Using a land trust to protect your privacy

Daniel: My wife's a public figure. She's an author. We want to make sure that when we purchase property, we got to obfuscate the personal details. I know deeds are very public, I know that movie stars and such like that, there's a way to do it. I'm just not very familiar how. That's my question there.

Attorney Tom Olsen: When you buy a piece of property, let's say you buy a piece of property in Orange County, anybody can search Orange County, search the name, your name, search the address of the property and get access to that deed. They even, sometimes, people are using what's called a land trust. They're using that land trust for the purpose of privacy so that the name of the person is not in the public records, the name of the trust is in the public records. The problem with the land trust is you still have to have a trustee. You can't be trustee because your name's still appearing. Your wife can't be trustee because her name would still be appearing.

You'd have to find a neutral third party to be the trustee of your land trust, their name would be in so that their name would be in the public records, not yours.

Daniel: Right, okay. That makes a lot of sense. I appreciate that. I just wasn't sure how to go about that since it is a concern for us.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Okay, it's called a land trust, Daniel. To use a land trust, you're going to have to find somebody, a friend, a neighbor, a relative, a trusted advisor, a CPA, your lawyer, somebody who will be the trustee of the land trust so that your names are not part of the public record. Daniel, if you want some help with that land trust, feel free to call the Olsen Law Group in Orlando next week at 407-423-5561.