Thanks Joe! Yeah, it feels great. Corinne was so excited this morning to see the Wells Fargo account listed as "paid in full." :)
We briefly looked into the living trust stuff and have relatives that do it in California. Since TN doesn't have state income tax or the same inheritance tax issues as CA (what a mess there) I've heard it's not as beneficial to set up here. Either way, the fact that we have to waste so much energy jumping through these hoops is just ridiculous. If I'm going to be stolen from via taxes, they might as well make it easy with a flat tax or land-based tax so those who set up the laws can't jump through the loop holes to avoid them.
Yeah, there are a lot of reasons to set up asset protection for your property. One of them is that if it's done before anything happens, then it tends to stand scrutiny better. If TN changes the laws then you might enjoy some grandfather protections. I honestly don't know, but it might be worth looking into. I studied a lot about asset protection for a few years, but haven't really kept up in the last couple. I have a friend who does though, so I know where to go.
You're right. We shouldn't even have to worry about all the nonsense. But that's part of living in the land of the free... feudal title. :/
Another reason to consider for establishing a trust for your property is it provides a measure of privacy. This is especially true for your vehicles. They can essentially be named anything you want. You can add any property to it, your home, your vehicles or whatever. The title on your vehicles is listed in the name of your trust, not your personal name.
Trusts can be very useful tools, but like any legal matter it requires good research and is subject to changes in the laws which can occur at any time and be unpredictable. I considered using a trust for my property and ultimately decided to employ a different strategy.
I highly recommend you look into it though. It may be important to your family and your next generations to come, as well as in your old age.