Request By:
Mr. Kermit Mann
Russell County Court Clerk
Jamestown, Kentucky 42629
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: William S. Riley, Assistant Attorney General
In your recent letter to the Attorney General an opinion is requested concerning the application of real estate transfer tax to a deed which was presented for recording in your office.
The deed is between Apple Valley Resort, Inc., a Kentucky corporation, as the grantor, and Frank E. Haddad, Jr. and Harris J. Berman, grantees, as trustees.
By the terms of the trust agreement the settlors, Apple Valley Resort, Inc., transferred the property in question to the named trustees. The trustees agree to arrange for and supervise the holding and conducting of a public auction of all or one or more parts or portions of the property pursuant to written instructions of the settlor. Subsequent to the sale of the property there will be a settlement in termination of the trust. The trust begins on the date of the trust instrument which is the 7th day of September, 1977 and terminates on December 31, 1977.
From an examination of the deed and trust instrument, it would appear that the transfer of the property is merely a convenience to sell the condominiums of which the property is composed. The trustees have no real interest in the property, the real owners being Apple Valley Resort, Inc., and the only difference being the deeds will be signed by the trustees rather than Apple Valley Resort, Inc. Under the circumstances, it is our opinion no transfer tax will apply to the transfer of the property to the trustees.