Posted by JT-IN on September 19, 2003 at 14:47:01:
This varies from State to State… In states where the Trustee’s name does not need to appear on the Trust, then it is common practice to file an “Affidavit of Trustee”, which states who the Trustee is, and a valid mailing address. Reason being, there must a person or point of contact for any constructive legal notice to be delivered, kind of like a Corp, Registered Agent.
Could you imagine delinquint taxes or a lawsuit being filed, and due to no one to serve notice of record, a default judgment is granted… Bad news… This is why the Trustee should be listed with a contact address.
Posted by Antoine on September 18, 2003 at 09:07:14:
I have a LLC which I want to be the benificiary of a land trust. Do I need to create another entity (possibly property management company) to be the trustee or do I find a trusted person to be the trustee? I would prefer not to have a person as a trustee.
Posted by Brad Crouch on September 18, 2003 at 13:20:56:
Antoine,
It is better to use a corporation as a trustee as they do not die and have their affairs entangled in a probate process.
There are several “professional” trustees. Like banks and you might even want to check out Chicago Title. They provide trustee services and I believe they can be trusted. Almost any Trust company can help.
To more directly answer your question, no you don’t HAVE to create a separate entity to be trustee . . . but if you wanted to, a corporation would be the best one to create.
This decision would ultimately depend upon the quantity of properties you have in land trusts. In My state it is expensive to set up a corporation (or LLC). It might be more cost efficient to use somebody like Chicago Title as trustee, as long as you have less than 10 (or so) trusts active.