guns in your will

brucew44guns · Post by **brucew44guns** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:00 am

I just pulled an unfired, pristine, beautiful 1895 Winchester in .405 out of the far back of my gun safe. I swabbed it's barrel with a fine coat of oil, wiped off it's exterior, and still hated the safety and re-bounding hammer, but admired the case hardened reciever and great looks of the rifle. Question: Do some of you guys have stated in your Last Will and Testament, any clauses that provide your sons, your sons-in-laws, or even your daughters, some or all of your prized firerarms? What happens to your guns when you pass from this world? Is it left to chance, or did you take steps to make sure a deserving person takes the iron? Bruce

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:23 am

I have no children to leave my toys to. So I'm taking them with me.

Seriously, I have nothing of real value to worry about. It would be a lot more cost effective to just toss all my stuff into a dumpster, than it would be to auction it off, or sell it, or divide it up.
I really should put together a will though.

Oh and that 1895 Miroku Winchester wouldn't be pristine and unfired if it was in my safe.

Joe

jdad · Post by **jdad** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:31 am

In most states, if you don't not have a will/trust/etc, then the state probate court decides what to do with your estate.

I have everything spelled out, in our trust. My brother controls everything until my son reaches 21, then he can have the firearms, and at age 25 the rest of the cash/assets.

I trust him at 21, with firearms, but not a lot of cash.

2ndovc · Post by **2ndovc** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:25 am

I asked my attorney about this a few years ago. He told me that if you specifically leave something of value to someone in your will then he or she will have to pay taxes on it. His reccomendation was to include a note with your will about who gets what. This however is no guarantee that it will be followed. I guess it depends on how much you trust your family to follow your wishes.

AJMD429 · Post by **AJMD429** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:29 am

Consider transferring some of them to their 'future' owners in advance, so if the laws in the future get worse, the guns won't be seized upon your death.

Another idea is a friend of mine says his wife gets the collection, since the money invested in it represented to some extent things she did without. There is a list with two prices for each gun. One is a price for whichever relative (I think the list also states if some particular relative gets first dibs on it) wants to buy it from her, and the other, a higher price for if it would be sold to the public.

That keeps them in the family if relatives who are gun enthusiasts want them enough to pay the wife a nominal price, but doesn't just dump a bunch of nice guns on relatives who may not be that interested. It also gets her some 'insurance' money, which helps her to not gripe too much about any guns purchased - she realizes they represent future money in her wallet!

Gun Smith · Post by **Gun Smith** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:35 am

Since my wife and daughter have no interest in my firearms and don't know their value, here's what I set up. One of my best friends of many years has agreed to dispose of my collection and give the proceeds to my family. For this he will get his pick of several Winchesters for himself. I keep a current priced inventory in my files that I update as time passes. They all know where this is and will use it to receive a fair price for the collection.

Grizz · Post by **Grizz** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:25 pm

brucew44guns wrote:I just pulled an unfired, pristine, beautiful 1895 Winchester in .405 out of the far back of my gun safe. I swabbed it's barrel with a fine coat of oil, wiped off it's exterior, and still hated the safety and re-bounding hammer, but admired the case hardened reciever and great looks of the rifle. Question: Do some of you guys have stated in your Last Will and Testament, any clauses that provide your sons, your sons-in-laws, or even your daughters, some or all of your prized firerarms? What happens to your guns when you pass from this world? Is it left to chance, or did you take steps to make sure a deserving person takes the iron? Bruce

That's a really good question. I have already given a number of my guns to my wife and kids, and I have designated others to go to them when I'm done with them. That takes care of it and by the time I'm gone they will have them all. No quarrels this way. They ask for the ones they want and I make a note of who gets what.

OJ · Post by OJ » Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:30 pm

Something of a dilema to me since I have no children - to speak of, that is. My will leaves everything to my wife.

These are only a few of many but, the only one posing any problems is the last one - .410 pistol NFA registered with the BATFE..

She's smart, though - she'll figure it out.

dkmlever · Post by **dkmlever** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:32 pm

Attached to my will is a typed letter giving my best friend instructions to contact the list of people that are on there, each is to select one of my guns that they want until the safe is empty. My wife wouldn't need the money so instead of selling them I am giving them away to a list of good friends.

wm · Post by wm » Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:06 pm

They go to my wife and then to my sons but I expect that as they grow older I will thin out the safe by giving them the firearms they seem to warm up to the most.

So far the 14 year old 'claims' the Winchester 94 30 WCF I got from my dad, and the Ruger 10/22 INT while the younger son 'claims' the Bearcat, High Standard sport king, and the Marlin 35 Rem.

Wm

Sixgun · Post by **Sixgun** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:18 pm

A few are destined to stay in the family and the rest go to one of the better high dollar auctioneers.--------------Sixgun

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 3:25 pm

With no children, I have been thinking of this a lot lately.
I have two I really want my half brother to sink to the bottom of Puget Sound.
All the others could serve some deserving persons rather well, trouble is; there are no deserving persons forthcoming.
Any ideas? No kidding, I do not seem to be able to come up with a practical, logical solution.

Grizz · Post by **Grizz** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:01 pm

mescalero1 wrote:With no children, I have been thinking of this a lot lately.
I have two I really want my half brother to sink to the bottom of Puget Sound.
All the others could serve some deserving persons rather well, trouble is; there are no deserving persons forthcoming.
Any ideas? No kidding, I do not seem to be able to come up with a practical, logical solution.

Are you affiliated with any church youth groups or boy scouts or big brother? If there was some way you could mentor some young people into the sport and mindset of gun use you would be leaving a legacy and improving our lot downstream. Then if you found young folks who 'get it', you could pass your guns on to them. Maybe with the proviso that they do the same. Keep 'em going.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:24 pm

Grizz,
I am 55 and have been searching for sometime, I have donated air rifles to such endeavors in the past; but finding someone to give mine to has eluded me

tarkio · Post by **tarkio** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:27 pm

Wife gets everything obviously.

There are a few guns I would like the kids to get/keep. A couple that I would like my brother to have or perhaps give him an option on some of the remaining.

After that I told my wife of a friend that will help her dispose of those that are left. If I know my wife, she will probably keep most all of them to give to my daughter and son at some point down the road.

I would like to think that when I am older and my kids are old enough to speak for what they want, I may be able to help a new fledgling collector or family with the desire but not necessarily the means to have a few firearms.

irl104 · Post by **irl104** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 6:19 pm

A local Boy Scout Den in your area would be nice. You could give one away every year as an award to a selected Scout.

Paul Jenkins · Post by **Paul Jenkins** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 6:32 pm

dkmlever wrote:Attached to my will is a typed letter giving my best friend instructions to contact the list of people that are on there, each is to select one of my guns that they want until the safe is empty. My wife wouldn't need the money so instead of selling them I am giving them away to a list of good friends.

I ask my my closest suvivor to have an Irish wake, Food ,booze, etc., and let my surviving family and friends pick what they want.

hfcable · Post by **hfcable** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 6:50 pm

i hope my son will keep the rare valuable items: original 405, 1876, bullard, burgess, whitney-kennedy, 1881 marlin,spencer, etc. the rest i plan to sell off one by one, and in light of my age and health, 2008 is the year that i am starting the sell-off, and in fact have sold an average of a gun a week each week this year so far!

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:17 pm

I have been thinking of selling the ones I can bear to part with, never thought about this part when I was buying them

mad mucus · Post by **mad mucus** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:30 pm

I'll leave it to chance..... currently my firearms are only of value to me. Of my six kids only my second youngest, Kaeleigh 10y.o. daughter, has expressed any real interest to date.

Mucus

TCB in TN · Post by **TCB in TN** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:42 pm

Another idea is to research and see if there are any youth shooting sport teams in the area. We currently have a county youth trap team and are organizing a youth rifle team. Leaving any guns that would be appropriate to them would be an investment in the future of the shooting sports.

Post by **Hobie** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:53 pm

It appears that my son is uninterested. They will go to my wife with the exception of certain family pieces. This is one reason I'm writing them all up and have an inventory with description and valuation on it. Ammunition is also marked as to which firearm it goes to. I am apparently as anal about my firearms as I am about my car keys.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:54 pm

MadMucus,
Is that not funny?, when I was young; if an adult brought out a gun every kid in that part of the county was there waiting his turn to shoot it.
Kids today seem to not care about that part of thier lives at all!

Kansas Ed · Post by **Kansas Ed** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:10 pm

I discussed this with our lawyer when we wrote out our wills. Per KS state law, it is allowable to put in your will that there is a signed letter which accompanies the will (it is listed as being there in the will so people will acknowledge it). It basically lists specific instructions for the executor of the estate to dispose of certain elements of your personal property...like guns, cars, tools, heirlooms etc. in the manner in which you specify. It is through this that we have seen that certain items get to the proper people. The nice thing about this is that you can change it at your leisure without the need for the lawyer touching up the will at $100 a pop every time someone moves in or out of your life.

Ed

brucew44guns · Post by **brucew44guns** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:40 pm

I have a few folks in the family that I definately have no reason or desire to see them get one old beat up .22 single shot. But I have a couple or maybe three that I feel different about. I do have a trust, so I need to get that work done for my executor ASAP in designating to who, and how many. Thanks, for all of your input today. Bruce

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:18 pm

I must not be looking hard enough, surely there are good deserving people in the world, my family is just so small.
Those two destined for Puget Sound are good rifles, they do not deserve that fate.
It is just that in the wrong hands, horrid mischief would ensue.

hfcable · Post by **hfcable** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:31 pm

Hobie wrote:It appears that my son is uninterested. They will go to my wife with the exception of certain family pieces. This is one reason I'm writing them all up and have an inventory with description and valuation on it. Ammunition is also marked as to which firearm it goes to. I am apparently as anal about my firearms as I am about my car keys.

the writing up is what i am doing now, too. my son, is helping me photograph carefully, and i am including reference material, loads, etc so he know about them , when he has the time and further interest.

kirkwood · Post by **kirkwood** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:03 pm

Kansas Ed wrote:I discussed this with our lawyer when we wrote out our wills. Per KS state law, it is allowable to put in your will that there is a signed letter which accompanies the will (it is listed as being there in the will so people will acknowledge it). It basically lists specific instructions for the executor of the estate to dispose of certain elements of your personal property...like guns, cars, tools, heirlooms etc. in the manner in which you specify. It is through this that we have seen that certain items get to the proper people. The nice thing about this is that you can change it at your leisure without the need for the lawyer touching up the will at $100 a pop every time someone moves in or out of your life.

Ed

It seems to me that this would cause all sorts of problems if someone in the family decided the letter had been forged or altered. They would immediately contest the will and the letter. Some families are like that.

kirkwood · Post by **kirkwood** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:12 pm

mescalero1 wrote:I must not be looking hard enough, surely there are good deserving people in the world, my family is just so small.
Those two destined for Puget Sound are good rifles, they do not deserve that fate.
It is just that in the wrong hands, horrid mischief would ensue.

There are some rare gun collection museums that you could will your guns to. I know of some beautiful collections around the country that have thousands of old guns in their collections. They that will take your donation and if it is rare or something they don't already have, they will display it. If they don't need it they can trade it along with other guns to trade up to get the rare ones. If you have military guns, they could go to a war museum, like the D-Day Museum for WWII era guns. It is a better end for them than being thrown into Puget Sound. I enjoy going to these museums immensely even if I can only look.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:15 pm

Kirkwood,
Thank you, I had not considered that possibility

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:18 pm

UP FOR ADOPTION: ONE MALE ORPHAN CHILD. MUST GO TO A FAMILY WITH NO OTHER CHILDREN, AND FATHER AND/OR MOTHER MUST BE A SHOOTING ENTHUSIAST AND OWN SEVERAL OLD CLASSIC LEVERGUNS. PLEASE REPLY BY EMAIL YOUR INTEREST IN ADOPTING THIS DARLING CHILD.

PS. ATTACH PICTURES OF YOUR LEVERGUNS IN REPLY

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:36 pm

Ganjiro,
He looks kinda scraggly to me

cpt Dan Blodgett · Post by **cpt Dan Blodgett** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:47 pm

One son cares not for firearms - possibly brought the wrong baby home from the hospital

The other loves them and gets them all with a caveat. My dad's 32 special has to be handed down to a male blood decendant, so I he does not have a son, the rifle goes to one of my brother's sons or grand sons.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:22 pm

Cool,
you have the ability to make that stipulation

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:47 pm

I need to finish off my will, and this just reminded me (thanks Bruce). Had one in North Carolina, but it is no good in SC (and we've been here 2.5 years!). That is actually the hold up - decided the personal effects. My son will get everything. Fortunately, he's very interested in it all, and knows more about firearms than I did at his age. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Unfortunately, I'm familiar with this, as my father passed away when I was 16. Fortunately, Mom got everything, and she left me to split up the collection between myself and my two younger brothers. They had little interest in them, so I purchased them all back over the following 10 years. Had my Dad's collection back in one spot for about 1/2 a year, then gave one to my little sister, who wasn't part of the original division. Oh well - it's still in the family. I may end up setting a few aside for my daughter - in addition to any I give her over the next several years (such as the pink-stocked one I started with this Christmas!). However, she's getting the bulk of my wife's jewelry, so she won't be short changed.

My wife always threatens me that if I keel over, she's having a garage sale and marking everything 10-cents since she doesn't know what all my "stuff" is for! One reason to stay healthy. I have it arranged with a close friend that if I do go before my son is of age that he will come by and pick up everything related to my collection (guns, ammo, reloading - the whole 9 yards) and hold them for my son until he turns 21.

If I didn't have family to leave them to I'd leave them to friends, or put in the will they were to go to the NRA for use to display or sell as needed. As long as they don't end up in the scrap heap somewhere!!!

TCB in TN · Post by **TCB in TN** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:40 am

Lucky for me both my boys and my daughter like guns. Both boys (12 and 14) are puttin their dibs on my meager collection as we go. Of course to be fair most of the guns I buy really are for them. (my daughter 13 does have a couple she has put her name on also), so I figure that I will keep the whole lot for them until they marry and settle down and then let them take theirs at that point. Buying good usable rifles, shot guns, and hand guns now makes more sense to me than taking the chance on having a serious lack of availability at a latter point. BTW my kids would also love to have a gun gifting "Uncle" or two if you guys can't find anyone else to give them to.

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:02 am

mescalero1 wrote:Ganjiro,
He looks kinda scraggly to me

If I posted the bright clean smiley happy picture I'd get no pity.

Scraggly=poor=pity=mercy=quick-adoption...

Show me mercy, adopt me!

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:05 am

mad mucus wrote:I'll leave it to chance..... currently my firearms are only of value to me. Of my six kids only my second youngest, Kaeliegh 10y.o. daughter, has expressed any real interest to date.

Mucus

I can relate. Currently 5 of the 6 guns I own are $100 or less in value.

I gave this subject thought a couple of times and came up with the idea some of you others have; to make a list of values and who the give-aways go to.

Kansas Ed · Post by **Kansas Ed** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:18 pm

kirkwood wrote:
Kansas Ed wrote:I discussed this with our lawyer when we wrote out our wills. Per KS state law, it is allowable to put in your will that there is a signed letter which accompanies the will (it is listed as being there in the will so people will acknowledge it). It basically lists specific instructions for the executor of the estate to dispose of certain elements of your personal property...like guns, cars, tools, heirlooms etc. in the manner in which you specify. It is through this that we have seen that certain items get to the proper people. The nice thing about this is that you can change it at your leisure without the need for the lawyer touching up the will at $100 a pop every time someone moves in or out of your life.

Ed
It seems to me that this would cause all sorts of problems if someone in the family decided the letter had been forged or altered. They would immediately contest the will and the letter. Some families are like that.

Yes, unfortunately some families ARE like that. But since there is only one brother on my side who is the executor of our estate, and one brother on her side who is VERY agreeable, I don't think that will be an issue. Especially since it's personal belongings we are discussing, and not overly large valued items. Highly valued items should be put directly in the will...and "highly valued" is probably subjective dependent on the overall value of the estate. Other than our brothers, there is no one who has any grounds to contest the contents of the letters anyway.

But since Kansas has made that stipulation, I would imagine that the signed letter (also notorized in our case) would suffice in a KS court of law.

Ed

Scoutmaster · Post by **Scoutmaster** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:38 pm

I'm seeing that I'm not alone in having children that show no interest in shooting sports. I offered on many occasions to take them shooting, had my Son hunting a few years before he lost any interest in that. So I'm left to either have them sold off by my Wife or pass them to friends that do have the same interests. I chose to do both. I have two friends in particular that I have set up to get a few of the guns and the rest of the guns that are less meaningful to me can be sold off by my Wife.
Don

Scott64A · Post by **Scott64A** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:10 pm

OJ wrote:Something of a dilema to me since I have no children - to speak of, that is. My will leaves everything to my wife.

These are only a few of many but, the only one posing any problems is the last one - .410 pistol NFA registered with the BATFE..

She's smart, though - she'll figure it out.

OJ, if I call you "pop" will you leave me that pair of Colts?

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 9:45 pm

Ganjiro,
It's not a lever gun.
I bought a Rem 700 Bdl ( cause I could get the whole rifle for 289.00 from Davidson , cheapest 700 action I could find was 325.00 )
Stripped the barrel and stock my gunsmith friends used them on two projects for their customers in return I could use their shop.
My lathe & mill are in my shop in N.M.
Ordered an E.R.Shaw 6.5 mm barrel, gunsmith had a 6.5/06 reamer, chambered it in the lathe by hand ( #3 1/2 heavy varmit contour ) threaded it, lapped the bolt, packed it all up & and sent it to Blackstar for cyrogenic relief, came back stamped Blackstar, dropped it in a Choate Sniper stock,barrel length 26 " 11 pounds
It is definetly not a lever gun

2row · Post by **2row** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:03 pm

I have one girl and two Boys they know whitch guns is ther's then they are to flip a coin to see who picks first each to pick one untill they are all gone after that the rest of my stuff will be divided amoung them equally they have a deed made out to them all they have to do is file it. (it's in a safe deposit box I have the key) after I'm dead who cares

MikeS. · Post by **MikeS.** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:07 pm

My wife will get what she wants, the rest will go to my oldest daughter and g'daughter. My SIL will enjoy this inheritance too being married to my oldest. He's a gun lover too. Lucky him.

gcs · Post by **gcs** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:37 pm

Some good advice here, but sometimes things can go horribly wrong.

I know a guy that was driving to work one day, a garbage collection day.
He noticed what looked like gun barrels sticking out of a can. He stopped and discovered a can FULL of rifles and shotguns.
Seems like a recent widow hated guns and as soon as the old guy went, she chucked them to get them out of the house.
Needless to say he adopted them all. Absolutely a true story.

So even with your best intentions, your wishes may NOT be met. Think ahead, especially if married to a,...a..., trying for the right word here,.... heck, just pick the adjective of your choice.

Jayhawker · Post by **Jayhawker** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:44 am

Won't have to worry about the wife tossing my guns into the trash since she has a fair idea what they are worth (although there are a few surprises in the safe). I told her that when I go, she can trade them in for another set of dishes or whatever. I told her which store will give her the best deal and where the inventory is. She now sort of safeguards the collection and views it has her retirement nest egg.

Conversely, I told her if she goes before I do, all those fancy dishes are getting sold for more guns!

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:46 am

Jayhawker ,
That sounds resonable to me

Travis Morgan · Post by **Travis Morgan** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:49 am

mescalero1 wrote:Grizz,
I am 55 and have been searching for sometime, I have donated air rifles to such endeavors in the past; but finding someone to give mine to has eluded me

Hell, give 'em to me! I can barely afford to feed the ones I've got,until after the back operation! It just seems odd, how few people we have that have any interest at all in guns. And of those that do, very few care about the older guns. Hell, I don't OWN a Glock or an AR. For that matter, come to think of it, I don't own any semi-autos anymore.

Kansas Ed,

When Dad died last fall, I found out my uncles were looting his house within the hour. I called the Sheriff's office, and they said they couldn't do anything about it until an executor could be named. I told the guy I was talking to I hoped he had the same attitude when his folks die.

To Everyone:

PLEASE MAKE OUT A DETAILED WILL!

When Dad died, we were all sure he'd made himself very clear. There were only one or two points that we all agreed on. WRITE IT ALL OUT!

Also, include at what point to unplug you. It's a darned hard decision.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:42 am

In response to Travis Morgan,
When my mothers husband died, I was the PR.
It was unreal the number of people that I did not know that came around, loooking for something for nothing. I think that is why he made me the PR,
he knew, that I am an analytical by personality type, and would base my decisions accordingly.
Luckily the estate was un-encumbered, & and I had written ,notarized instructions for time to pull the plug.
WRITE THE WILL!

donw · Post by **donw** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:57 pm

here in the land of wonderous legislation, california, i read some where you cannot will a firearm to ANYONE without undergoing the ususal background check, registration and paying mthe ususal fees.

a father cannot give to a son or vice versa without going thru the DOJ here.

i would have my son(s) melt my firearms down before surrendering them to the DOJ.

if i'm wrong, please tell me so.

guns in your will

guns in your will

Re: guns in your will

thanks