Recovering in-law's confiscated firearms

[legendarylorot]

Four years ago, when I was just starting my family, my father-in-law got himself into trouble, and his firearms were confiscated. I don't know the entirety of the situation, nor does my wife, but as far as we can tell things were done properly (he would be a prohibited person now).

He died last July, and we last saw him around this time of year. While listening to my wife talk to one of her father's exes about it, she mentioned that she was given an old 22mag Winchester as a present when she was a kid, and really wished it hadn't been taken with the other guns so she could have her memories in some physical form (his then-girlfriend had all his worldly belongings destroyed when he died). I've been trying to find a 'replacement' for her favorite memory rifle for years now, but just recently tracked down as a Model 61 (prohibitively expensive to replace, let alone in the perfect condition the gun was in). When I heard that the gun was, in fact, gifted to her as a child, I thought that there may be some way to recover her property from the Chester County Sheriff, assuming he still has it as confiscated property.

Basically, all that any living family members know is that my wife's gun was stored in his house, because she lived with her mother for a few years (very controlling, abusive and gun-unfriendly), and that when he got in trouble for avoiding a bench warrant (domestic dispute charge? No conviction, even after) they took all guns from his house, including my wife's.

For all those law-savvy folks out there, is there a way we can get this piece of her past back? There were supposedly a lot of others there meant to be hers, but nobody ever found a will. Do we have any hope for recovery?

[AKsRule]

Any estate should have gone through probate if there were claims against it , but if things were destroyed I would guess not.

You can inquire of the sherrifs office but after FOUR YEARS those firearms
are probably destroyed - auctioned off- or appropriated.

[whoshisface]

call and ask!