[WSBAPT] Can a WA attorney draft a WA living trust to hold title to a WA property, where all grantors live out of state?

Fri Apr 1 17:19:13 PDT 2022

Besides the issue of out of state grantors, I would tend to advise against siblings holding property in a living trust because of tax issues.
Multiple grantors who are separate taxpayers seems complicated. It doesn’t sound like it is any owner’s home.
Why not draft a WA LLC (gets this property out of estates for WA tax) and can put stipulations on who can force sale, inherit, etc. while being able to identify managers etc.

Heather

Heather S. de Vrieze
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From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Sarah McCarthy
Sent: Friday, April 1, 2022 3:27 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] Can a WA attorney draft a WA living trust to hold title to a WA property, where all grantors live out of state?

It's been my practice to only draft estate planning documents for clients who are residents of the State of WA.  If an out of state resident contacts my office wanting a living trust created to hold title to a piece of dirt here in WA, I would always tell the person to have the living trust drafted in the state where the grantor resides - and I would handle the limited piece of quit claiming the piece of dirt into the trust created by an attorney in the grantor's state of residence.

Now I have a situation where 4 siblings co-own a piece of Washington dirt.  None of the siblings lives in WA, and they all live in separate states.  They all want to create a living trust, which would hold title to the property, for the lifetime benefit of 2 of the siblings (residents of Idaho and Hawaii), and for the eventual benefit of the collective set of kids/nieces/nephews.

In this circumstance, since WA is the situs of the piece of dirt in question, it's seeming like it may be appropriate for this trust to be drafted under the laws of the State of WA.

But, this still feels odd.

Anyone think this sounds like a problem, or a-okay?

Sarah O’Farrell McCarthy

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Attorney | Kelly, Arndt & Walker, Attorneys at Law, PLLP
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