NFA Trust: Trustee legal name change

[wizardpc]

I had a trust drawn up a little over 10 years ago. I haven't put anything on it since 41F went in to effect but I'm about to file for a Thunderbeast 338 Ultra SR.
I got all the trust paperwork together and realized that the trust was done before one of the trustees legally changed their name.

So the current legal name of the trustee isn't what's listed on the trust, but I have the court order and all the other paperwork documenting that the old legal name refers to the same person as the new legal name.

I'm interested to hear anyone else's experience with this particular situation and how they handled it.

 

[Old Man with Gun]

I have been considering restating my trust. It is not expensive or difficult to restate your trust as I understand it. That would allow you to add or remove people, and update anything out of date as some things have changed since 41F.

Found this with Google, no history or experience with them though.

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[Snuby642]

The same people that wrote the trust should be able to service it easily.

 

[Voroshilovsky]

I don’t think it’s necessary to do anything. I assume that your Form 4 made no reference to the identity of the trustee whose name changed.

If you want to avoid possible headache in having to demonstrate (with those docs you already have) that the trustee named in the trust deed has legally changed his name, but you don’t want to restate the whole trust deed, you could just execute an amendment to the trust deed. An amendment is a shorter document, but just like a restatement, it would require following the same legal formalities (eg, potentially, witness, notarization, filing, etc) under relevant state law as executing the deed itself.

But drafting an amendment might mean doing it yourself from scratch. It might actually be easier to use a store-bought form for restatement.

If there is a requirement to file (or an advantage in filing) an amendment or restatement in your state, then you must (or should) do so.

Given the pain in the ass involved in an amendment or restatement, consider whether it’s worth it.

Yes, I’m a lawyer, but not a trust lawyer and probably not licensed in your state. This is not legal advice. It’s worth what you paid for it.

Good luck.

 

[CIB2007]

I had a similar situation with a name change, The ATF told me I just had to resubmit a RP form with the name change and documents. Now my trust was done before the 41F change.

Then the wheels fell off on my trust. The business that did my trust was an absolute pain in the ass to try to get them to submit the forms.

So I bought a whole new trust through silencer shop and Repaid all my stamps over it.

Again it’s your choice and everyone is an “expert” on how the ATF works until some stupid paperwork issue gets their item seized. Every field office is different and a lot of them are a pain in the ass and I work with them at times.

If they are a beneficiary then 100% I would fix it.

 

[Snuby642]

Law shield did my trust and services it for reasonable rates with no problems.

Also retain thier legal personal defense assistance.

Have had them for years.

 

[Voroshilovsky]

I don’t think it’s necessary to do anything. I assume that your Form 4 made no reference to the identity of the trustee whose name changed.

If you want to avoid possible headache in having to demonstrate (with those docs you already have) that the trustee named in the trust deed has legally changed his name, but you don’t want to restate the whole trust deed, you could just execute an amendment to the trust deed. An amendment is a shorter document, but just like a restatement, it would require following the same legal formalities (eg, potentially, witness, notarization, filing, etc) under relevant state law as executing the deed itself.

But drafting an amendment might mean doing it yourself from scratch. It might actually be easier to use a store-bought form for restatement.

If there is a requirement to file (or an advantage in filing) an amendment or restatement in your state, then you must (or should) do so.

Given the pain in the ass involved in an amendment or restatement, consider whether it’s worth it.

Yes, I’m a lawyer, but not a trust lawyer and probably not licensed in your state. This is not legal advice. It’s worth what you paid for it.

Good luck.

Clarification: My earlier reply dealt with your existing trust and the prior Form 4. On that point, an ATF FAQ relating to 41F says:

“Will new responsible persons, added after the making or transfer, be subject to the same requirements?
A: Once an application has been approved, no documentation is required to be submitted to ATF when a new responsible person is added to a trust or legal entity. However, should a responsible person change after the application has been submitted, but before it is approved, the applicant or transferee must contact the NFA Branch for guidance.”

If you don’t have to report a new trustee, I don’t see why you’d have to report a trustee’s change of name. After all, the purpose of reporting RPs is to allow the ATF to run a background check before approving the transfer. If the transfer already occurred, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to run another background check, especially on the same trustee, even if the name changed. Not that government processes make sense.

As to your new Form 4 for your Thunderbeast (I’m waiting for mine, too!), I would think you just put the current name of the trustee in the Responsible Persons section, and include a note in parentheses saying “(formerly known as ***)”. If you bought the suppressor from Mile High or similarly expert dealer, they could advise further.

 

[260284]

I used the Trust Shop to re-write my original trust and make two of my sons co-trustees, removed a sibling, and changed my daughter's name when she got married. I paid one fee and they make any future changes for free.

Home

Gun Trust to Tax Stamp. The Trust Shop NFA Gun Trust includes everything you'll need to buy or build your Silencer or SBR. ATF & 41F Approved.

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[LawnMM]

IMO the easiest way is to be the only trustee, and set up other people to be beneficiarys of the trust or provisions that they be automatically promoted to trustee in the event of your demise.

That said, having copies of the notorized paperwork showing the person with the name change is the same should be more than sufficient I would think.

Also not a lawyer.

 

[Voroshilovsky]

IMO the easiest way is to be the only trustee, and set up other people to be beneficiarys of the trust or provisions that they be automatically promoted to trustee in the event of your demise.

That said, having copies of the notorized paperwork showing the person with the name change is the same should be more than sufficient I would think.

Also not a lawyer.

I would bet that anything too far away from the simplest trust deed would tend to lengthen the approval period. So my approach was to file the Form 4 with a single trustee and beneficiary, and then amend and restate the deed after I got the tax stamp to reflect the more bespoke provisions I want.

 

[wizardpc]

I appreciate all the replies.

I feel pretty safe/confident with how the trust is set up right now, but after reading up a lot more I feel like my best move going forward is to do single-shot trusts for future items.

I'll keep everything I have currently as it is since it's pretty simple to prove the name change is a thing that happened.