Land Trust Issues
Purchased a house in 1999 that was in land trust, the trustee covinced me to keep the land trust in effect and pay him $12,500.00 deposit and he would place me and my wife as benificeries of the trust. By doing this i did not have to take out new loan and just start making payments on the original note (which was in the original owners name) Now we want to sell to our son and we need the trustee to sign quit claim deed or special warrantee deed. the trustee has not returned calls. after speaking with my son's banker, i was informed that the trustee might be screwing us. I have been making the motgage payments on this house for 6 years. the maket in this area has climbed 20% since then, and where afraid this trustee is gonna put us out and take the equity. besides contacting a money hungry lawyer, anybody have any ideas. I'm disabled with 2 young children and cant afford a good lawyer.[ Edited by toledo225 on Date 04/24/2004 ]
What trust documentation do you have? You should have the original trust documents, and an assignment of beneficial interest form assigning you as the beneficiary of the trust. If you have this documentation, the Trustee works for you. Read the Trust agreement carefully, if you have it. It should contain information describing what you need to do. Generally they would require you to direct the trustee in writing, telling him/her what to do. An example would be a letter from you (as sole beneficiary) directing the trustee to issue a warranty deed to your son, if this is what you want to do. After title has been successfully transferred, the trust will no longer be funded. Send another letter to the Trustee thanking him/her for their services, and informing them that their services will no longer be required.
All of the above is great in a perfect world. You may need to get an attorney involved, especially if nothing has been taken care of properly to this point.
I wish you the best of luck in all of this,
Jeff