Mildly complex structuring for multiple properties. (LLC, Trusts, Multi-state)

[Javier Molina]

So I am military, originally out of CA so it's my "home state"/residency but very easy for me to change as I am stationed out of CA and have been for a long time.

I own several properties in CA and one in WA. I had a conversation with a Probate/Estate lawyer and he suggested the following but what he said doesn't quite add up to what I have read so I want to see if I am just not understanding or if I am getting bad gouge.

Advice was to create WY LLC that owns all properties, that is then "owned" by a land trust for additional anonymity, that the beneficiary is a regular Trust that owns everything else in my name. So when I die, the LLC and all my properties then become part of the general Trust. Further more I only need to file taxes in WY since I am not in CA so not doing any business there so don't have to file CA taxes.

My questions are as follows:

1. Can I actually dodge CA $800 per LLC filing fee since they like to state that even if your property is out of state because you are making decisions from CA you are doing business in CA so if that is their definition of doing business in CA I am safe? (I have read that CA likes to have their cake and eat it too by claiming any part of the chain of money/business no matter how small).

2. If I do have to file in CA does that mean when I file my WY LLC as a foreign LLC do I loose all my anonymity that WY provides? (Is there any real benefit to creating a WY LLC then? Or do I retain some advantages over just going with a CA LLC).

2a. If I do loose all perks of WY LLC above, I read something about creating a CA LLC that is then owned by a WY LLC (that has zero yearly fees) and that's how I can retain all the WY perks while filing CA taxes.

3. Im struggling to understand the Land Trust part. He said since the land trust can't own anything other than real estate, it doesn't own the LLC, the LLC is just the manger of the estate and holding it for the Trust. That seem like the trust is not between me and the LLC so not sure how that provides an additional layer of protection. When I asked him about this he said it's a bit complex. We were already well past the scheduled meet time so I didn't want to push. Can someone explain how a Land Trust works with an LLC for all of this?

4. If we throw all of this out of the window, what would you recommend I set up for both asset protection, minimizing tax liability (including CA crazy $800 per LLC fee), and probate planing. (I just went through probate when my mom passed and it sucks and would like to prevent my successors from having to deal with the same if possible).

Bonus question, one of my properties is still under mortgage, he mentioned something about transferring it to an LLC can trigger a due-on-sale clause but not when transferred to a Trust. Any advice on that aspect?

Thank you so much for your time!