transfer of deceased to next of kin

**Charlie B** · November 12th, 2007, 01:36 PM

I don’t know?? If he gave them to me, aren’t they mine.

**knight0334** · November 12th, 2007, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by Charlie B

I don’t know?? If he gave them to me, aren’t they mine.

hmmm good point.. who's to say that the deceased didn't sell/trade/give them to the original poster years ago.

**GunLawyer001** · November 12th, 2007, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by knight0334

hmmm good point.. who's to say that the deceased didn't sell/trade/give them to the original poster years ago.

Personally, I try not to steal from widows and orphans. The guy trusted the OP, I suspect that he'll continue to earn that trust.

Honestly, in the real world are you going to proudly show your rifle to your buddies and say "Oh, I stole this one from old Ed's estate after he died"? When it comes down to it, I think most of us would try to do the right thing as our last duty for our missing friends.

**Charlie B** · November 12th, 2007, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by Charlie B

I don’t know?? If he gave them to me, aren’t they mine.

Originally Posted by knight0334

hmmm good point.. who's to say that the deceased didn't sell/trade/give them to the original poster years ago.

Gee, sounds more like a sarcastic smart ass remark than what any of us would actually do…

Originally Posted by GunLawyer001

Personally, I try not to steal from widows and orphans. The guy trusted the OP, I suspect that he'll continue to earn that trust.

Honestly, in the real world are you going to proudly show your rifle to your buddies and say "Oh, I stole this one from old Ed's estate after he died"? When it comes down to it, I think most of us would try to do the right thing as our last duty for our missing friends.

Did you really think anyone was serious?

Originally Posted by GunLawyer001

Personally, I try not to steal from widows and orphans.

Oh, I get it now, you were mocking!

-

**knight0334** · November 12th, 2007, 04:44 PM

Yeah really.. lol

My original post states that I believe they should goto the son. My only dark issues is keeping the ex-wife from getting the stuffs. She's no widow if they were divorced before he died, and entitled to nothing so long as a will doesn't name her to receive something.

**GunLawyer001** · November 13th, 2007, 01:20 AM

Ethics are not as common as they should be, and it's hardly unlikely that there might be folks who would steal from an estate. It happens all the time, I've handled many estates and there seems to be some feeding frenzy that's activated by piles of stuff whose owner died. Brothers steal from sisters, daughters steal from their mothers, and everyone steals from the out-of-state cousins.

The first folks into the house of the recently deceased often seem to "remember" that he promised them his watch, or they want something to remember him by and that big screen TV brings back many fond memories. It never seems to be worthless books or clothing that remind them of the dead guy...

If you gents were kidding about keeping guns if the owner died and you could safely claim that they were gifts to you, then cool. Subtlety is lost in Internet postings. But I like to make it clear that the many, many people who do exactly what you joked about are wrong. When anyone steals from an estate, they are stealing from the heirs, who are living, breathing people. It's morally no different than sneaking into their homes and taking their wallets.

If anyone finds himself justifying taking or keeping estate property because "his daughter was mean to him" or "his wife was probably cheating on him" or "his nephew wouldn't appreciate guns", then there's probably something wrong that requires justification. Doing the right thing doesn't need an excuse.

Enough sermonizing, we seem to be on the same page, morally speaking...