund on Downloads of my course as they cannot be returned. My home study courses are for anyone who owns real estate, looking to rid themselves of the fear of losing their hard earned assets and those willing to take immediate action. If that does not describe you, then this system is probably not for you.  But if you would like to find out then click below to order. I want to be your NUMBER ONE source for accurate Land Trust information.

Ready to get started? Here is my most popular Land Trusts Made Simple Home Study Course purchased by thousands of investors since 2002.

	STILL NOT SURE YOU ARE READY? Talk To Mr. Land Trust LIVE With Your Questions RIGHT NOW!   Contact Me On Skype For Phone, Video and Chat Support! Do Not Have Skype? Download it for FREE here OR CALL (866) 696-7347 TOLL FREE (Please remember, I am in the Central Time Zone)