My Brothers Estate

[EddieWalker]

Will vs. Trust: Which Is Right For You?

A will takes effect upon death but trusts can be used both during the lives and after the deaths of the grantor, or creator.

www.investopedia.com

I'm not as bad as I thought. My wife reminded me that we already have a trust set up. I hate to say this, but I hope I go before her as I'll be lost without her

The irony is she is on about 13 trusts for suppressors and she doesn't even know it. That said, I have some good friends who will handle all the guns for her whom I trust if something should befell me.

I'm curious what your plan is for your guns? My brother had quite a few, and I'm going to sell as many as I can, but I'm not sure on what the law is, or the best way to do this.

One good bit of good news is that my brother had me listed as his next of kin on his bank accounts. Why he had more then one is a mystery, but when I showed them the Death Certificate, they where very helpful. I froze the accounts so no money is going out. He had a lot of automatic payments set up that I don't want to continue to pay. Things like Direct TV, the electric bill and his truck, plus some subscriptions to magazines and other things that kept adding up to several grand a month. I'm just going to let them all cancel themselves.

I spoke to his mortgage officer too, and I'm going to continue paying that bill every month. The loan is close enough to being paid off that it's all principle now.

Ducks are my biggest issues. I've had a few people want to buy some, but they haven't been able to get to his place. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere in some regards. Now I'm going to try to find his competition and see if they want his ducks. Maybe even sell all of his stuff like feeders, waterers, extra netting and maybe even the netting that's he's using now. Each pen is 50x150.

 

[2manyrocks]

Going through a licensed gun broker might be the safest option.

 

[dougtrr2]

Going through a licensed gun broker might be the safest option.

I think it would be the easiest. It doesn't sound like you are worried about squeezing the last dollar out of the estate. So letting someone else take care of this headache will ease your burden. Maybe a little less money, but a whole lot less headache.

Hang in there.

Doug in SW IA

 

[Sigarms]

I'm curious what your plan is for your guns? My brother had quite a few, and I'm going to sell as many as I can, but I'm not sure on what the law is, or the best way to do this.

My son has first dibs on anything. He is still planning on LE after military enlistment (senior in high school now), but I understand at that age, plans can change.

I have a couple of good "real" friends (LOL) who I trust, they know what I have. Either one will get a pick that my wife will give them, and after that, they know to help my wife sell everything I have (wife would only keep a handgun and shotgun and she knows she'd be lost trying to sell them).

Where is get's trickier and I have to look more into it, what to do with my suppressors. My wife is listed on my trust, but I know she won't want them.

When my FIL died in NC, per his wishes, I gave two good friends of his first dibs other than what his grandsons wanted (and one old pistol he wanted one grandson to have), and shipped those rifles to his friends in Vermont via FFL.

Now, per the law, with my FIL, I just shipped them in my name. No probate.

Thing is, because your brother was single, not certain how the "transfer" would work if he didn't sell them to you. Assuming no one knows how many guns there were, I would only assume your brother did a FTF sale to you in the past and your mother would agree to that statement (assuming Texas laws are no different than NC laws for face to face sales).

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Sigarms]

Going through a licensed gun broker might be the safest option.

As long as the guns are Eddies to sell, shipping across state lines use a FFL. For the sell price to let them go, have no doubt that the sell price would make up for the FFL transfer fee and shipping.

Advertise on Gunbroker.com You'll get a "national audience" to see what you have to sell.

Face to Face sale in Texas I can only assume wouldn't be any harder than it is in NC.

If there are some higher end guns, work through a FFL and gun broker will take a fee, but you'll probably sell them for more money.

Sold a gun for my FIL when he was alive. Got close to $1,400 for it, and I had it appraised at $950 (1899 year it was made, good condition). Gunbroker online fee was like $60 plus $80 for shipping FFL. My FIL was tickled pink.

 

[2manyrocks]

Free duck with every gun purchase.

 

[airbiscuit]

"He had a lot of automatic payments set up that I don't want to continue to pay. Things like Direct TV, the electric bill and his truck, plus some subscriptions to magazines and other things that kept adding up to several grand a month. I'm just going to let them all cancel themselves."

Freezing the account so you get notifications of these obligations is a good idea. I wouldn't assume they will cancel themselves - they will just keep accumulating charges and late fees. I would recommend that you manually cancel these accounts once you are aware of what they are.

There are so many things to reconcile, and it sounds like you are doing a good job.

 

[JasperFrank]

Took me 15 years to sell off the legacy, that my father thought was an asset, as to firearms. I discovered a few things, about the guns he had bought, and those had to be destroyed as he didn't have a Class III to own any of it. As said earlier, a lawyer is a well spent amount. You have privilege in conversation.

 

[tradosaurus]

Took me 15 years to sell off the legacy, that my father thought was an asset, as to firearms. I discovered a few things, about the guns he had bought, and those had to be destroyed as he didn't have a Class III to own any of it. As said earlier, a lawyer is a well spent amount. You have privilege in conversation.

Interesting. What state did your Dad live in?

I would bury the guns (packed in seal tight container in cosmolene) before I ever destroyed them.

 

[EddieWalker]

Advertise on Gunbroker.com You'll get a "national audience" to see what you have to sell.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of this website. I'm going to read up on what it takes to sell on there.

I'm running out of options on the safe, so it's becoming more likely that I'm going to use the grinder and cut a hole in the door.

 

[ruffdog]

He had a lot of automatic payments set up that I don't want to continue to pay. Things like Direct TV, the electric bill and his truck, plus some subscriptions to magazines and other things that kept adding up to several grand a month. I'm just going to let them all cancel themselves.

I think you will have to be more proactive on any payment accounts he had. Send them notice of death notices to stop penalties and claims against the estate.

 

[JJT]

Thanks, I wasn't aware of this website. I'm going to read up on what it takes to sell on there.

I'm running out of options on the safe, so it's becoming more likely that I'm going to use the grinder and cut a hole in the door.

Eddie, Cut through the back or the side, you'll find it much easier than cutting through the door. the doors to these safes are impressive, the other 5 sides, not so much.....

 

[Sigarms]

generally conversions

Thanks, I wasn't aware of this website. I'm going to read up on what it takes to sell on there.

I'm running out of options on the safe, so it's becoming more likely that I'm going to use the grinder and cut a hole in the door.

It's very easy.

Set up an account, it's free. Anything you sell, gunbroker will take a small percentage as a fee. The higher the presumed value of the gun, easier it is to sell to a "national audience" vs trying to sell local, where guys always try to get something for next to nothing because they think you need the money or they're looking for a steel per a face to face sale.

Please note, you always want to mention that the firearm will ship from your FFL to their FFL, and include FFL fee and shipping price in the sell price.

I have a FFL I deal with that charges me $20 for the FFL transfer (to register the serial number) and like $50 for shipping which includes like $500 for insurance. The biggest pain in the butt is dealing with a FFL you don't know IMO going this route. I'll generally add $120 to my bottom dollar bid price.

On my FIL's old marlin lever, I screwed up because I put a buy price at a more than reasonable price (since the gun was "professionally appraised" at like $950), gun had a bidding war on it, and the guy bought it at my "buy price" (now, I think I could have sold the gun for even a lot more than my buy price).

The buyer (generally out of state) will have to give you their FFL info to where your FFL is going to ship to.

Out of state sales can only be done between FFL's who act as a 3rd party. This way, everything is legal.

Generally speaking, higher end, higher dollar guns sell better from my own experience other than anything you can walk into to a shop and buy for $700.

That said, if a gun is normally bought for $700, you can sell it cheaper if you wish, just don't forget gunbrokers cut and the FFL fee and shipping.

 

[Sigarms]

I'm running out of options on the safe, so it's becoming more likely that I'm going to use the grinder and cut a hole in the door.

If the safe is worth more than $100, spend the money on a locksmith. You can then keep or sell the safe, and it won't take that locksmith more than 5-10 minutes to get into it.

Had a issue with my first Cannon, the locksmith was in no more than 4 minutes I would guess. He was local, costs me $50 but that was a while ago.

Cannon safes are the easiest to break into for a locksmith IMO.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you. I just registered with Gunbroker.com I don't know if I'll use them or not. I have a few friends that are big gun collectors, that buy and sell all the time, so I'm going to have them come over when I open the safe and get their opinions. Is there a reliable site to get a value on a firearm? I'm thinking that I can do a search on Gunbroker.com to see what something sold for.

I might also go to a few gun stores in the area to see if there is any interest in buying them. I think they will low ball me, but it will give me a starting place to work from. I will write down what I'm selling and maybe take some pictures to show them, and go from there.

There is a chance that their is enough there to pay off his mortgage. That is my ultimate goal.

 

[airbiscuit]

Gun Broker is the real deal. Locally, we have online auction houses that sell firearms. They always seem to get fair market value. Even single shot and bolt action shotguns fetch a decent price. I'm guessing it's someone purchasing a "gun of their youth" or a barn gun.

I'm in agreement on a locksmith for the gun safe.

 

[airbiscuit]

You can benchmark the value of your guns at

Guns For Sale | Buy Guns Online | GunBroker.com

GunsAmerica - Buy Guns and Sell Guns Online

 

[JasperFrank]

My Dad lived in Maryland. Somehow BATF knew about his "arsenal." So it had to be communicated that any and all unstamped items had already been dewatted as discovered. As my lawyer told me, at the time, BATF has nothing else to do, but pick the low fruit. And I was clearly low fruit to them right now. And I also discovered that my Dad had been playing a cat and mouse game with BATF. Which I had no interest in continuing. I knew he had a lot of guns, but that they were not at his house, as he feared being raided. There was one closet at his mother's house, my grandmother's house, that he stashed gold and silver. And I asked him why he just didn't have a safety deposit box for this stuff. He always said, "Its what's behind it that is important." That phrase stuck in my head when we couldn't find his gun collection. So after clearing out the closet, I was standing and looking at the empty space and those words kept repeating in my head. "Its whats behind it, that is important." My Dad had begun to hate his second wife. Its then that I found the false wall, and found the "arsenal." Probably the largest private collection in Maryland at the time. It was also an unknown asset of his estate. And it never became a known asset of his estate. At least it didn't, to the second wife.

 

[Sigarms]

Thank you. I just registered with Gunbroker.com I don't know if I'll use them or not. I have a few friends that are big gun collectors, that buy and sell all the time, so I'm going to have them come over when I open the safe and get their opinions. Is there a reliable site to get a value on a firearm? I'm thinking that I can do a search on Gunbroker.com to see what something sold for.

I might also go to a few gun stores in the area to see if there is any interest in buying them. I think they will low ball me, but it will give me a starting place to work from. I will write down what I'm selling and maybe take some pictures to show them, and go from there.

There is a chance that their is enough there to pay off his mortgage. That is my ultimate goal.

When determining the price of a gun for sale...

Cheap way - go to gunbroker, see what the average opening bid of the gun is. Average out the prices vs age and condition vs what you have, and determine a sell price set on how fast you want to sell it. If the average price you find is $1500 on what you have, you need to include shipping, FFL and gunbroker fee to figure out how quick you want to move it.

Sometimes you can find some real deals on gunbroker with someone wanting to unload something, and sometimes the prices aren't that great vs something new you could buy anywhere.

Because my FIL's gun was a unique older lever action rifle where prices vary greatly depending on the condition, I took it to a gun shop who specializes in valuing guns. See below for written appraisal

At the end of the day, something is only worth what someone is actually willing to pay for it.

 

[Sigarms]

My Dad lived in Maryland. Somehow BATF knew about his "arsenal." So it had to be communicated that any and all unstamped items had already been dewatted as discovered. As my lawyer told me, at the time, BATF has nothing else to do, but pick the low fruit. And I was clearly low fruit to them right now. And I also discovered that my Dad had been playing a cat and mouse game with BATF. Which I had no interest in continuing. I knew he had a lot of guns, but that they were not at his house, as he feared being raided. There was one closet at his mother's house, my grandmother's house, that he stashed gold and silver. And I asked him why he just didn't have a safety deposit box for this stuff. He always said, "Its what's behind it that is important." That phrase stuck in my head when we couldn't find his gun collection. So after clearing out the closet, I was standing and looking at the empty space and those words kept repeating in my head. "Its whats behind it, that is important." My Dad had begun to hate his second wife. Its then that I found the false wall, and found the "arsenal." Probably the largest private collection in Maryland at the time. It was also an unknown asset of his estate. And it never became a known asset of his estate. At least it didn't, to the second wife.

I can only assume your father lived around Cumberland?

Maryland is an interesting state per peoples philosophies on guns.

West of 81 (or perhaps Cumberland and west) the state of Maryland should be annexed by WV. East of I-81, just make the state a part of the District of Columbia LOL

I just can't see anyone on the eastern side of the state trying to have a gun collection.