Confusing and Frustrating LLC and trusts

[Donald S.]

Hi everyone. So you know how on all the podcasts etc they say "I'm not an attorney and make sure you speak with an attorney first...." well I did just that. I spoke with 2 attorneys in the past 2 days and they completely contradicted each other.

first I spoke with @Scott Smith and his suggestion was (without going into great detail) use a land trust to hold title, a series LLC with child series a as the beneficiary of the land trust, and then have a separate PM LLC for managing the property.

then I spoke with a real estate attorney in St. Louis, my hometown. His suggestion was a series LLC, but just transfer the title into child series A and forgo any trusts or separate PM LLC.

His reasoning once I told him Scott's suggestion was the land trust doesn't have any real anonymity, he said he will (as a plaintiff's lawyer) find out who the beneficiary is, and if I am the trustee and grantor of the trust then he can still come after my personal assets as the grantor.

He also said wrapping trusts and LLCs where my partner and I at the core are still grantor, trustees, and owners of the LLC would make it easy for him to pierce the veil and get at anything we own. So I'm lost. 2 reputable attorneys with wildly varying positions on what I should do. Thoughts? Questions? Should I find a 3rd opinion.

It feels like the people who made the mortgage rules and those who made the laws for LLCs don't know how the other works.

We're using a conventional loan so we're closing in our personal names, that's why we have to transfer it to something if we want to get asset protection.

[Chris Mason]

Early on before there's a vast real estate empire running on auto-pilot, no one really has the energy to navigate both the entity guru stuff AND actually grow their real estate business. You certainly meet folks with 12 entities & 250 page tax returns but no actual success to show (you REALLY need 2 LLCs, a trust, and an S corp, for your 1 triplex, buddy??? I'm sure your lawyer loves all the legal fees! :P ), and you certainly meet folks making money hand over fist without any guru entities, but you rarely meet someone in that happy middle ground.