Trust & Estate Planning for Firearms - 2019

Originally presented on September 30, 2019

Many clients hold firearms in their estates.  These firearms – shotguns, rifles, pistols or others guns – may have been long held in their families and hold sentimental value. These firearms may also be quite valuable. Clients wanting to pass these firearms to their heirs, however, are subject to a significant and growing body of law regulating the transfer of firearms, even as part of a testate transfer. These are no ordinary assets that can be transferred easily like other personal property. In fact, in the absence of strict adherence to a body of law, the estate’s executor, a trust’s trustee, or the estate planner himself or herself, as well as the transferee, may be subject to very substantial fines or even imprisonment.  Understanding the intricacies and real risks of transferring firearms is essential to avoid this liability and achieve client goals.  This program will provide you with a real-world guide to risks of and best practices for transferring firearms as part of a trust and estate plan.

• Framework of gun law and how it impacts trust and estate planning 
• Drafting “Gun Trusts” to transfer firearms & comply with National Firearm Act
• Planning for death and incapacity of firearm owners
• Potential substantial fines and jail time for estate planners, executors, and trustees
• Special issues in probate, trustee selection, and constructive control of firearms

Speaker: Lee-ford Tritt, University of Florida College of Law, Gainesville, FL

NOTE: This program was originally produced as a telephone seminar and is available on demand in streaming audio. This material qualifies for self-study credit only. Pursuant to Regulation 15.04.5, a lawyer may receive up to six hours of self-study credit in a reporting year. Self-study programs do not qualify for ethics or elimination of bias credit.