A gun trust is a special type of trust that is designed to hold all of your firearms and firearms-related accessories. Gun trusts make it much easier for your loved ones to handle your firearms should you become incapacitated or die, they boost your ability to share and transfer NFA firearms, and they help ensure all state and federal laws are followed.
Gun trusts have become the planning tool for gun owners whose collections include NFA firearms. One of the primary reasons is the ability to share possession of the NFA firearms with other trustees. Unlike other firearms, unless restricted by your state’s laws, NFA firearms can only be possessed by the person to whom the firearm is registered. There is no exception for family members or other people with whom you live. If you leave your NFA firearm at home where it is accessible to other people, you and the other people in your home are violating federal law.
Most NFA gun owners are aware of this gun-trust benefit. But many gun owners are not aware that gun trusts are important tools for all gun owners, whether or not a collection includes NFA firearms.
Even if your collection does not include NFA firearms, you and your family will still benefit from a gun trust. Gun trusts are important for all gun owners, because they prepare you and your loved ones for your death and incapacity by responsibly addressing your firearms and keeping your affairs out of the court system. Planning for the possibility that you will be incapacitated (whether from age or accident), even if temporarily, is important for everyone. It is even more important for gun owners. Remember: if you don’t plan, the government has a plan for you. The government’s plan is a public, expensive, judge-controlled system that will take away your right to own a firearm.
All gun owners should try to avoid the court system if they are incapacitated or die by creating general estate planning documents as well as a gun trust. To learn more about proper estate planning for gun owners, watch a short video Estate Planning for Gun Owners. To learn why gun trusts are still important planning tools, even after Rule 41F went into effect, watch Why You Still Need a Gun Trust Even After Rule 41F.
What does a properly drafted gun trust look like?
When properly written, gun trusts are powerful asset protection and estate planning tools. A well-drafted gun trust will achieve the following for the gun owner who creates the trust:
- Ensure that friends and family can lawfully possess and transfer trust-owned firearms during the gun owner’s lifetime;
- Create a private plan that completely avoids the court system for all firearms if the gun owner becomes incapacitated or dies;
- Assists gun owners in sharing NFA firearms with other law-abiding gun owners;
- Helps the successors and heirs understand the gun owner’s desires related to all the trust-owned firearms;
- Helps the ones you care about to comply with firearms laws when they possess or transfer the firearms;
- Assists the gun owner to own firearms in more than one state; and
- Ensures that neither gun owner nor any loved ones commits an accidental felony. All of these gun-trust benefits are not affected by Rule 41F.
We would love to meet with you and answer your questions.
Call us at 208-345-6308 to schedule your free consultation, where you can ask all your questions to an Idaho firearms attorney or Oregon firearms attorney about Idaho trusts, Oregon trusts, Idaho gun trusts, Oregon gun trusts, and Idaho gun laws and Oregon gun laws and make an informed decision before you start a project. We serve clients in Boise, Eagle, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell, Star, Emmett, the Treasure Valley, the Magic Valley, Twin Falls, Mountain Home in Idaho, including Ada County, Canyon County, Gem County, Twin Falls County and elsewhere in Idaho. We also service clients in Portland, Lake Oswego, Gold Beach, Brookings, Port Orford, Medford, Oregon, and all over the Pacific Northwest!