What if they die?

[wwiifirearms]

Not to be morbid but several recent transfers I have worked on involve tranferors in their 80's. Thankfully everyone is doing well, but with wait times as long as they are things can change. What happens if a transferor dies after a Form 4 is submitted, but before it is approved?

[RoscoeTurner]

The executor of the estate will be the one to complete the business of the deceased.

[johnsonlmg41]

As long as full payment has been made, nothing really happens other than whomever gets the mail (and runs the estate) should be notified that you are the current owner (of which I get a receipt from these days) of that piece of property and that it is NOT part of the estate since the transaction predates the death. Your property is just stored there until the paperwork clears. There is no need to notify ATF unless there are corrections needed on the forms which you or a third party may need to handle with the executor.

 

Net effect, leave it be for now, but keep an eye on it and if necessary or there are security issues have a local PD or SOT (with cooperation of ATF) pick it up before it disappears, but again you'll need a clear paper trail. This happens more often than you would think. PD's are generally very cooperative if they think guns will hit the streets. Often relatives will call them and effectively give guns away to PD's HTH

[JJX]

As long as full payment has been made, ......

 

Net effect, leave it be for now, but keep an eye on it and if necessary or there are security issues have a local PD or SOT (with cooperation of ATF) pick it up before it disappears, but again you'll need a clear paper trail. This happens more often than you would think. PD's are generally very cooperative if they think guns will hit the streets. Often relatives will call them and effectively give guns away to PD's HTH

What kind of approval does an SOT need to be able to hold an item while waiting for the Form 4 to clear?

[The Lone Ranger]

An approved transfer application.

[johnsonlmg41]

The SOT would need approval from a local office to store them while the transfer to the new owner takes place. Two local 02/07 have done this a couple of times with the local ATF branch's blessing in order to keep the guns out of jeopardy sitting in a vacant house. They were booked in and booked out when the transfer was approved. They were not transferred to the SOT, just held there for security purposes. I've also seen this done in the case of abrupt arrests where a guy dumps his stuff off quickly before a transfer is approved or a family member does it before the guy made bail so as not to come home to a whole host of more problems.

 

These are all additional issues often exacerbated by these insane transfer times. This is legally still a treasury item and maybe should be returned there? They have no problem acknowledging tax payments and electronic funds transfers in days and seem to be up to speed with the real world? Unless you are registering a conservative sounding 503c of course.....that may take a while.

[wwiifirearms]

Thanks. I made sure there is clear paperwork. I have an SOT, but just helping the buyer and seller on the deal. I wrapped the gun up and taped a letter to it explaining the situation and including contact info for me and the buyer. I made sure the executor and other family members also know what is going on. The seller is very cooperative. The gun is fairly secure, but I think the buyer would have preferred it was sitting in a safe at my shop. Unfortunately, that just isn't an option under normal circumstances. Overall I think the bases are well covered.

[JJX]

The SOT would need approval from a local office to store them while the transfer to the new owner takes place. Two local 02/07 have done this a couple of times with the local ATF branch's blessing in order to keep the guns out of jeopardy sitting in a vacant house. They were booked in and booked out when the transfer was approved. They were not transferred to the SOT, just held there for security purposes. I've also seen this done in the case of abrupt arrests where a guy dumps his stuff off quickly before a transfer is approved or a family member does it before the guy made bail so as not to come home to a whole host of more problems.

 

These are all additional issues often exacerbated by these insane transfer times. This is legally still a treasury item and maybe should be returned there? They have no problem acknowledging tax payments and electronic funds transfers in days and seem to be up to speed with the real world? Unless you are registering a conservative sounding 503c of course.....that may take a while.

Thank you, that is helpful. I recently was involved in a transfer and the gun was in a vacant house. This procedure makes sense and would have been useful.