Silvic - what you described is exactly the way it is in Virginia too. But here it is different. The roads are full of RVs big as houses, no CDL. Or for boats either. But a non-farm working man's trailer, over 10k, CDL required.
The Loadtrail dealer says the highway patrol will not usually pull you over to check the trailer, but, if you get stopped for anything else, they check the registration, and if it is over 10K you have to park the trailer on the side of the road and go find someone with a CDL to move it.
The dealer said they sell a lot of 14k trailers derated to 9990. So you can get the heavy undercarriage and have a legal registration.
Doesn't make sense to me either.