I own a property with a current mortgage on it in my own name and I've read that investers are recommended to transfer they to land titles where I would be the beneficuary. One of the reasons for doing this is less public record in case of creditors/lawsuits. Basically make it harder for them to find. If you are not recording the trust in public record (which they see not to) then how is it that using a Land Trust really increases priviacy? Seems the credit reports sould still have you as the borrower. I'm missing something. Help?
Trust assets are in the name of the trustee – the trustee is the legal owner. With a trust it is the beneficiaries who are the real owners. The beneficiaries are not able to be searched without seeing the trust deed. So if you want to hide ownership, you need someone else to be trustee with yourself the beneficiary, or one of the potential beneficiaries.
Having a company as trustee can help a little bit, but the company still needs to have an address and a director. All office holders also have to have their details on ASIC register which is public record. Still this may be worth pursuing as when someone is complemplating suing you, they will do land titles searches to attempt to see if you own any property. Not all people will do the extra check and see if you owns any company shares or have directorships and then search Land Titles records for these companies.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
Terry,
Thanks for responding backbut still a bit lost on how your name is off the record. You don't fill or record the land trust. ???Hmm, With a trust it is the Trustee on title. So you just arrange it so that you are not trustee, but a beneificiary.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
With the name of the trustee on title, how do you or the ATO know that it's not the trustee person or the trustee company who personally bought the property, but actually the trust that bought it?
Say the trustee was Steve Jones, what would appear on the contract and title?
Is it Steve Jones, or Steve Jones trustee for Trust Name?
Do trusts have names and how do you register this name?Thanks
Trust names don't appear on titles. Just the trustee. The ATO knows because you will submit a tax return in the name of the trust and have other documents backing up the ownership being in the trust name in case this is ever disputed. eg. minute, contract of sale etc
Trusts have names, but these are not really registered. You can register it when getting an ABN, and it can be searched via the http://www.abr.gov.au site. That is why it is best not to use you own name in part of the trust name – easily found.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
