Arthur Nelson Protected His Wyoming Mountain Cabin with a Trust
“I understand,” she said. “But it is the only way to build a wall around the cabin that his lawyers cannot climb over.”
By eleven o’clock, we had moved into the small conference room at the back of the suite, where a long pine table took up most of the space. The room smelled of old paper and carpet shampoo, and the single window looked out at a rusty dumpster behind the dry cleaner’s.
Rebecca laid out the preliminary trust agreement, the pages smelling faintly of fresh toner.
“This trust means you no longer own the cabin, but neither can any of his creditors,” Rebecca said, pointing to the third paragraph on the first page.
I leaned over the table, reading the words slowly. “The trustee has sole authority over the physical assets.”
“Yes,” Rebecca said. “You will name yourself as the lifetime beneficiary, and we can designate a co-trustee or a successor who has no financial interest in your family’s debts. But the key is the transfer of title. Once you sign this, you cannot simply dissolve it to take the deed back.”
