Anonymity with Land trust after buying with personal name?

Question

Hypothetical situation: if an investor purchased a couple properties with their own name in different states, then transferred each property to an individual different trust, does that still offer anonymity protection? How easy would it be for someone to find out the owner and link them together?

I'm new and still learning asset protection strategies.

Albert L. · Answer

Sorry, perhaps I worked the question poorly.

I meant, rather than purchase the properties in a trust from the beginning to offer maximum anonymity, does doing it after the fact offer similar anonymity protection?

Thanks for the reply!

Casey Mericle · Answer

Could someone question you about your ownership, yes they could.  As long as you had a trustee other than yourself take title in a land trust then for title purposes you wouldn't own the property.  You might record an affidavit in the country records to put the public on notice that the trustee would own the property.  A warranty deed would also be helpful.  After that you shouldn't have much of a problem with someone hunting you down as long as your trust states that the trustee must keep the beneficiaries anonymous.