Ownership issue

[furyous68]

Friend of mine was hired by a bank to clear out a property to short sale. Previous owner is deceased, no known next of kin. The property was not paid off, so it went back to the Bank.

My friend is supposed to dispose of all items left in the house, he can keep/ sell whatever he finds that has value or is useable. This house has 2 gun safes (contents unknown for now), multiple long-guns, and a lot of reloading equipment.

My question is this: can he sell to ffl or ppt these firearms even though he is not the registered owner for any of them?

[furyous68]

Follow-up question. Can he self-register them into his own name using that DOJ form. Don't remember the form #, but I think it cost $19 per firearm.

[ASD1]

The trustee from the bank will have to deal with any of the serialized items.

The same thing would apply to anything registered with the DMV your friend has no authority to take possession of it or dispose of it

The bank would've received a court order granting them possession of any and all of the items the only way for them to transfer serialized items would be to go through the proper channels as any other seller

The bank needs to contact a local FF L to come take possession of all the firearms and properly dispose of them/sell them off the only other option would be to call local law-enforcement and have them picked up

[furyous68]

Thanks ASD1.

There has to be a way he can hang onto them. If you buy a storage locker at auction, I know you're able to hang onto any firearms found. Isn't this kind of the same thing? The bank signed over the rights of all property not related to the house to my friend. That has to give him some kind of ownership rights...so long as he fills out the proper forms to register the guns.

[ASD1]

in California a firearm has to be transferred through an FF L with very few exceptions the situation you describe is not one of them

The bank cannot legally give them our sign them over to your friend without going through an FF L the court gave them to the bank the bank has to follow the law when disposing of them

[DEPUTYBILL]

It seems to me that if the owner of the property is dead, and no will was on file, an executor for the estate would have to be named by the court, and he or she would have to settle the estate.
This would include the real estate and personal property. I am not sure the bank can just take the house and assign someone to dispose of personal property.
It would be up to the executor to settle the estate. Any property that was part of the estate, could be sold by the executor to help settle the debts of the estate.

[ASD1]

If the bank repossessed the house generally they are awarded the contents by the court

If after selling off the house and the contents if there's anything left after paying off the note it would be forfeited back to the courts

[RickD427]

The trustee from the bank will have to deal with any of the serialized items.

The same thing would apply to anything registered with the DMV your friend has no authority to take possession of it or dispose of it

The bank would've received a court order granting them possession of any and all of the items the only way for them to transfer serialized items would be to go through the proper channels as any other seller

The bank needs to contact a local FF L to come take possession of all the firearms and properly dispose of them/sell them off the only other option would be to call local law-enforcement and have them picked up

in California a firearm has to be transferred through an FF L with very few exceptions the situation you describe is not one of them

The bank cannot legally give them our sign them over to your friend without going through an FF L the court gave them to the bank the bank has to follow the law when disposing of them

If the bank repossessed the house generally they are awarded the contents by the court

If after selling off the house and the contents if there's anything left after paying off the note it would be forfeited back to the courts

ASD1,

Do you have any personal experience in this area?

The OP's "Friend" really needs to speak with a qualified lawyer.

The bank may well be able to take possession of the house if there was a default on the loan. I can't see any basis for the bank to take possession of, or to dispose of, personal property contained within the house. It doesn't belong to the bank.

IANAL, and do not know the particulars of how the matter is properly handled. I have very little experience dealing with civil issues from my service as a deputy sheriff. I've never seen estate property disposed of in the manner that you have proposed. Additionally, I've never seen any cases where a court has taken possession of the proceeds from an estate. I handled maybe a dozen foreclosure "move-out" calls. In each case the foreclosure was accomplished under terms of a sales contract. There was no court involvement, and therefore, the court could not make any property award.

While, I don't know the right way for the OP's friend to proceed, I can't tell that what you're proposing is wrong. Let's see if we can hook him up with someone that can give him good advice.

Postscript: ASD1 replied to my question via PM and I'm most appreciative of his response.

[ASD1]

If a deceased person has no errors and or any type of will

Eveything gets sold off and all debts are settled the leftover goes back to the court/the state as there is no one to give it to and a trustee can not keep it in this case the bank

Once the house is foreclosed on the bank in this case takes possession of the property any and all contents and items left on the property become the property of the bank

[furyous68]

I spoke with ASD1 on the phone & we discussed the situation a little more in depth. There are a couple options it seems, but it appeared that no matter what, the bank & an FFL were needed to do any kind of transfer. If anyone knows of a way to whittle that down to just needing an FFL to do the transfer, I'm all ears.

[RickD427]

If a deceased person has no errors and or any type of will

Eveything gets sold off and all debts are settled the leftover goes back to the court/the state as there is no one to give it to and a trustee can not keep it in this case the bank

ASD1,

And just how did you get to the idea that "the bank" is now the trustee of the entire estate?

Let's keep in mind that "the court" and "the state" are different entities. Which one do you believe is the proper recipient of the estate's proceeds.

Again, let's please point the OP's "Friend" to someone that can give him good advice.

[furyous68]

Lol... I love that you quote "friend". It's honestly not for me, though I do hope to peruse the inventory & score a couple deals from him

[ASD1]

Of the entire estate no but once a bank physically takes possession of a repossessed property they now own all of the contents be it good stuff or bad stuff

[glockman19]

Friend of mine was hired by a bank to clear out a property to short sale. Previous owner is deceased, no known next of kin. The property was not paid off, so it went back to the Bank.

My friend is supposed to dispose of all items left in the house, he can keep/ sell whatever he finds that has value or is useable. This house has 2 gun safes (contents unknown for now), multiple long-guns, and a lot of reloading equipment.

My question is this: can he sell to ffl or ppt these firearms even though he is not the registered owner for any of them?

I would call Chuck Michel tomorrow morning. Ask a qualified Firearms Attorney.

IF his contract says he can keep whatever he does not dispose of then he can probably keep them because the bank gave him the OK with their authority.

[ASD1]

I would call Chuck Michel tomorrow morning. Ask a qualified Firearms Attorney.

IF his contract says he can keep whatever he does not dispose of then he can probably keep them because the bank gave him the OK with their authority.

Who gave the bank the authority to sell or giveaway firearms to anyone they want without using an FFl