Uncle dies......

[oogaloo]

Help. Uncle in CA dies, at memorial aunt says "Take these guns ,my nephew from distant state". Should aunt OPLAW handguns to herself then ship to Montana FFL?

[RickD427]

Help. Uncle in CA dies, at memorial aunt says "Take these guns ,my nephew from distant state". Should aunt OPLAW handguns to herself then ship to Montana FFL?

How did ownership of the weapons transfer from your Uncle to your Aunt?

Methinks you're forgetting one important word - Probate.

[oogaloo]

Thanks

Thanks for the reply. I was able to talk to DOJ. Their comment was "We don't care about what's leaving California, only what's coming in". Aunt can ship directly to Montana FFL. Out.

[nedro]

So the Feds have no say in this?

[j-shot]

Thanks for the reply. I was able to talk to DOJ. Their comment was "We don't care about what's leaving California, only what's coming in". Aunt can ship directly to Montana FFL. Out.

That's rich

[Librarian]

But if the guns now vest in the Aunt, shipping them to Montana-nephew via a Montana FFL is the correct procedure.

Had CA-Uncle had a will leaving the guns to Montana-nephew, and the will finished probate, Montana-nephew could have just taken the guns himself; but deceased-uncle to aunt to nephew is not inheritance, so the Federal exception to using the FFL does not apply.

[Chewy65]

Transferring inherited firearms may or may not require opening a probate case. You may wish to consult an attorney or at least look at this from the California Judicial Branch. In some situations, where the value of the estate, not including certain items, is $150,000 or less, and it does not include real property, you may possibly be able to use a simple affidavit to transfer property. If a FFL is going to be involved in a transfer, the particular FFL may have procedures they require.

[M1NM]

Transferring inherited firearms may or may not require opening a probate case. You may wish to consult an attorney or at least look at this from the California Judicial Branch. In some situations, where the value of the estate, not including certain items, is $150,000 or less, and it does not include real property, you may possibly be able to use a simple affidavit to transfer property. If a FFL is going to be involved in a transfer, the particular FFL may have procedures they require.

That may work if both parties were in the same state but I think the need to go through an FFL when crossing state lines trumps this.
CA is a community property state everything is co-owned by husband and wife. He dies and she now owns everything.

[Chewy65]

That may work if both parties were in the same state but I think the need to go through an FFL when crossing state lines trumps this. Not if the transfer is made to carry out a bequest or inheritance.
CA is a community property state everything is co-owned by husband and wife. He dies and she now owns everything. Not quite, but generally that is true. My wife owns SP because I insisted that she keep her inheritance in her separate acccont. Even in a CP state a surviving spouse does not automatically own the decedent spouse's community property interest, at least not he last I looked which was ages ago. For example, it is common for the first spouse to die to transfer their half of the community assets into a marital trust to be distributed along with the surviving spouses assets at the time of their passage to beneficiaries. You may be thinking of Joint Property. In some cases that I won't get into property held as CP is treated as JP absent anything to show that it was not.

Responses in bold

[kemasa]

CA does not seem to have a means of having ownership of a firearm in multiple people's names. There is a form to transfer a firearm to/from a spouse.

[p_jackson]

I don't believe Montana (most states besides California) has any kind of registration requirement for a face to face transfer.
Lots of guns for sale in the want adds in other states.
Pete

[Librarian]

I don't believe Montana (most states besides California) has any kind of registration requirement for a face to face transfer.

Whether this is the case or not, does not apply here where the transfer would be California-resident to Montana-resident. Feds call that 'interstate', so the already-mentioned Federal law applies.

[strongpoint]

Whether this is the case or not, does not apply here where the transfer would be Montana-resident to CA-resident. Feds call that 'interstate', so the already-mentioned Federal law applies.

Backwards -- read the OP again. Uncle in California has passed away; nephew is in Montana.

Just for accuracy's sake.

[Librarian]

Backwards -- read the OP again. Uncle in California has passed away; nephew is in Montana.

Just for accuracy's sake.

Oh, dear.

You are quite right. CA --> MT is correct - I'll edit.

[priusron]

You all need to get out of California once in a while. The fewer people involved n the transfer the better it is. Have the nephew come down to pick them up and take them home. If concerned about it make sure they are all in locked cases. I was going to post a lot more about my weapons and what I do, but nobody needs to know that. Buy what you can and stock up on ammo.