MD takes your registered guns when you die???

Looks like the best course of action is to get a tax stamp for everything and put it in a trust.....

TheSubieNinja7 said:

Just perused the MD Law of Estates and the only possible way that this could happen, according to the statutes I read, is if you die intestate or even with a will, but the heir is disqualified from ownership. Even then, the statute says that a "guardian" would be appointed to manage any property that a minor/DQ'ed person couldn't possess due to age, capacity, disqualification.

MD Law of Estates and Trusts 13-201 (cross-referencing Public Safety Article 5-133).

IAALawStudent.

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Correct. I have just had two instances where the child's guardian was given possession after the court mandated so. In practice, there are two options MSP gives you, but that one makes the most sense (the other is leave them in the estate, but who wants to keep an estate open until the kids turn 21?)

fabsroman said:

Crim Law §4–302.

This subtitle does not apply to:

(1) ......

(5) the receipt of an assault weapon or detachable magazine by inheritance, and possession of the inherited assault weapon or detachable magazine, if the decedent lawfully possessed the assault weapon or detachable magazine and the person inheriting the assault weapon or detachable magazine is not otherwise disqualified from possessing a regulated firearm;

With that said, things can get pretty tricky if a person dies intestate (i.e., without a will), there are more than one beneficiary to the estate, and the single assault weapon in the estate is wanted by more than one beneficiary. Not only that, but the personal representative has the discretion to liquidate all tangible personal property/assets via sale and convert them into cash to be distributed to the beneficiaries.

Short of it is, the instructor is not entirely right, but chances are that if an assault weapon is not inherited via a specific bequest in a will, it just isn't going to happen.

Now, there is a difference between an assault weapon and a regulated firearm. Regulated firearms or pretty much only handguns right now. However, the same issue comes into play when a person dies intestate. Who is getting the firearms.

Make this stuff simple ahead of time, and save a lot of grief and money on the back end. Get a will in place right now. After tax season, I am going to edit mine and my wife's to take into account the 2013 firearm acquisitions.

This truly is an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I've seen where people have died without a Will in place and it created a complete disaster.

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A will makes sense, so do trusts. Regulated firearms and assault weapons may pass via intestate succession, we have handled those cases too. It is a thousand times easier if you leave all of a class (ie. all firearms owned at my death) to one person or make specific bequests in a will, but it is possible to pass them on without such.

pbharvey said:

You have underage children. Is there a way for you to will your regulated/assault firearms to an entity that can hold them so to speak until the children grow up?

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Entities may own firearms in MD, the problem would be post 10/1 transfer of banned firearms to an entity. Now I have some thoughts on how that is possible, but I'm not throwing them out there right now. A purpose-built Gun Trust can be built for the holding of solely Title I (non-NFA) firearms. This is especially useful as part of a comprehensive estate plan, however.

fabsroman said:

As far as I know, they cannot be held in an entity. NFA trusts can only hold NFA items.

The plan is for me to leave mine to my wife and vice versa. Should the survivor of the two of us pass before the kids are adults, then they will be left to my dad and his Will will leave them to our kids if they are of age, or if they are still minors his Will will leave them to my mother. Next on the list is my brothers. I am going to have to draft this thing pretty good to make sure that anybody that is prohibited is considered to predecease the decedent. It is going to be a good project for the end of April, beginning of May.

As it is right now, my Will leaves everything to my wife right now, so unless we both die, then we are covered in the short term.

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A Trust isn't an entity, and trusts can "own" firearms just like other property in MD. I'd be interested to see how you address some of the issues we had to deal with (prohibited persons, etc.) I am not sure why you would want to do all of that multi-generational stuff with multiple people, though? A minor takes title, but can't take possession upon your death. Either a guardian is appointed to take possession and transfer occurs on 21st birthday, or the estate remains open until 21 (that is what COMAR 29.03.01.10(B) provides, but that's a stupid option IMO.)

fabsroman said:

When did Towson get a law school? lol

Article - Estates and Trusts

§13–201.

(a) Upon petition, and after any notice or hearing prescribed by law or the Maryland Rules, the court may appoint a guardian of the property of a minor or a disabled person.
(b) A guardian shall be appointed if the court determines that:
(1) A minor owns or is entitled to property that requires management or protection; or
(2) Funds are needed for his support, care, welfare, and education and protection is necessary or desirable to obtain or provide funds.
(c) A guardian shall be appointed if the court determines that:
(1) The person is unable to manage his property and affairs effectively because of physical or mental disability, disease, habitual drunkenness, addiction to drugs, imprisonment, compulsory hospitalization, confinement, detention by a foreign power, or disappearance; and
(2) The person has or may be entitled to property or benefits which require proper management.

That section would be a stretch to have a guardian appointed to "protect" or "manage" assets that consist of regulated firearms. Essentially, that statute is in place to prevent a young child from getting his/her hands on a large sum of money via inheritance. Kind of like the Uniform Gifts/Transfers to Minors Act.

The guardian would still be holding the firearms in trust. This really needs some serious research to see if a regular trust can hold firearms in it. I spent an entire evening last summer trying to figure this out and came to the conclusion that a trust cannot legally own anything but NFA items, but I didn't document my research since it was only for myself. Might delve further into this subject at the end of April. It really would be nice if a trust could own a banned firearm for the benefit of the designated beneficiaries within the trust, but I don't think that is going to fly.

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Trusts can, we do them (and the seperate NFA trusts) very regularly. I would be interested in your research. We put a ton of time into it, and we think we have it right.

pbharvey said:

If you left them to your brother, then would your boys have to wait until he passed to get them? Its not legal for him to transfer the guns to them right?

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Correct. I would not do it that way.

TheSubieNinja7 said:

They didn't, but their mascot makes for a better avatar than UB Law's.

Considering that this section specifically cross references the public safety article mentioning who could possess regulated firearms in MD, one would think it's at least somewhat relevant to the topic at hand.

Regardless, I think it's clear that there is no statutory basis for the notion that MD automatically gets your regged firearms when you die. Plus, one would think that there would be serious grounds for a replevin action by the executor/administrator if a portion of someone's estate automatically escheated to the state before probate.

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What year are you? I graduated last May and took the July bar.

teratos said:

Looks like the best course of action is to get a tax stamp for everything and put it in a trust.....

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No need. Specific, purpose-built trusts can be made to hold Title I firearms.

FrankAR15 said:

So a guy from my work just went through the HQL course last night and calls me after it was over.

One of the things they told him was that any REGISTERED firearms will get confiscated by the state when you die, **unless**, you specifically list them and leave them to someone in your Will.

I don't even have a Will yet! Plus the gun I transferred to my Dad would not go back to me if it isn't listed in His Will???

I'm really hoping He got this info mixed up or wrong.....

I did a quick search, but nothing related came up.

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Doesn't matter what you HQL instructor stated, if you want the answer to your question read the statute.

Best plan is to try to not die in Maryland.

Instructors often mislead students. In my latest LEOSA renewal, the instructor from the Maryland Municipal Police Academy at PG Com Col positively stated that Marylanders could own Hi-cap magazines or carry them with our carry weapons. I corrected him, telling him that we could not only own them, but we could buy them out of state and bring them home.

aquashooter said:

Instructors often mislead students. In my latest LEOSA renewal, the instructor from the Maryland Municipal Police Academy at PG Com Col positively stated that Marylanders could own Hi-cap magazines or carry them with our carry weapons. I corrected him, telling him that we could not only own them, but we could buy them out of state and bring them home.

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I'm missing the conflict here.