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At my age, this is no surprise. Over time in recent years, they keep falling off the twig, one at a time.

My pal Dave fancied himself as an expert in 1911's. He was proficient at changing parts, but he wasn't a gunsmith. Couldn't do dovetails or anything of machine work like that. He left behind two full gun safes; he claimed to have over 100 examples of 1911's but I never saw them in their entirety. I did see some of them a few at a time. Like military issue guns, including a British proofed Lend Lease gun (he didn't realize the proofs, I had to point them out to him). One of the problems of getting at his guns was that they were packed into the safes in original boxes so tight that getting any single gun out was a real chore. He also kept about 10 or 15 cartons of cigarettes in one of the safes.

Dave wasn't married but he had a brother from whom he was badly estranged. For this reason, he left his stuff to people other than his brother. His will states that I'm to get his guns, but I'll believe that if and when I am called to pick them up. His executor is clueless about the probate process, and if done properly that will take time. Since I have been named, I will be watching to see what happens and there is another person involved who will be giving advice. We'll see. Oh, and the brother may contest the will but since it's a witnessed and notarized document, it should suffice. The reason Dave was so adamant about excluding his brother from inheritance is because the brother had already hornswoggled Dave out of his parents' inheritance.

Dave was a pretty strange bird. But I've had a number of "friends on the fringe," so to speak. Many from the "gun community." Strange birds flock together? Mrs. Merkt has remarked before about the unusual number of friends that I have and have had who are / were never married. I knew Dave from our work; we had the same employer for about 30 years. He took a rare early retirement opportunity but I stayed on longer. He was deep into guns, but he wasn't that much of a shooter. I'm going to miss Dave.
 
At my age, this is no surprise. Over time in recent years, they keep falling off the twig, one at a time.

My pal Dave fancied himself as an expert in 1911's. He was proficient at changing parts, but he wasn't a gunsmith. Couldn't do dovetails or anything of machine work like that. He left behind two full gun safes; he claimed to have over 100 examples of 1911's but I never saw them in their entirety. I did see some of them a few at a time. Like military issue guns, including a British proofed Lend Lease gun (he didn't realize the proofs, I had to point them out to him). One of the problems of getting at his guns was that they were packed into the safes in original boxes so tight that getting any single gun out was a real chore. He also kept about 10 or 15 cartons of cigarettes in one of the safes.

Dave wasn't married but he had a brother from whom he was badly estranged. For this reason, he left his stuff to people other than his brother. His will states that I'm to get his guns, but I'll believe that if and when I am called to pick them up. His executor is clueless about the probate process, and if done properly that will take time. Since I have been named, I will be watching to see what happens and there is another person involved who will be giving advice. We'll see. Oh, and the brother may contest the will but since it's a witnessed and notarized document, it should suffice. The reason Dave was so adamant about excluding his brother from inheritance is because the brother had already hornswoggled Dave out of his parents' inheritance.

Dave was a pretty strange bird. But I've had a number of "friends on the fringe," so to speak. Many from the "gun community." Strange birds flock together? Mrs. Merkt has remarked before about the unusual number of friends that I have and have had who are / were never married. I knew Dave from our work; we had the same employer for about 30 years. He took a rare early retirement opportunity but I stayed on longer. He was deep into guns, but he wasn't that much of a shooter. I'm going to miss Dave.
Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. Be on the lookout for brother to petition the court for him to become conservator. If he does, have executor hire a lawyer, don't try to do it himself. It's not difficult to defeat such a petition but if he tries it one doesn't want to fight it without legal help. Just my advice having gone through such crap.
 
I am sorry for your loss
I lost a dear friend last month on the 11th. Of October. Don was old enough to be my dad but we treated each other as equals. He was a gunsmith but quit about 15 years ago. He passed on a few rifles that I am grateful for. It is ironic that I have so many questions to ask him now. I picture him crossing over the bridge with his dog that passed a couple of years ago..
 
Sorry for your loss as well. I am also at that age where I am losing people close to me. I hope you can complete his wishes without a lot of complications.
 
RIP Dave. May the probate process proceed smoothly and honestly. I hope you find comfort in his guns and many pristine examples. Hopefully few or none are rusted hulks because they were kept in their original boxes.

From your posts, IIRC, you worked at a Federal agency? I've known a handful of Federal employees, and easily half of them were a bit off their nut.
If Musk and Ramaswamy have their way, there might be a bunch of DSM V agents let loose from .gov.
 
@gmerkt, Sorry for the loss of your friend, as others have said, it's sad that us old pharts don't stick around forever. RIP Dave.
We've had our fun, stood in the limelight and it's now our time to join those who left this rock before us.
I really look forward to this happening one day.
 
From your posts, IIRC, you worked at a Federal agency? I've known a handful of Federal employees, and easily half of them were a bit off their nut.
From my experience, there is some truth to this.

It is ironic that I have so many questions to ask him now.
This is another shared experience. It's strange that I didn't think of some of the questions until after they were gone. In my mind, I've gathered a lot of questions for which I will never know the answers.

Be on the lookout for brother to petition the court for him to become conservator. If he does, have executor hire a lawyer, don't try to do it himself. It's not difficult to defeat such a petition but if he tries it one doesn't want to fight it without legal help.
This is good advice. I've already advised him to get a probate lawyer. And I've mentioned the possibility of disputation. But I will reinforce those comments with more of what you've mentioned above.
 
Sorry for your loss. I am at the age where I've lost a few folk I know, but I usually get along with people older than myself.

The friends that I have lost that are my age, and family members my age, is due to lifestyle issues. Lost many folk from my high school days over the years due to drug use.

My parents are now in their 80's and have health issues. So I know their time is limited. Mine is likely too due to health issues. I almost bought it recently. I have two genuine, real friends and they are both older than me.
 
If the brother somehow gains access to the house and discovers combinations to the gun safes, the guns will disappear.

Don't ask me how I know
 
Sorry for the loss of your friend. Hopefully his wishes as it pertains to his firearms collection will be carried out without issue, and you can think of him as you enjoy them as he wished.
 
This is the week for deaths. In addition to my pal David, the pediatric oncologist who saved one of my daughter's lives died. Dr. Phil Herzog, 1947-2024. He died in July, but we didn't learn this fact until lately. Then there was Sister Lorna, one of the teacher nuns who taught my children at parochial school years ago.
 
@gmerkt, Sorry for the loss of your friend, as others have said, it's sad that us old pharts don't stick around forever. RIP Dave.
We've had our fun, stood in the limelight and it's now our time to join those who left this rock before us.
I really look forward to this happening one day.
What I mean by this is when my time comes, I'll be ready to see those who make it upstairs, I hope I do. :D
 
That is rough. Im sorry to hear of your loss.
But he sounded like an interesting guy. Was he on the forum at all or was he more the old school low tech kind?
 
The reason Dave was so adamant about excluding his brother from inheritance is because the brother had already hornswoggled Dave out of his parents' inheritance.
"Blood is thicker than water, but money is thicker than blood!" - Boss Hogg

I've seen and heard of this time and time again: one greedy sibling that maneuvers and schemes to take it all. I remember it happened to my parents when my grandfather passed away decades ago; one uncle figured out how to take the lion's share.

My dad swore and swore that it was never going to happen to his family. I never would have thought it would, either, but he passed several years ago, and it's even worse- a selfish sibling figured out how to take it all.

What this has taught me is that people are always more important than stuff. Rather than building property and wealth for the future, focus on building strong relationships. Everything my dad worked his lifetime to build up will eventually be frittered away and lost. What a waste.
 
I too am sorry for your loss. Having lost both my parents and MIL in the last 10 years I have really come to understand my time is now limited. I turn 70 in a few months and I figure I have 10 good years of shooting left before I need to find homes for my guns. Luckily I have a son who has gotten into guns pretty much without my direct input as he is in Texas and I am here in WA. So I figure that one day either I will have to drive a carload to Texas or he will fly here and drive back a rental. And I too have lost a few of my Texas gun friends. I haven't really made any gun friends since I moved here 7 years ago and now that I have retired I hope I can make some at my club in 2025.

As for the estranged brother, hopefully Dave has a sentence in his will that he has specifically mentioned excluding him. If so it will be extremely difficult for the brother to contest it - other than basically stealing from Dave's house. I hope it works out for you.
 
hope the dickhead brother doesn't stir too much chit in the coming months.
I've been on the phone this afternoon and evening. The county medical examiner has called me twice about Dave's case. They found my name and address as an emergency contact on some old medical records that they were researching. As a consequence of them, I told them what little I knew about the brother. In the second call, the said they'd been able to run the brother down, who said he wanted to talk to me and would I do this for them? Which I did. I figured whatever the circumstances, he was family and deserved at least to know that his brother was gone. He asked to speak to the designated executor; I called same and gave him the brother's phone number. let him decided if he want's to talk to him. I told Mrs. Merkt that beyond this point, we should be saying, "talk to my lawyer."

The brother and I discussed disposition of the remains, and that will be up to the designated executor. Who can listen to suggestions put forth in the interest of family.
 

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