[rem870hunter]

Originally Posted by cdoc42

rem870hunter, I see no mention of estate inheritance tax on this thread, and I have no knowledge or experience in the matter, just a question that was created while reading this thread. If the guns are in your father's will, how is the value calculated and included as part of the estate's total value? Will the recipient of any part of the estate be responsible for paying the tax?

As I understand it, one way around this is to have the guns gifted to the desired recipient. I read that the current gift limit per year per person is $15,000. If your father's guns are worth $15,000 or less, he can gift them to you and neither party pays a tax. You can either take possession and safeguard them, or leave them with your father if you make them inaccessible to anyone but yourself, including your father. They would belong to you. You have the only key to any locks as well as the right to choose who you want to allow use of any gun. If you leave them with your father (so he doesn't feel he has "lost" them), I would suggest you obtain an insurance policy that specifically covers the loss in case of fire or theft. Your father might have homeowner's insurance but it generally, if at all, only covers an amount that won't match the total value of the guns, and a deductible that renders at least one of them uncovered.

cdoc42 the Codicils of the Will states that the Firearms are separate from anything. No mention of a Tax. NJ Firearms laws state they can be passed to me through a Will and that i'm exempt from paying any fees to do so. In the 3rd Codicil the BIL is listed as getting 1 of the pistols.
(It's not the Springfield 1911 in 45 acp that he asked for in 2002)..as long as 1 he's still married to my sister and 2 he can legally possess firearms.