Guns upon one's passing

For the second time in my life I'm involved with helping survivors deal with distributing firearms upon the passing of the owner. My dad only owned one when he died and it came to me.

This last man-we became acquainted through his small business-didn't have many friends with firearms knowledge and I was honored a number of months ago when he asked if he could name me as the responsible party in his will to handle this. Well, he passed a few days ago-not unexpectedly and he's no longer suffering. Thankfully he had them listed with the new owners names attached and his ex-wife was also named to make sure they go to whom he wanted.

Thankfully she's a wonderful lady and they had a good relationship from their divorce right up to his end. Meeting her this Saturday to get the ball rolling, not looking forward to it.

The last time was 6 years ago when one of my best friends very unexpectedly passed. His widow was a real mess, understandably, and asked me to help sell them off as finances were a very serious issue. He had his ffl but let it expire 10 months prior as he couldn't continue the business. The local ATF office was incredibly helpful, I spoke to the agent that did his home inspections-he was truly sad as well upon hearing the news. He even picked up the 4473s and log books personally to make it easy on the widow. The remaining firearms were his personal guns which made it easier to sell and raise funds for his widow.

I know when my own time comes my meager few will be split between my sons-both thankfully enjoy the same interest/hobby in guns. One more example of having plans in place.

It’s always a bummer. It means someone left us and someone else is probably hurting because of it.
You are lucky to only have had to do it twice. Good on you for doing it, though.

I've never thought about this and I'm totally ignorant about it. So say I pass away and I have no will. What happens to my guns? Does my wife just assume possession? Does she have to do some paperwork or is it just like "gifting" your guns to a family member (this is my guess...but government and all that).

Time to draw up up a serious will - been on the list of things to do for too long anyway.

My plan is to liquidate all of my assets before my demise. Of course a sudden, tragic event could ruin that plan.

I’ve always thought about asking someone trustworthy to take possession of my firearms upon my unexpected passing and sell them for what they’re worth so my poor wife won’t have to deal with it.

What’s that joke? Something about when I die please sell all of my guns for what they’re actually worth and not what I told my wife that I paid for them.

I don't really have anything that isn't a dime a dozen or worth anything special, so it wouldn't matter what happens to them any more than it'd matter what happens to the rest of my tools.

My will has a firearms section in it. Most of the people in it already know whats coming their way. And I gave them the out of selling what I give them if they don't like it. None of the "I cant sell this gun because a dead guy gave it to me and I have no desire to shoot/own this thing."

I figure my bride wont want to deal with the bullshit of getting rid of stuff, so I did it for her, with her blessings.

I did the same for a couple from our church. The wife's father had passed away and he had a few Browning rifles and shotguns that she wanted to get a value for and possibly sold. She had the weapons with her since her other two sisters weren't interested. I helped her with the market value, but she elected not to sell them because of the sentimental value.

Hadn't thought much about by current collection. My wife or son can sell or distribute as they desire. I have a list of each firearm and the price I paid for them as a reference should they decide to sell.

My wife bitches about this all the time. "What the hell am I gonna DO with all this shit?" Guns, accessories, reloading tools and supplies, lead bars, Harley and parts, Willys Jeep and parts, tools, and on and on.

My wife is under specific instruction that when my time has come I'm to be cremated so that (most of) my firearms will fit in the coffin with me. Who says you can't take 'em with you!?

That being said Doc45, good on you for helping the loved ones through what must be a tough time especially considering they likely wouldn't know where to start when it came to the firearms.

I have a small spreadsheet with the guns, make model, serial, current estimated value and where it came from. I updated it now and then with additions/sales.

Told my wife, if nobody wants any of it, just sell it. Hopefully the kids will want a few of the items, especially the sequential serial number heirloom stuff.