@Eamonn McElroy - At the time I was exploring this potential scenario my thoughts were to use a best friend or family member out of state as trustee (or perhaps co-trustee). I tend to think that might be the more prudent way to do it versus assuming that role oneself. Does it all depend on whether the trustee resides in or out of California? Possibly, though I’m not convinced personally that’s the case necessarily.
For what it's worth- I hired an attorney months back, and based on his input I ended up pursuing a different path altogether making this subject moot for my purposes, but we did discuss trusts. And he said that while it is commonly the case, it is not necessarily the case that a grantor cedes all management and control of the trust when they are not trustee; he said further that certain trusts can be written in a way that affords the beneficiaries sufficient control (and the grantor could become a beneficiary). Now, did I ask him to point me to the relevant statutory or case law to prove it? No, not for that particular topic. He was able to do such for more important topics to me though, and through working with him I would personally trust his word on this subject barring someone presenting the law showing otherwise. That said, I'm not a lawyer and can't confirm or deny, and would discourage others from accepting such secondhand info as truth and instead contact an attorney of their own that they trust for guidance.
The reason I included the link to Scott Smith's article was because he is well known here on biggerpockets as an attorney specializing in asset protection. His article suggests that one can change the situs of the trust to another state. Granted, it's not all that clear how to do that based on the relevant link, and I attempted to @mention Scott in hopes that he might be able to provide some clarity on that (I see that failed because he is not a "colleague" of mine here on BP). Furthermore, he references a few different types of situs. I could see how the location of the trustee may influence the administrative situs, and therefore the judicial situs. However, would it not be the tax situs that is more relevant in this context? BTW, my questions aren’t meant as a challenge to you (and sorry if it came across that way in my previous post), but rather simply to understand. The concept of trust situs is not one I've been able to get my head around, and from what I gather isn't consistent from state to state, correct me if I'm wrong.
As for the "two on-point court cases", I said previously that I would be glad to look through them. I will continue to follow up on them in that corresponding thread. And I will reserve any comments on the aspect of commercial domicile as it relates to this particular scenario involving a trust pending your reply to my latest post there. Thanks for your commentary thus far.
