NC to SC inheritance.....curious

PapaBear · Mar 18, 2014

I have a family member in NC who is deathly ill. She owns all of her husbands firearms (lots, he worked in gun stores his entire life), and will be willing them to me as my wife and I are the only family she has.

We are awaiting the lawyer to "do the research" to see the best way to handle this, but in the meantime, was curious if anyone knew the process here.

Being out of state, what process will I have to take to receive the guns legally?

thanks for any info. Dealing with this lawyer is not very easy at this point, and pointing him in the right direction will certainly help.

Red Hat · Mar 18, 2014

I found this.

http://www.greystonelaw.com/articles_fe ... tance.html

http://www.justanswer.com/law/0ownp-inh ... tsate.html

I think it fall in this law. 18 U.S.C. 922(a)(5) It gave me a headache trying to decipher it!

rotarymike · Mar 18, 2014

Simplest option would be to go get them in person while she is still with us.

Next best, have the probate lawyer hold them until you can go get them. The USC code allows him to transfer them to you as part of the bequest regardless of being from out of state.

The USC quoted allows shipment interstate of firearms incidental to a bequest (will). But find a shipper that will let that happen without an FFL on one end or the other.

Worst way would be to find a dealer in SC that will accept shipments from non-FFLs and have the lawyer ship them all to said dealer, then transfer them to you normally. I know some FFLs who specialize in internet transfers don't charge by the gun but by the 4473 - and you can put 5 guns per 4473 if I remember correctly.

Tigerstripe · Mar 18, 2014

id make the trip.

its nice to have a qualifed person near to answer a simple question.

thank you Mike.

PS, if the answer was that simple why didnt the lawyer Papa Bear is speaking with tell him that?

Bradley · Mar 18, 2014

Make the trip now. Get them befoer they pass and its no biggie. Afterwards can be a P.I.T.A. 3 of mine came to me as inherited, luckily when the spouse (my dad and grandmother) were still living so it was as easy as them "giving" them to me. And that was from KY to SC.

rotarymike · Mar 18, 2014

Depends on what kind of law he practices - if he doesn't deal with firearms usually many lawyers will shy away from giving advice as it could easily come back on him. For that matter, many lawyers that say they do gun law really mean stuff like 922(g), felon in possession of a firearm - that practice area is more on procedure and evidence rules than actual laws regarding the firearm itself.

He could also be (even mildly) anti-gun or just not a gun owner. Most folks, professional or not, think shipping guns is illegal and that all transfers must go through a dealer; moreso since the recently publicized incidents giving rise to all sorts of misinformation.

Honestly, I'd say the former. For example, I don't do real estate law. If someone asks me a question about heirs' property issues, I can't give them advice simply because I know nothing about it, and the topic is complicated enough to not be able to truly understand it with anything less than extensive research.

PapaBear · Mar 18, 2014

I think that is the issue, he's just shying away from it.

We are working with someone else to see what to do and it seems we may have it worked out. Probably won't be instant results, but good ones. I will update the thread when I hear something.

Thanks for all the advice!