In the state of Arizona must(by law) the trustee of a land trust be a
licensed escrow agent?

Hello lucyfur-ga. 
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The following is my search strategy, but the last divison (of the
dashes) is the answer you are looking for.
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I began to attempt to answer your question by initiating a good ol'
Google search. After some unsuccessful searches, I entered this as my
query:

"arizona law" "land trust"  escrow

I went to this site, which was a site found on the first page of my search:

http://www.internetserviceinfo.com/arizona-deeds-trust.html

As you can see, by visiting that site, there is quite a large list of
links to various sites about Arizona State Law and regarding deeds. I
went to a link called "Arizona Revised Statutes." You can find the
hyperlink here:

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ArizonaRevisedStatutes.asp?Title=33

This is the main site I used to find the information you were looking
for. I scrolled down to the "Deeds of Trust" section, looked for the
trustee qualifications, and it brought be to the final page.

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Here is the site I used:

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/33/00803.htm&Title=33&DocType=ARS

I found the section 33-803 of the Arizona State Legislature, which states:
"A. Except as provided in subsection B, the trustee of a trust deed shall be:

1. An association or corporation doing business under the laws of this
state as a bank, trust company, savings and loan association, credit
union, insurance company, escrow agent or consumer lender.

2. A person who is a member of the state bar of Arizona.

3. A person who is a licensed real estate broker under the laws of this state.

4. A person who is a licensed insurance producer under the laws of this state.

5. An association or corporation that is licensed, chartered or
regulated by the federal deposit insurance corporation, the
comptroller of the currency, the federal home loan bank, the national
credit union administration, the farm credit administration, the
federal reserve board or any successors.

6. The parent corporation of any association or corporation referred
to in this subsection or any corporation all the stock of which is
owned by or held solely for the benefit of any such association or
corporation referred to in this subsection.

B. An individual trustee of a trust deed who qualifies under
subsection A shall not be the beneficiary of the trust, but such
restriction shall not preclude a corporate or association trustee that
qualifies under subsection A and while acting in good faith from being
the beneficiary, or after appointment from acquiring the interest of
the beneficiary by succession, conveyance, grant, descent or devise.

C. A trustee of a trust deed who qualifies under subsection A shall
not lend or delegate the trustee's name or corporate capacity to any
individual or entity that does not qualify as a trustee of a trust
deed. An individual, company, association or corporation shall not
circumvent the requirements of subsection A by acting in concert with
a nonqualifying trustee.

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To answer your question, a trustee must be an association or
corporation doing business under Arizona law as one of the following:

- a bank
- trust company
- savings and loan association
- credit union
- insurance company
- escrow agent
- consumer lender

If my understanding of Arizona law is correct, one does not have to be
an escrow agent, as long as he is one of the others in the above list.
I hope this is the information you were seeking, and thank you for
your time.

Cap'n Durk

Thank you Capn, but you have completely misread the question . Please
take a closer look. Thx P.S. Hint: How did you go from "land trust to
deed of trust"? No disrespect intended. Thx, again.

Sorry, I'm a moron. I'll try looking again later.

Cap'n Durk

Sorry, lucyfur-ga, but the only angle that really led to anything was this webpage:

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ArizonaRevisedStatutes.asp

That was the only page that had listings regarding Arizona law of
trusts. Although the trust discussion is only in general, it is the
Arizona State Legistlature's actual titles as of January 1, 2005. As
far as I've read, in the articles and such, there is no mention of a
trustee's qualifications. To find the general articles of a trustee,
go to Title 14 - Trusts, Estates and Protective Proceedings. The web
address is:

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ArizonaRevisedStatutes.asp?Title=14

Go to Chapter 7: Trust Administration, and review articles 2, 2.1, and
3. As you can see, I didn't find anything to do with a trustee's
qualifications.

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I feel as if I cannot provide an adequate response to your question,
because I simply cannot find the information that explicitly states
the real qualifications of a trustee dealing in a land trust. I don't
believe the general guidelines set down by a general trust are enough
information to give a good answer, but if you think so, then I'm glad
to be of assistance. Otherwise, I'm sorry to be of no assistance to
you. I hope your question gets answered in the future.

Cap'n Durk

Not sure if this question is still valid, but . . .

A land trust, also called an Illinois land trust (where it originated)
is simply a type of intervivos, or living, trust.  To my knowledge,
there is no such requirement for being a trustee.  However, if you
transfer title to real property into the land trust you must list the
beneficiary on the deed, or the transfer can be voided.

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