Land trust vs umbrella policy

[Fabiola F.]

I own a vacation rental property that I had to quit claim out of my LLC into my name when I did a cash out refinance. So for asset protection & anonymity, I'm considering transferring the property into a land trust. Here's the 3 scenarios I'm considering:

1 Is the anonymity protection a lost cause at this point since ownership has already been exposed and title is now in my name since the refi?

2 Regardless of loss of anonymity, is it still worth transferring into a land trust for asset protection and especially since it is a vacation rental and I need protection against liability?

3 Would an umbrella policy be sufficient without the land trust and provide me with the protection & liability coverage? As a side note: there's significant equity in the property.

[Costin I.]

@Fabiola F. @John Mocker - there is a definite answer on the LLC's vs Umbrella: you need to have the Umbrella coverage regardless. LLC is not replacement for regular insurance, nor for Umbrella insurance. It's something else, a complement and you can consider it a form of insurance against litigation.

The Land Trust only gives you a layer of anonymity, it does NOT offer any legal protection. I think only in Florida a land trust has more teeth, but otherwise a land trust is not going to do much for liability protection. It also complements and often works in conjunction with an LLC, but is not a replacement for Umbrella, nor LLC.

So, to answer Fabiola questions [not a lawyer, nor CPA, so take them at the value of what you paid for this]:

1 Is the anonymity protection a lost cause at this point since ownership has already been exposed and title is now in my name since the refi?  Pretty much, you have a long trail left behind, plus a mortgage note registered in your name. 

2 Regardless of loss of anonymity, is it still worth transferring into a land trust for asset protection and especially since it is a vacation rental and I need protection against liability? Land trusts do NOT offer asset protection. It might still be worth transferring into a Land Trust for other reasons (estate planing, that layer of anonymity, ease of transfer of beneficiaries, etc.)

3 Would an umbrella policy be sufficient without the land trust and provide me with the protection & liability coverage? [As a side note: there's significant equity in the property.] You need umbrella policy regardless. Often the mortgage note is a form of asset protection, unless you have significant equity in the property. If that is sufficient in terms of liability protection is linked to many other subjective factors particular to your situation, and even then you still need to do many things outside of an LLC for risk mitigation.

Here is a diagram to help you on your quest: asspro-cya-diagram-v6a-solo-401k