Texas Gun Trust Lawyers
You can choose a beneficiary to get ownership of your Title II firearms that are restricted by the National Firearms Act (NFA) guns after your lifetime in Texas. Gun trusts are trusts that are specifically meant to hold ownership of firearms. People that can benefit from these trusts include hunters, collectors, and competition shooters in the state of Texas. You will need the help of an experienced gun trust attorney to help you prepare a legal firearm trust.
Creating A Gun Trust
Your gun trust attorney can help you create a gun trust without any legal errors and that accurately carries all your wishes. You can also ask your attorney any questions about additional guns that you want to be included in the trust. An experienced attorney can also help you to revoke or modify your trust. Examples of Title II firearms are:
- Fully automatic machine guns
- Short-barreled shotguns
- Short-barreled rifles
- Grenades and more
Is a Gun Trust Revocable?
The grantor or owner of the firearm is allowed to revoke or make changes to the trust agreement at any time before the grantor dies. That means that once the grantor dies the trust is irrevocable and all its terms must be met. But there are gun trusts that are irrevocable even when the grantor is still alive. Once the grantor signs such an irrevocable trust they cannot revoke it under any circumstances.
Why You Need A Gun Trust
Most people create gun trusts to prevent heirs from violating NFA provisions. Other reasons why you need a gun trust are:
- To ensure that trustees have the right to possess or use the trust firearms
- To avoid a situation where a probate court has to make decisions about your firearms after your death
- Keep the firearms in the trust so that inheritors don’t have to pay transfer tax, file forms, and so on
- To protect the executor of your estate from violating gun laws if the executor has no knowledge of guns or gun laws
- A trust protects the grantor from laws that may come in the future that may prevent the grantor from passing certain firearms to heirs
- You can also use a gun trust to keep information about your guns private
So basically, a gun trust helps you protect your guns and the people who inherit those guns after you are no longer living. However, just like other trusts, gun trusts have limitations such as you cannot set up a gun trust for firearms that were acquired illegally, and a gun trust cannot act as a permit for people that are not registered to use those firearms.
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You Need To Know This Before Drafting A Gun Trust
Beware of advice from non-lawyers about how to draft a gun trust. For example, do not buy a fill in the blank form from a gun shop. Any poorly drafted gun trust can lead to an invalid transfer of your firearms to heirs which could result in your heirs facing criminal charges. So talk to a gun trust lawyer to help you draft a solid gun trust that will protect your heirs and your firearms.