How do your Spouse and Heirs Deal with NFA Items without a Trust

[Defense Minister]

I've considered getting a suppressor, but I don't plan on using a Trust since my family is not the least bit interested in my hobby. That said, what are their options for dealing with an NFA item should I meet an untimely demise?

Thank you!

Read More

 

[jbett98]

Have a will made up that clearly directs who gets the suppressor and then they can sell it if they don't want it.
The ATF doesn't charge the $200.00 tax stamp transfer fee on inherited NFA items.

 

[Defense Minister]

Have a will made up that clearly directs who gets the suppressor and then they can sell it if they don't want it.

I assume they would have to sell or consign it to a Class III dealer, correct? That leaves an individual with no interest in or knowledge of firearms, or firearms laws, to figure this out. I'm confident that if I explain this to my wife and kids now, they will forget it before the end of the week...

 

[Diamondback]

Consider adding pre-written instructions as Appendices to the will? For example, "NFA Assets shall be disposed of by procedures specified in Appendix A," then Appendix A notes the need to find a Class 3 Dealer and how to recover maximum value from the asset, along with a few satisfactory C3's.

 

[jbett98]

This is the ATF's take on it.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...tes/download&usg=AOvVaw1ugOAUBsGckeEBaq0eZLgc

 

[11Charlie]

IMHO get a trust to protect them and you. It will make things simpler for them if the worst should happen. Again just my .02 but worth the cost.

 

[wired]

I'm 100% positive my wife will sell all my gun stuff at a garage sale the day after they put me in the ground. NFA included.

 

[nammac]

I'm 100% positive my wife will sell all my gun stuff at a garage sale the day after they put me in the ground. NFA included.

Don't think my wife would wait that long... It'd be her opportunity to reclaim "wasted space"...

 

[Member 34319]

There is a form your spouse or family member(s) have to fill out and send in. Form 5 if I recall. They don't need to turn it in or anything usually the person in charge of the estate takes them into possession. If there isn't a will, the spouse or parent usually does, on occasion the ATF gets involved. The form 5 goes significantly faster than the others from what I've experienced, weeks, not months. If I recall right the .gov says you have 6 months or something like that to do so, but I've heard cases where a wife will do it something like six years later not knowing they had to and nothing came of it. Oh and the form 5 is tax free, you don't need to pay another $200.

 

[Garg]

A trust is probably the best idea, even without NFA items, at least I am now thinking about getting one.
Yankee Marshal (PlayboyPenguin) recently did a pretty good video on it. Saves a lot of headaches.

 

[Defense Minister]

Damn this NFA stuff is convoluted... it's worse than trying to figure out what income tax forms to fill out!

It seems like the easiest thing would be to provide an explicit description of the suppressor in my will with instructions to turn it in to the local Sheriffs Office for destruction during the probate period...

 

[Guilty]

You don't need to do a trust. Just make a copy of the Form 5 and keep it with your will along with instructions. It's really no big deal.

 

[11Charlie]

You don't need to do a trust. Just make a copy of the Form 5 and keep it with your will along with instructions. It's really no big deal.

True but my thought was that if my family is grieving the loss of me. I don't want them to have to worry about anything. My trust allows my daughter or son in law to just show up to my house and load my safe up. No paper work needed.

 

[Stomper]

True but my thought was that if my family is grieving the loss of me. I don't want them to have to worry about anything. My trust allows my daughter or son in law to just show up to my house and load my safe up. No paper work needed.

I'm pretty sure my family is going to celebrate my passing... that is, if they outlive me.

 

[11Charlie]

I'm pretty sure my family is going to celebrate my passing... that is, if they outlive me.

No they won't!! We would all miss you brother. But just in case can I have your AR pistol?

 

[Member 34319]

The form 5 route is not difficult. I've witnessed it and it is simple and goes way faster than the actual form 1 or 4.

Though like I said, I have heard of grieving spouses taking years to finally handle their significant others belongings. No harm nor foul ever came to those.

I met a great guy who is a member of this forum at a clean up who received some full autos from a friend after a few years of his death. I recall him saying the ATF wasn't too happy that there was a few years between his death and the wife finally dealing with them and him completing and submitting the proper paperwork, but nothing came of it.

The ATF decided against e-file a while ago to paper. I'm guessing they don't want to modernize their system on purpose. With that said, I highly doubt they have any system in place to alert them a person in possession of a controlled item has died. So when a spouse or friend submits a form 5 eight years later, though mad, they are probably just satisfied that they have a continued accounting of the item. Like their agency was created to do.

I can only imagine how many registered items of deceased individuals are out there. Unknowing to the ATF.

 

[etrain16]

IMHO get a trust to protect them and you. It will make things simpler for them if the worst should happen. Again just my .02 but worth the cost.

+1 right here. And a big thumbs up to @Sporting Systems trust - it's awesome and very reasonably priced. AND a bonus is you can use it for your non-NFA firearms as well - not all NFA trusts do that.

 

[jbett98]

The ATF is only interested in who's the legal inheritor. If that's not clearly stated in a will, or a gun trust then they will want a probate court to decide who gets it.
When my late friend died, he just stated that surviving wife gets all his guns. That's like saying wife gets all his houses.
Which houses? What's the addresses, are there others who have a vested interest the houses.
To keep the two legal machine guns and suppressor from being destroyed five years after he died, we had to go to court and open a state probate to decide that the wife was in fact the legal inheritor and when it was finally over nine months later the lawyer fees topped $15,000 bucks.
If she would have listened to me the total cost would have been exactly $15.00 and the price of a postage stamp to form 5 the three items within the year allowed. The ATF doesn't even charge the $5.00 bucks anymore for a form 5.

 

[Stomper]

No they won't!! We would all miss you brother. But just in case can I have your AR pistol?

Which one? I have multiples...




Wait.... no love for the Draco's?

 

[11Charlie]

Which one? I have multiples...

View attachment 491359


Wait.... no love for the Draco's?

View attachment 491361 View attachment 491360

My bad brother I thought the ALL OF THEM was implied!