Caution on passing on a firearm to your family

[baboon]

My dad wasn't against guns just didn't own any, so I never inherited any from him. My old brother got a H&R break open .32 from my grandfather.

Years ago my dad was visiting his sister @ an assisted living home. When he got up to leave she asked if he minded taking out her trash. On top off it was a Nickled S&W with ivory grips. When my dad asked WTF she said she couldn't give it to any of the kids or grand children. Needless to say the old man was thinking of me.

As far as my collection it will be eventually sold off to pay for old age. No kids, I thought about nieces & nephews, but for the most part they aint worthy.

 

[Charlie]

I'd be available for adoption if you'd like!

 

[BRD@66]

I'd be available for adoption if you'd like!

Apparently though, he has some kind of rule about being worthy, so both you & I are out.

 

[Charlie]

We're worthy of something, we just haven't figured it out yet!

 

[Shotgun Jeremy]

I bought a Zastava .22 rifle from an older mechanic I worked with about 6 years ago. The guy had no relatives under him who would appreciate his guns, so he was selling them cheap with the understanding that they'd be in a loving home.

I've still got that .22, and it is just as high on my list as my ARs. I've put a nicer scope on it, a bipod, and a sling.

I'm in the opposite boat - I don't have any family passing down guns, but I love guns with a back story - even if it was just a squirrel hunting gun. I find myself looking for deals I can afford where I can put a gun in a loving home and let it carry on its glory. My problem is my budget only allows me guns few and far between these days.

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[Moonpie]

You can always give them to someone besides family.
I've given a few to genuinely interested children of co-workers and friends. Always asked the parents first of course.
Gave the nephew my Dads .22 Marlin. I explained how it came from his Grandfather down thru me to him. He seemed pleased.
My kid is less than zero interested in guns and shooting.
Figure I'll sell/trade them off as need be later on.

 

[lightflyer1]

I have guns and antique cars. 1935 Ford sedan and 1936 Ford coupe. I will dispose of everything before I am not able to hopefully. I have 4 daughters with no interest in any of it. The cars needs to go to someone who will care for it and has the money to do so. The guns are much easier.

Like my parents did I will probably give personal mementos, sell some things before passing and what ever is left to be sold and the money divided equally between my daughters.

 

[V-Tach]

Had a conversation with my Son the other day. He is planning on building another addition on their home just for the day he inherits my collection. One of our friends that was with us said he was a little uncomfortable listening to us discuss my eventual demise. I am in good health and not going anywhere soon (i hope), but I am glad my Son is thinking ahead and actually wanting to display them in a secure environment. I am looking at full retirement in the next year and will be selling the shop/range. Will probably transfer most of the collection to him at that time.

 

[Texasjack]

So before I die, I need to make sure that every item I own is spoken for by will, or already disposed of to a given person? Not going to happen. A few things will be itemized to individuals, but otherwise, life is too short to deal with such minutia.

The point wasn't that you should catalog everything. It was that if you have something you really value, you should make sure it gets an owner that will also value it. As has been said, you can pick your friends but not your relatives. Some relatives are not worthy of your kindness.

 

[Texasjack]

About a month ago I gave my grandson a 20 year old AK-47 still in great shape! I don't think he's left the range with it yet! He put pictures all over facebook and every other social networking app he has showing off the rifle his PeePaw had given him! Never thought I could make a young man so happy but I did! Teared up a little on that one guys!! LOL!!

I love hearing that kind of story!

 

[RoadRunner]

I have guns and antique cars. 1935 Ford sedan and 1936 Ford coupe. I will dispose of everything before I am not able to hopefully. I have 4 daughters with no interest in any of it. The cars needs to go to someone who will care for it and has the money to do so. The guns are much easier.

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Like my parents did I will probably give personal mementos, sell some things before passing and what ever is left to be sold and the money divided equally between my daughters.

 

[Texasjack]

This thread brings back good and bad memories. My dad didn't have a big gun collection, but what he did have was nice and not only were they fun to shoot, I remember just liking to hold them. He died when I was 16 and didn't have a will and no amount of pleading kept my evil stepmother from selling them, not only for the money, but I believe for the spite.

That's sad - and sorta the other side of the same topic. I've seen that happen, and I also believe that most of the time it's out of spite.

 

[Texasjack]

I'd be available for adoption if you'd like!

Nice try!

 

[Churchmouse]

I have seen to it that all of my kids and their significant others are well trained and armed.
As to what they will have passed on to them has already been put into place. I built them all a customized 1911 with their names on them. Legacy pieces as it were. They are aware and appreciative of the efforts I put into them.
If life takes me before I am done shooting there will be much more to divvy up. If not most of the pieces will be sold off.

 

[Churchmouse]

That's sad - and sorta the other side of the same topic. I've seen that happen, and I also believe that most of the time it's out of spite.

Follow the money.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

The point wasn't that you should catalog everything. It was that if you have something you really value, you should make sure it gets an owner that will also value it. As has been said, you can pick your friends but not your relatives. Some relatives are not worthy of your kindness.

I'll be dead. What do I care what happens to my belongings. Once they are passed on, I make no claim on them. My heirs may keep what they like and sell off the rest. Any relatives not worthy of my kindness won't be in the will, LOL.

 

[Moonpie]

Yeah, there’s that.
Some “family” will not even be informed of my passing.
They’re only “family” when there is profit in it for them.

 

[Texasjack]

Yeah, there’s that.
Some “family” will not even be informed of my passing.
They’re only “family” when there is profit in it for them.

Oh, no kidding! I have some relatives like that. I remember a couple of them traveling across the country to visit my mother's aunt. They went through her stuff looking to see what she had that they might get their hands on when she passed. (She was very much alive at the time, not sick or anything.) When my dad took them back to the airport, he made a point of letting them know she was broke and he was paying most of her bills. They never came back - no surprise. I've seen relatives fighting over stuff they thought they should have inherited on the way from the gravesite to the car! I have no room in my life for such people, and I make no point of hiding that opinion from them.

 

[Moonpie]

Oh, no kidding! I have some relatives like that. I remember a couple of them traveling across the country to visit my mother's aunt. They went through her stuff looking to see what she had that they might get their hands on when she passed. (She was very much alive at the time, not sick or anything.) When my dad took them back to the airport, he made a point of letting them know she was broke and he was paying most of her bills. They never came back - no surprise. I've seen relatives fighting over stuff they thought they should have inherited on the way from the gravesite to the car! I have no room in my life for such people, and I make no point of hiding that opinion from them.

Pretty much every family has louts like this.
When I was 18yrs old my great aunt Susie passed away.
She was a elderly widow of very modest means.
Her husband had passed away about ten years before. She lived in a small 1940's era house.
Her executor was my grandmother. Grandmother decided to open the house to relatives so they could each have something of Susie's "to remind them of her."
Being one of the only young men in the family at the time, Grandmother asked me to be there to help move the heavy furniture, etc.
It was chaos.
No count turd relatives from as far away as California showed up to squabble over what was basically a bunch of junk. Banged up dinette set or old dishes and plates got fought over. It was like watching a pack of vultures screeching and pecking over a dead carcass.
To this day I am repulsed by what I saw.

 

[benenglish]

To this day I am repulsed...

I'm of two minds about the following story because the man in it did some truly awful things in his life. He was not a nice person. Still, his legacy deserved better.

Long version - I had an uncle (who was on LBJ's protective detail, flew for the CIA, and had lived an amazing life) who became very ill. He'd never had children and no family lived close. His wife had died just a few years before and there was no one to take care of him.

Two distant cousins showed up and offered to move in and take care of him. No one could ever figure out how they heard about his illness. With no other options open to him, he accepted. This included giving them access to his accounts so they could run the household. As payment for their care, he agreed to leave them the house. They wanted to avoid squabbles in probate so he went ahead and signed the house over to them. His will would disburse his considerable investment assets to the rest of the family.

His wife had died due to medical malpractice that resulted in a multi-million dollar settlement. The guy didn't need much but he was filthy, stinking rich. In fact, as a couple they had always been good with money and quite well-off.

The care he got was assistance to and from the bathroom and perhaps a couple of hot dogs per day while he sat in his bedroom, watched TV, and waited to die. It took about 6 months and he was gone.

After his death, a few folks from the family made the trip to the funeral. The house was empty of everything and already listed with a realtor before the funeral had happened. The two cousins sold the house and promptly disappeared.

There was no probate because no will was ever found and there was no money in any investments that anyone could find. Those two cousins had literally completed the task of stealing everything the man owned at roughly the time he died.

tl;dr - Never underestimate how sleazy human vultures can be. They sense death and profit in equal measure and can be ruthless in their pursuit of both.