Question: In a recent Q and A you talked about “blind trusts” no longer being enforceable because NedWarren, the King of Land Fraud, had used individual blind trusts to sell Arizona lots in the1970s that had no water, utilities or access. I have a revocable living trust for my homeprepared by an estate attorney. The sole beneficiary of this trust was my daughter, who recentlypassed away. Do I now have a blind trust? What should I do?
Answer: You should contact your estate attorney, but you probably don’t have a blind trust. Blind trusts,which are no longer allowed in Arizona, were used in land fraud sales. In other words, with thepurchase of a lot from a blind trust, the defrauded buyer could not recover damages because theseller was a blind trust —
that is, no individuals as members of the trust and no assets other than thesingle lot that the buyer had purchased.Note: Ned Warren died in prison. At his trial, Warren’s accountant, who had turned “state’sevidence,” was in his building’s parking garage on Central Avenue to drive to court to testifywhen he was shot and killed. Flight records show that two members of the Chicago mob onseparate flights flew from Chicago to Phoenix the day before and flew back on separate flightsfrom Phoenix to Chicago the next day.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Does your living trust become a blind trust after a death?
