Legal Land Theft Protection

Once you own a home or the land to build your home on, protecting your property from legal land theft becomes absolutely vital. We might logically assume that once we have paid for something, it's ours and that's that. Unfortunately the feudal nature of supposed land ownership in America has taken hold despite our apparently forgotten separation and independence from the shackles of early British society.

Real estate can legally be stolen from a so-called land owner via eminent domain, probate, leins, lawsuits, judgments, seizures, delinquent taxes and other such petty schemes. All forms of legal land theft may not be completely and 100% preventable, but the possibility can be reduced considerably.

Land Theft By Taxes

Personally, I find the fact that we are still required to continue paying for real estate after we have already paid for it (or the feds will come steal your property and sell it to someone else for pennies on the dollar) absolutely revolting... at least for the true original owner. But I don't see this changing any time soon, and often the best prices are found via legal land theft, so I would suggest doing all you can to prevent it from happening to you (i.e., don't miss loan payments or avoid loans altogether, eliminate or reduce and pay property taxes on time, make sure your real estate transactions and transfers are legal, hold real estate and other personal assets in trust, etc.).

Holding Assets in Trust

First keep in mind that what you don't legally own cannot legally be taken away from you. And, in order for real estate to be taken by eminent domain, probate, creditors, lawsuits, liens, judgments or seizures, the name of the owner must first be known. These are two very good reasons for holding real estate in trust. Property deeds are recorded in public records, but only in the name of a trust, not in the name of the grantor. Trustees are also obligated to the privacy of the grantor (the creator of the trust), and they cannot divulge information such as the name of the grantor or beneficiaries without a court order. Trust documents may also include a spendthrift provision to prevent grantors, trustees and/or beneficiaries from using trust corpus (real estate or other assets held in trust) as payment to satisfy debts. If structured properly, trusts may be used for personal asset protection purposes, and even to legally reduce or eliminate probate, gift and estate taxes.

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