All Forum Posts by: Weston Couch

@Will Crocker Hi Will, this largely depends on whether that's a revocable or irrevocable trust. Did the attorney you spoke with happen to mention that?

Anonymity through trusts prevents most of them in my experience. Most people aren't going to go far out of their way to find the information to sue someone/something when they know they have a losing case.

@Narinder Gill LLC's and trusts primarily, feel free to connect with me if you'd like to know more.

@Aaron Moayed Hi Aaron, that's a good question. The best way around this problem in our experience is to use a Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) instead. The DST is not obligated to pay the $800 franchise tax mentioned above, and can contain as many assets as you like. The DST is viewed as an estate planning tool, and therefore exempt from the far-reaching corporate tax laws set forth by California's FTB. A properly set-up DST will both protect your assets and bypass the burdensome franchise tax that would be levied against a Series LLC.

Feel free to connect with me if you'd like to know more.

@Christopher Janney I think that's also a great idea, but we don't cut out LLC's for trusts. We use both LLC's(a Series to hold the properties more cost effectively, and a traditional to serve as a shell company) and Trusts(Land Trust, Agent Trust, Family Trust) to provide the best of both worlds. Feel free to connect with me if you'd like to get into more detail.

I'm sure you mean well, but where are you getting that 99% figure from Jay? I'd definitely agree umbrella insurance is the most fundamental form of protection after just being professional as a landlord, but using a legal structure isn't any more expensive than insurance over a few years if done right( potentially even cheaper if you're a smaller investor), and the chances of it being useful are a lot higher than %1 over the course of years, especially if you own multiple properties. I can search for some hard stats if you're interested.

@Rachel Luoto Hi Rachel, I agree with Kelli Gaul. This sounds like them trying to bully you into a lease and I can't see you losing a lawsuit(Though I'm not your attorney). That said, for the future, you can completely avoid this type of situation again with an asset protection structure which makes it near impossible for people to file frivolous lawsuit like this against you. 

@Ryan Goff Hi Ryan, is it a Self-Directed IRA?

@LaKeya Smoot Glad to hear it was helpful,  just let me know if you'd like more resources or help with it.

@Aman A. Hi Aman, I work with an asset protection group. We normally use a Series(the one DeWayne mentioned) that allows to own properties nationwide and us far cheaper to expand than using traditional LLC's. If you'd like to know more about that option, or haven't had the chance to speak with a real estate attorney on the LLC issues you mentioned here, feel free to connect with me.