Transferring question

[ogarcia_02]

Someone offered me a shotgun. The ex husband bought it and left it behind after the divorce. It's the ex wife who has it. If it was purchased after they got married it would be considered community property right and can she legally transfer it?

[Librarian]

Someone offered me a shotgun. The ex husband bought it and left it behind after the divorce. It's the ex wife who has it. If it was purchased after they got married it would be considered community property right and can she legally transfer it?

Probably she can transfer it, but not by your reasoning.

CA requires formalities on firearms transfer. Community property does not establish an ownership interest in a gun (it may establish a claim against the value, but Family law is out of scope for Calguns); abandoned property also does not meet the required formalities. Neither of those undocumented conditions provides the state what it wants.

Ideally, she would do something like file an 'operation of law' form, documenting the transfer of the shotgun to her via the divorce settlement.

As a practical matter, the ownership of a firearm is not checked in a sale - not all guns are known to the state, and registration is not required (but it happens as a product of a correctly executed transfer).

[BigPimping]

Truly the wealth of information.

[4DSJW]

If your friend does not do the OPLAW, as librarian has suggested she should, and sells you the gun. It is possible that the ex-husband has a legal claim on the gun and drags you into the middle of the mess trying to get it back. Long odds but a possibility?