Is the NFA trust dead?

      On July 13, 2016,  ATF Rule 41-F does into effect, and the result of this eliminates the need for a Chief Law Enforcement approval on all NFA (National Firearms Act) purchases, replacing it with a notification requirement to the Chief Law Enforcement officer, instead.  You still need a pre-approval from ATF to take possession of any NFA firearm, do the form, pay the fee, and a few other requirements that are no big deal.

      So,  do you really need an NFA trust after July 12, 2016?

      Well . . .  maybe,  if you really want a trust for estate planning purposes.  In such a situation,  you will want a complex trust plan completed by an attorney who primarily does trust, estate, and probate work. There's a Florida board certification for that -- so,  I'd be looking for that guy or gal to do it.

     Of course,  individual ownership still will allow you to specify who gets the NFA firearms in a will.  If you own them -- having even a simple will with that specification would be a very good idea, otherwise it would go into probate, and that might cause issues.  Likewise,  whoever you designate in the will should not be a "prohibited person".   Again,  a consult with a good probate/estate lawyer might be helpful.

      Personally,  I think I'd rather have individual ownership now, rather than an NFA trust.  However, that means that I must be personally present for anyone else to handle it, or shoot it.  Remember,  possession of an NFA firearm (including silencers) is a ten year felony unless you have the tax stamp, or certain other exceptions and inclusions -- all of which are out of the scope of this article.

      What you do is your business.   Likewise,  you can still obtain an NFA firearm as a partnership, or corporation, etc .

     Hope this helps.