NFA Gun Trust Lawyer Blog

One of the most common questions I get pertains to the use of regular or other so called gun trusts for the purchase of items restricted by the NFA.

The are many differences between a family, limited, or standard revocable trust and our NFA Firearms Trust. The biggest difference is difference is that other types of revocable trusts are designed to protect your assets from the abuse of others and our trust is designed to allow for the abuse ( the use) of the firearms. Our NFA firearms trust has be re-written from the ground up to protect your firearms and those who use them or are in possession of them.

In fact, you should not put non-firearms in the NFA trust and if you have a pour over will, you should change the will to direct that any firearms remaining in your estate go to your firearms trust and the remainder of the assets go to your traditional trust.

There are to many changes to go into in detail and one can only appreciate the changes when they are read with the concept of preservation of the firearms and protection of your family and friends in mind.

A Washington state gun store prepared an invalid trust for their customer and ATF approved 3 Form 4 transfers.

Not only is the preparation of a trust by a non-lawyer the unauthorized practice of law, but it also could put you at risk of an invalid transfer, possession, and use charge by the ATF which could subject you to forfeiture of your firearms, a $250,000 penalty, and up to 10 years in jail.

This particular gun store trust did not have a trustee, successor trustee or a beneficiary and was missing required schedules that were required for validity by the way the trust was drafted.

Remember that even if the ATF approves an invalid trust, it does not make the transfer legal. ATF is approving a transfer to a non-existent entity, which you cannot comply with, and when you take possession it becomes illegal. The good news is many trusts can be updated to be valid and keep the original name so that there is a valid trust behind the possession of the firearms. If you would like to have your trust reviewed, contact a Gun Trust Lawyer.

There have been many discussions on this and it appears that as of July 2010 the answer is:
Yes, and you will not be required to again register the firearm before replacing the short barrel. ATF recommends written notification to the NFA Branch when a firearm's configuration is permanently changed or removed from the purview of the NFA.

If I put my original barrel back on my SBR or SBS, can I take it across state lines without using an ATF Form 5320.20?

If you no longer own the barrel, you can do this, but if you still own or possess the short barrel, the item is still restricted by the NFA unless you remove the item from the NFA by contacting the ATF.

The SBR r SBS will be removed from the NFA and will not be regulated under the NFA as long as the owners does not maintain possession or control over the short barrel. While there is no requirement to notify the ATF of the transfer of an item which has been removed from the NFA, the ATF does recommend that you notify the NFA branch of such changes in writing so that the possessor is not mistakenly identified as the owner if the firearm is later used in a crime.

According to the July 2010 Training handbook, the ATF states that the Statute of Limitations for a violation of the NFA is 3 years

If you still own or have control over the barrel or parts required to assemble the SBR or SBS, the firearm would still be subject to NFA transfer and possession regulations. ATF recommends contacting State law enforcement officials to ensure compliance with state and local law. (In Florida and some other states, possession of a barrel and receiver which could be made in a SBR or SBS is a crime unless the firearm is registered as a SBR or SBS under the NFA.)

If you do not have the barrel the firearm is no longer a SBR or SBS.

Under the NFA the serialized receiver is what is recorded for registration in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR)

Unfortunately, the answer is no. The ATF considers the trust as a separate legal entity and the tax must be paid for the additional transfer. Given that this is essentially an tax by the IRS, it would seem logical that the tax would be waived because a revocable trust is a pass through entity and not taxed. As far as I know this has not been challenged because it is only $200 for the transfer and the cost to fight it would be many thousands of dollars.

Auction arms has a FFL Finder that may help you find a local dealer to do your Class III Transfers. Check out the FFL Finder.

While times have varied greatly over the last few years, it appears that the time your ATF Form 4 or Form 1 will take for approval seems to be tied to who the examiner is. A website NFATRACKER.com is collecting information on the times and offers some reporting on how long various transfers are taking. While the site is gaining speed and beginning to gather data, anyone who has a recent transfer should go and record your results. It is easy to create a login and select the type of item and whether you were an individual trust or corporation and the dates that certain events took place. So far we do not know how or if there is a way to pick who your examiner is by what the name of your trust is. The site's manager has stated that one reader seems to have found that there is some correlation between the name of the dealer and the examiner but it is still unknown if you can do anything to improve the time you trust takes for approval. If we figure anything out we will keep you updated. If you need help finding a local NFA Gun Trust attorney, have questions about a trust, or want to create a Valid NFA trust contact us.

If you want to use multiple caliber barrels on a SBR or SBS there here are some guidelines that will help you fill out your ATF Form 1, which are also found on our updated How to fill out a Form 1 for a Trust Page.

4c should contain the caliber or gage of the firearm. Only one is acceptable. ( Multi is not acceptable, you can only list one, if you have additional calibers you want to list you can list them in 4h).

Please note that all barrels must be short, if you want to use a barrel that would not be classified as a SBR or SBS, you must remove the item from the NFA and then you would have to purchase a new tax stamp to make it a SBR or SBS in the future.

If a NFA Trust or Gun Trust is not funded, it does not exist. It's important to have a trust funded for it to exist. This is one of the reasons ATF requires an Schedule A or Assignment Sheet. This shows that there are assets in the trust. Many Trusts are rejected by ATF as invalid because of their appearance of being invalid by not having any assets. Many states do not have a requirement to include a list of assets with the trust or even proof that it has been funded but ATF has a checklist and will not approve a transfer to a trust without including a Schedule A or Assignment to the trust. If you trust was rejected by ATF and would like to know why, we and our network of over 100 lawyers can help you determine what needs to be done to your trust and if there are problems with the design of your trust in regards to NFA firearms.

While its legal to give someone a form for a trust or will to fill out, its illegal for a non-lawyer to help them complete the form or fill it out for them. Gerry Beyer of the WIlls, Trust & Estate Prof Blog brought my attention to this issue. Many software manufactures, firearms manufactures, gun stores, and individuals do not understand that the act of helping someone create legal documents without a license to practice law is the Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) and a crime in every state. The reason these actions are prohibited by state law is that individuals without the proper legal knowledge and background tend to give wrong, inaccurate, and misleading advise to others who can be harmed by the misinformation.

Take for example the Silencer manufacture in the Midwest, who use to post a free trust for their clients. While a lawyer could have taken that trust and completed it correctly, it was missing some very important language which made the trust invalid in almost every state. The ATF was approving these trusts for a while, but as these individuals have been going back to make new purchases, they are being told that their trust is not valid.

Likewise, there are many examples of Quicken trusts that are posted on the INTERNET. Besides being inappropriate for NFA firearms, which a non-lawyer would not understand, many are not valid in other states. We have seen many people trying to use an Arizona trust in Florida. The problem is Florida has different requirements for a valid trust than Arizona and while if the trust was created in Arizona it might be valid, if it is created in Florida it will not comply with the Florida Trust Code. We see these issues all over the country and this is why we work with more than 100 lawyers in over 40 states to help individuals and their families prepare valid trusts that deal with the unique issues of NFA firearms ownership, transfer, possession, and use.

Apparently LegalZoom is the latest company to be sued for UPL because they were offering customized wills and information on how to modify their will and change payable on death accounts and joint property deal with estate planning issues.

If you are looking to prepare a trust for any purpose, you should have your individual circumstances and objectives reviewed by a lawyer who can then make suggestions and give you options based upon what makes sense for you and your family.

Publication

ATF 5300.4 in 27 CFR 479.102 (page 92) describes what is necessary to engrave on a SBR or SBS when one is manufacturing. This is not necessary if you purchase one that is already manufactured as it will have been done for you.

1) On the Frame or Receiver the Serial number;
2) on the frame, receiver, or barrel the following additional information;
   A)The model;
   B)The caliber or gage;
   C)Your name or name of the Trust in the case of a Trust (no abbreviations are permitted for the Trust name);
   D)The city and state (you can abbreviate the state with the official 2 digit state code)

The above mentioned information must be engraved, casted, stamped (impressing) or otherwise conspicuously placed or caused to be engraved, cast, stamped (impressed) or placed to a minimum depth of .003 inch and in a print size of the Serial number shall be no smaller than 1/16 inch.