Gun Collections left in passing.......

[Shanghai McCoy]

Why?

The kid has mental "issues" that should/would prevent them from having a firearm anyway.
The brother is pretty much your basic anti gun type.

 

[ScrapMetalSlug]

I’m only in my 30s but think about this every once in a while. I’ve moved quite a bit, so there is always incentive to downsize and my accumulation is pretty reasonable by my standards anyway. I plan to pass things down to my kids and potentially grand kids while still alive so I can see them get some enjoyment out of them. Whatever I still have in old age, I won’t be too worried about it. If I am dead, I can’t see worrying about my stuff I left behind. All cars end up in the junkyard eventually. Nothing lasts forever. I don’t want to place the burden on them of thinking all of my things are some artifact that must be preserved through eternity like a museum or something.

I may think different when I am older. We’ll see, my kids are still small.

 

[AlexanderA]

Threads like this remind me that I need to update our Will.

The conventional wisdom is always to have a will. However, this is not good advice in all cases. There are other viable alternatives to wills, such as intestate succession, joint ownership, things passing under their own terms (such as insurance proceeds, POD bank accounts, and survivor annuities), and trusts.

Particularly, as regards to firearms, be aware that probated wills are public records, and if you mention particular firearms in your will, the whole world (potentially) will know who has what. You can write a letter of instruction to your executor that specifies your wishes. Such a letter would be "off the record," but you would have to trust your executor to carry it out.

If you have an NFA item (assuming it's not held in a trust), it can be passed on to an heir tax-free, using a Form 5, either if it's by will or by operation of law (intestate succession). But, if by will, the item doesn't have to be specifically mentioned in the will. Being covered in, say, a residuary clause is good enough.

 

[I6turbo]

Sell some around age 60 ?? That's when my handgun interest Began (four years ago), and about a year after the "AKM bug" bit, now AKM and VZ-58, a very permanent condition.

That's what I was thinking... Starting to liquidate in your 50's??? I reject that attitude.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

The conventional wisdom is always to have a will. However, this is not good advice in all cases. There are other viable alternatives to wills, such as intestate succession, joint ownership, things passing under their own terms (such as insurance proceeds, POD bank accounts, and survivor annuities), and trusts.

Particularly, as regards to firearms, be aware that probated wills are public records, and if you mention particular firearms in your will, the whole world (potentially) will know who has what. You can write a letter of instruction to your executor that specifies your wishes. Such a letter would be "off the record," but you would have to trust your executor to carry it out.

If you have an NFA item (assuming it's not held in a trust), it can be passed on to an heir tax-free, using a Form 5, either if it's by will or by operation of law (intestate succession). But, if by will, the item doesn't have to be specifically mentioned in the will. Being covered in, say, a residuary clause is good enough.

How many Wills have you accessed? How many people do you know that have looked up wills belonging to others. If I go to my lawyer and have him draw up a will, I do not have to put on file at the courthouse and make it public record.
I had a friend pass away a few years back. He had left a list of guns and their values for his wife. I have no clue to where he came up with the values for his guns, but his list looked more like a fairytale then a novel. Just one example, S&W 4” Model 19 in 95% condition, listed at $800. And this was about eight years ago.
One of the best things you can do is tag the guns you own with make Model and any info you think would be helpful in determining value. This way, when you are gone, whoever liquidates your collection will have the need information.
I do intend to give a good many of my guns away to family and friends when I get to the point that I am no longer to enjoy the use of them. I think seeing the smile on their face will be worth more the just the thought of the smile on their face.
I also plan to sell off a few and use that money for chasing younger women.

 

[Ed Ames]

How many Wills have you accessed? How many people do you know that have looked up wills belonging to others.

It’s not hard, and there are companies that pull every record periodically to sell names and other information to marketers and anyone else who might be interested. No reason they can’t do searches for interesting keywords along the way, and you can bet there are companies that are interested in the names of inheritors and what sort of property they received. There might be interest from other groups as well.

If I go to my lawyer and have him draw up a will, I do not have to put on file at the courthouse and make it public record.

That is technically true. It’s your executor who must put it on file and make it public record after you die, assuming probate and all of that.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

All you have done is listed is what if’s and possibilities, without answering the question.
About the same as reading this gun forum, finding out where I live and coming over to rob me.

 

[.308 Norma]

Wife will sell it all for pennies on the dollar and buy more shoes.

Wife has as many guns as I do, maybe more. If she goes first, I won't be selling her guns for "pennies on the dollar," but I might buy more shoes or boots with what I get from the sale of her guns - it depends on whether or not I think I need "more shoes or boots" at that time.
I expect my wife would do the same thing if I go first. I'm a lot bigger than my wife, and most of my guns won't fit her. Yet she can go to most any shoe store and find shoes and boots that will fit her. Vice-versa for me.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I hope I'm a ways off from worrying about that.
My father is in his 70s and is in poor health though, and he has a nice little collection of firearms (probably 15-20). It's nothing extremely nice, just middle of the road stuff, Rugers, Marlins, Remingtons etc.
Even though he is in pretty poor health, he refuses to sell any. However, my brother and I are both gun enthusiasts. He says when he is gone, we can enjoy them.

I usually am excited to get a new firearm, but I hope it's many years down the road before I get those.

 

[Ed Ames]

All you have done is listed is what if’s and possibilities, without answering the question.
About the same as reading this gun forum, finding out where I live and coming over to rob me.

Estate planning is dealing with what-ifs and possibilities. What if I die before my kids are old enough to take care of themselves? What if someone in my family doesn’t care about my preferences or anyone ended and just wants as much as they can get for themselves?

Anyway, you aren’t quite right. That companies pull those records isn’t a possibility, it’s a fact. That your original will ends up public record is also a fact.

And yeah, people have been robbed/burglarized because they posted too much information on social media (including forums).

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Estate planning is dealing with what-ifs and possibilities. What if I die before my kids are old enough to take care of themselves? What if someone in my family doesn’t care about my preferences or anyone ended and just wants as much as they can get for themselves?

Anyway, you aren’t quite right. That companies pull those records isn’t a possibility, it’s a fact. That your original will ends up public record is also a fact.

And yeah, people have been robbed/burglarized because they posted too much information on social media (including forums).

Again you avoid the direct questions I asked of you.
I never asked about the slim possibilities about the what if’s.
But don’t bother answering the questions because I’m pretty sure I already know the answers. No need to drag the thread off topic anymore

 

[Ed Ames]

Again you avoid the direct questions I asked of you.
I never asked about the slim possibilities about the what if’s.
But don’t bother answering the questions because I’m pretty sure I already know the answers. No need to drag the thread off topic anymore

Now I’m curious... How would you respond if I answered your first question with 1, 4, or “I don’t know, exactly. The system I helped develop is automated and the exact numbers are considered proprietary information. I can say it is more than 1000 and less than 100,000,000.”

At least one of those answers is factual.

 

[AlexanderA]

If I go to my lawyer and have him draw up a will, I do not have to put on file at the courthouse and make it public record.

That is correct, but that will has no force and effect until it is probated (and a necessary condition for that is that you be dead). Once it is probated, it automatically becomes a public record.

I drafted wills for both my parents. We probated my father's (even though that probably wasn't necessary), but we didn't bother to probate my mother's. All the property was jointly held with us as the children, so it wouldn't be part of the probate estate anyway.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Sometimes posting in these topics, is like talking with people in a bar. After a while the topic starts to stray and then goes completely off track.
The topic here is about your gun collection after you are gone. It’s not about what you put in your will and who will have access to it once you’re gone.
Instead of derailing this thread, why not start a new thread about wills.

 

[TRX]

One last note: guns are not like other inherited items.

My wife likes guns and will probably be glad the long-running disputes over who owns certain particular guns becomes moot.

Should we die together in a car crash or something, I have no relatives and she has only a few distant ones out of state. So everything will get split up between various friends.

I have several NFA guns and my wife has one of her own. The ATF doesn't collect transfer tax on inherited NFA items, but the recipient still has to go through all the usual paperwork, photographs, fingerprints, etc. That would be a deal-breaker for some people who would otherwise like to have them. And some move from time to time, sometimes to places where state law would prohibit them from keeping them in-state.

So the section of my will on disposal of the NFA arms is fairly elaborate; I have an overview of what NFA arms are, the legal issues of ownership, and so forth, as of a few years ago when I last updated things. There is a warning that laws and regulations change regularly, and where to look for current laws.

So the bequest is structured that Person A is offered Gun A. If they don't want it, Person B gets his choice of Gun B and/or Gun A. Anything he doesn't want gets offered to Person C with Gun C, etc. Anything nobody wants, goes to auction, where they might realize, oh, a few hundred dollars, after everyone dips in and gets their cut...

 

[medalguy]

I walked my son through my gun room and pointed out a lot of things that he might remember. One thing in particular I mentioned was not to ignore the boxes of magazines I have, sorted and labelled for the firearm they fit. I've seen friends pass and watch their guns get sold but no one usually thinks about all the mags left over. A pile of mags can easily be worth more then the gun they fit, especially in any quantity. I learned long ago that a gun without a magazine is a single shot, and mag prices never go down.

 

[Poper]

this past March my broker managed to loose all of that money in addition to several hundred-thousand more

Brings to mind something my grandfather told me about 50 years ago in regards to investment: "Nobody cares about your money like you do."

 

[Poper]

I also plan to sell off a few and use that money for chasing younger women.

What's so funny about that? Sounds to me like something all Dirty Old Men should aspire to!
(In reference to Isaac Asimov's "The Sensuous Dirty Old Man". - http://www.asimovreviews.net/Books/Book112.html )

 

[General Geoff]

My father passed in 2018 and left a property that my mother cannot maintain, with a massive hoard of junk spanning 3 generations of estates from both sides of the family that took me 3 days and two 30 yard dumpsters to empty. And that's just the garage. Many things of value were destroyed in storage. Some were lost or thrown out by mistake. I nearly cried at the condition of furniture and keepsakes that survived a journey from the old country only to meet their end by my hands. I understand that is not what my father wished for his family but it was a good lesson for me to begin the process of dividing, labeling, and willing things appropriately before someone is left with the burden. I have started letting my wife know which firearms are "family" firearms to be kept for my son or given away to friends, and which are commodities to get rid of. The same with certain books, instruments, and jewelry.



This reminds me of my grandmother who recently sold her longtime home and moved into a retirement home. For decades she kept beautiful cabinets of Waterford crystal and case upon case of music boxes. We took one for ourselves. There was zero interest from buyers and no one was willing to auction them in perpetuity. The rest, as far as I know, failed to sell for pennies at the estate sale. Much like the antique spinning wheel I was never allowed to touch growing up and the grandfather clock that I can still hear in my dreams. The spinning wheel sold for $15 and the grandfather clock for $50 on the last day.

Fine China is a prime example of this, the stuff Grandma would only pull out of the sealed hutch once a year if ever. Ebay is filled with immaculate, complete sets of China that aren't worth the cost to ship them.

Time changes the relative value of everything.

 

[AlexanderA]

Fine China is a prime example of this, the stuff Grandma would only pull out of the sealed hutch once a year if ever. Ebay is filled with immaculate, complete sets of China that aren't worth the cost to ship them.

Time changes the relative value of everything.

I wonder if guns will ever reach the point where there is little to no interest in them. As a guess, if that happened, it would first affect hunting guns such as bolt action rifles. That's because the population of hunters is in decline. On the other hand, the value of guns doesn't seem to follow normal economic rules. It's closely tied to political developments, proposed bans, etc. In 100 years, guns in general may be seen as "quaint" and be relegated to museums. Or, in 100 years, everybody may be going around armed 24/7. These certainly are interesting times.

 

[robert4301]

Most of the "good" china might as well be used for target practice. Most furniture is firewood. Silver service pieces are generally worth only the silver content. Nobody wants all that old clothing. I'm single with a sister serving as executor. If I die, I told her to to auction any guns no family members want. Then hire a crew to haul everything else to the dump. My BIL recently lost his brother who died intestate. The effort my BIL went through to settle his brother's affairs was unbelievably tedious and difficult. Don't leave your estate in a mess that somebody you care about has to untangle.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I've got a deal with my LGS.
My sister, who lives with me, can take my guns and associated clutter in and put them on consignment when I die or become disabled.
Nobody else is involved.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Y’all have got me worried about what to do with my extensive Beanie Baby collection.
If their not worth anything, should I just use them as targets at the range?
I don’t put a lot of money into collectibles. Well, if you’re not counting guns as collectibles. But then I have never bought guns with the intent to sell them at a profit down the road.
They are tools and toys, for my work and enjoyment. I just hope that when I’m gone that someone else will find some joy in owning them.

 

[.308 Norma]

Y’all have got me worried about what to do with my extensive Beanie Baby collection.
If their not worth anything, should I just use them as targets at the range?

You could send them to me. I'd probably feel bad for a while afterwards, but I could shoot your Beanie Babies for you.

 

[I6turbo]

I wonder if guns will ever reach the point where there is little to no interest in them. As a guess, if that happened, it would first affect hunting guns such as bolt action rifles. That's because the population of hunters is in decline. On the other hand, the value of guns doesn't seem to follow normal economic rules. It's closely tied to political developments, proposed bans, etc. In 100 years, guns in general may be seen as "quaint" and be relegated to museums. Or, in 100 years, everybody may be going around armed 24/7. These certainly are interesting times.

I've wondered about that as well. I am actually surprised that there seems to be a continued stable demand for older weapons including bolt action rifles despite the fact that there are a lot of older guys liquidating a lot of older weapons these days, and they just keep selling pretty strong as far as I can tell. And this despite the fact that newer guns of the same type are also selling well. Frankly, most of the weapons I'd like to acquire are older ones. Not all, but most.

I used to think that the antis would win out in the not too distant future, but the past couple of months, capped off with the outrageous call to defund or outright abolish the police, seems to be leaving all but the completely brain-dead with a MUCH better understanding of the value and importance of the 2A.