Well Armed Bunker Complex 2.0

[Gregg]

I'm wanting to build a new house, and at the same time don't want to be on the Title myself, so I'm going to have to set up some structure to give me the privacy I want.
I don't want to avoid taxes or creditors, I just want to foil someone googling my name and an hour later he has the map view on his tablet driving around the Well Armed Bunker Complex...

WHat are the ups and downs of doing it? On my passing, I would want to provide it as a residence fopr any spouse or partner for as long as they live, but then, in the end, sell it off, contents and all, and feed the hungry with the proceeds...or something like.

Doable? Crazy? I'm just looking for a discussion to give me the info I need to go see a local lawyer and tell him what I want, so just ideas pro and con.....thanks

[jcolvin2]

You may wish to consider a revocable trust with an imaginative name (that could not be linked by the general public with your real name). You would lose none of the benefits of direct ownership (e.g. deduction of mortgage interest and RE taxes), and you could always alter the trust to alter the disposition of the assets if and when your circumstances change.

It would also likely allow this piece of your estate avoid the probate process, which may be a benefit in your state.

[Arthur Rubin]

(I agree with jcolvin2.) Under the circumstances, I wouldn't call it the "Well Armed Bunker Complex 2.0 trust", though. Perhaps the "5 Quatloos trust"? Most of the rest of the message was written before I saw the previous post.

The trustee of a trust is public information, but not likely to be on the Internet. If someone knows the address of the property, they can find the owner from property tax records; in many states, on the Internet. But the owner would be the trust, and your name wouldn't come up directly. If it had an institutional trustee, then your identity would probably only be in their records, and they are not likely to give up your identity without a fight (or being tricked). The terms of a trust are not public.

May be worth a try. You may lose any "homestead" exemption from creditors, but at least in California, you would be considered the owner for homeowners' property tax exemption and for "Proposition 13" basis reduction, as well as for tax purposes mentioned in the previous post. (The basis would increase on your death, and your "partner" would not be considered the owner after death, as he/she couldn't sell the property.)

I am not a lawyer, and this is just something that might work.

[Judge Roy Bean]

... I'm just looking for a discussion to give me the info I need to go see a local lawyer and tell him what I want, so just ideas pro and con.....thanks

Any offspring involved? Present or future?