What information is generally made available in the public records?

• Your full legal name
• Any nicknames or aliases you may have, including your maiden name
• Your home address
• Your mailing address, if it is different from your home address
• Information as to whether your home is your personal residence, an investment property, or a second home
• Your phone number and your contact information
• The date you purchased your home
• The purchase price you paid for your home
• Information as to whether you purchased anything else along with your home, such as furniture or fixtures
• The assessed or appraised value of your home
• The amount of equity you have in your home
• The type of mortgage you have on your home, including the amount owed
• The name of your mortgage company
• Information as to whether you have a second mortgage, third mortgage, or home equity line of credit on your home
• The date you obtained your mortgages or lines of credit, including information as to whether you refinanced your home or pulled cash out, and if so how much you cashed out
• The interest rate you pay on your mortgages or lines of credit
• Whether your loan has a fixed interest rate or is an adjustable rate mortgage
• The date your interest rate adjusts or balloons
• The length of your mortgage, be it 15, 30, or 40 years
• In many counties, a picture of your home
• The number of bedrooms and bathrooms in your home
• The square footage of your home
• The acreage of your home
• The number of stories your home has
• Whether your home has a basement, and if so the square footage of your basement
• Whether your home has air-conditioning and fireplaces
• The year your home was built
• What your home is zoned
• Information as to whether you have a homestead exemption on your home
• Information as to whether you have any FiFa’s or liens on your home
• How much you pay in property taxes each year
• Whether you have paid your taxes on time or are delinquent on your payments
• If you are delinquent, the number of years you have been delinquent and the amount due

Who can access information placed in the public domain?
The information is available to pretty much anyone, including:

• Identity thieves
• Mass marketers
• Telemarketers
• Your boss
• Your employees
• Your co-workers
• Your friends
• Your family
• Creditors
• Tenants
• City inspectors
• Litigation attorneys
• IRS Agents
• Newspaper Reporters
• Regular, everyday “snoops”

Has it always been so easy to obtain all of this information about homeowners?
No. While information about homeowners has always been recorded in the public records, for the most part it was difficult to find. To obtain the information, one would have to take a trip to the county courthouse, and then a search through the deed books. Few people had the time or the knowledge to do this. In recent years, however, with the advent of the internet, the ease with which everyday people can access this information has completely changed. Now anyone, anywhere, can view the same information that used to be buried in the county courthouse records with the click of a button.

What is the exact definition of a land trust?
A land trust is a private agreement in which one party (a trustee) agrees to hold property for another party (the owner or beneficiary). The trustee cannot do anything with the property unless directed to do so by the owner. By taking the property out of the name of the owner and placing it into the name of the trust, the owner maintains all the rights and benefits of owning the home, but remains anonymous. The trust can be modified or terminated at any time the owner desires. Think of your trust as similar to a corporation where you own 100% of the stock.

After I set up my privacy trust, will I still maintain control of my home?
Absolutely. Think of your trust as a corporation in which you own 100% of the stock – you are in complete control. You maintain all the rights and benefits of home ownership at all times. We have specially designed the Privacy Professionals' Privacy Trust © so that its sole purpose is to keep your personal information private.

Can I still sell my home at any time?
Absolutely. You maintain all the rights and benefits of home ownership at all times, including the ability to sell, refinance, or rent your home at any time you wish. Again, we have specially designed the Privacy Trust so that its sole purpose is to keep your personal information private.

Will I still be able to deduct the interest on my mortgage from my taxes?
Absolutely. At the risk of sounding repetitive, you maintain all the rights and benefits of home ownership at all times, including all of the tax benefits.

What if i change my mind?
No problem. You can dissolve the trust at anytime you wish.

About how does the process take?
It will take about a week to process and produce your Privacy Trust agreement. The time needed to record your deed varies slightly from county to county, but generally takes 2 to 4 weeks.

What annual fees would the trust incur?
None. Your trust is a private document and there are no annual fees. You should, however, pay something to your trustee. If your trustee is a friend of yours, you can pay them as little as $10 a year. If the trustee is a business associate, you may choose to pay them more. The duties of your trustee are minimal, and we do not suggest any need to pay them very much, but of course the decision is completely up to you.

What filing requirements are there with the state or county?
None. While a corporation is obligated to comply with annual filing requirements, a trust is a private document and is not registered with the state or county. There are no filing fees at all.

Will the trust be recorded in the public records?
No. Your trust document is completely private, which is why no one searching through the current public tax records will be able to find your name.

What should I name my trust?
Anything you like. There are no requirements or guidelines for naming your trust. To keep things simple, we often recommend naming your trust the address of your property. For instance, if you live at 123 Smith Street, an easy name would be The 123 Smith Street Trust, which does not indicate anything about you to anyone looking through the public records. The name, however, is completely up to you.

Who should I pick as my trustee?
Anyone you like. And don’t forget, we have written the Privacy Professionals' Privacy Trust © in such a way that you can change your trustee any time you like.

What if something happens to my trustee?
If for any reason something should happen to your trustee, you can easily replace them with any other trustee you choose. For instance, if your trustee moves away, or becomes ill, or if you just decide you don’t want them anymore, you can replace them with anyone else you like.

If I am sued, will the privacy trust protect my assets?
It will not. The Privacy Professionals Privacy Trust © was written for one simple purpose – to keep your personal information private. The Trust will help you hide your assets, but would not protect them if you are sued. Of course by hiding your assets through a Privacy Trust, you will likely reduce your odds of being sued in the first place – lawyers usually don’t bother suing people who don’t have any assets such as a home.

Will the privacy trust hide information about my home?
No. The Privacy Professionals Privacy Trust © will remove your personal information from the current records, but it is impossible to remove that information from the permanent county tax records. In other words, if someone searches through the current public records for your name, they would not find anything. However, if someone looked up your home rather than your name, there is no way to hide information about the home such as the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.

Will the privacy trust completely remove my information from the public records?
No. When you purchase your home, your mortgage company will require that you buy your home in your own name. Anytime after that, you can place your home into your Privacy Professionals' Privacy Trust © and get your name out of the current public records. When someone searches through the current tax records, your name will not show up. If someone decides to look up the history of a property, however, they will be able to see that at one point you did own the home. The Privacy Trust is in no way foolproof, and if someone really wants to find out information about you they will be able to do so. The purpose of the Privacy Trust is not to completely insulate you from anyone finding out information about you, but rather to make it significantly more difficult for them to do so.

Will my mortgage company complain if I put my home in a Privacy Trust?
Legally, you have the right to transfer your home into a trust so long as you remain the beneficiary of the trust. When you buy your home, your mortgage company will require that your purchase it in your own name, but you can transfer it into your Privacy Trust right afterwards.

Are the names of my trust and trustee recorded in the public records?
Yes, and this is why your name is made anonymous as the owner of your home. Your name is removed from the public records, and is replaced by the name of your trust and trustee. The actual trust document is not recorded anywhere, so no one can find out who owns your home without a court order.

How long will my trust last?
A trust generally lasts for twenty years. If you own your property for more than twenty years, The Privacy Professionals, Ltd. will be happy to renew your Privacy Trust for free.

How long have trusts been in existence?
According to Wikipedia, land trusts have been in existence since Roman times. In the modern world they date back to the reign of King Henry VIII of England. During his reign, land owners were forced to serve in the military. People therefore tried to hide their ownership of land through the use of land trusts so they would not have to go to war. In an attempt to close this loophole, King Henry passed the “Statute of Uses” in 1536. Despite the new statute, however, the courts of England ruled that the use of land trusts would remain legal.

In the United States, land trusts began in Chicago in the late 1800’s. City officials were forbidden to vote on building projects when they owned land nearby, and thus tried to hide the fact that they owned property by placing them in trusts. The practice went all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court, which like the courts of England upheld the use of trusts.

Ever since, land trusts have been utilized throughout the country for a multitude of purposes. For instance, land trusts are used by nonprofit organizations to hold conservation easements, and by investment groups and corporations to hide their purchases. Interestingly, when Walt Disney World was buying vast tracts of land in Orlando, Florida to build their amusement park, they used land trusts to buy small tracts of land bit by bit. In this way they were able to hide the fact that they were the true owners of the property – if anyone knew it was Walt Disney that was buying up all the property, they would have been able to raise the asking price substantially.