Estate Planning For Your Gun Collection – Common Questions About Gun Trusts
By Barry Zimmer on December 11th, 2014 in Estate Planning
For Ohio gun collectors, your estate plan will need to specifically address how you want to pass on your collection. In some instances, you may want to create a gun trust in order to more easily pass on certain firearms. Let’s look at a few common questions about gun trusts and what they do.
Question 1: What is a Gun Trust?
A gun trust, also known as a NFA Gun Trust or National Firearms Act Gun Trust, is a type of Revocable Living Trust that allows you to purchase or transfer specific weapons as identified under the National Firearms Act. Under this law, the sale, use and transfer of machine guns, short barreled guns, suppressed weapons and explosive or destructive devices such as grenades is restricted though not prohibited.
Question 2: What are the benefits of a Gun Trust?
A Gun Trust allows you to avoid certain legal requirements when you transfer a firearm to another person. Without a Trust, you must receive approval from your local chief law enforcement officer before you sell or transfer any NFA firearm. The Gun Trust sidesteps this requirement and instead allows you to transfer your firearm by directly sending the transfer notification to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Question 3: What is the difference between a Gun Trust and other forms of Revocable Living Trust?
A Gun Trust must include specific provisions that different Revocable Trusts typically do not have. For example, the NFA limits who can own certain firearms, and the Gun Trust must make specific provisions for the transferring of trustee responsibilities if a person is no longer qualified to own or use such firearms.
If you have additional questions, please contact us at 513.721.1513 for a consultation.