Boulder Estate Planning Legal Blog
The state and federal governments highly regulate guns. However, guns serve a very valid purpose – both for protection and sport – and can be highly prized collectors’ items. That said, collectors who have certain types of guns should take extra precautions when it comes to clarifying what will happen to their weapons after their death. A Colorado gun trust is the safest and most common way to pass on a gun from one generation to another.
A gun trust is a generic name for a trust that is used to pass down certain types of guns. A trust is a legal relationship between three parties: the settlor, the beneficiary, and the trustee. The settlor creates the trust, placing assets, in this case, a gun, into the trust. The beneficiary is the person to whom the property will eventually pass. And the trustee is the party who oversees the trust property until it is passed on to the beneficiary. Gun trusts can be either revocable or irrevocable. However, revocable gun trusts are much more common, as they allow the grantor to change the terms of the trust during his or her lifetime. Irrevocable gun trusts cannot be amended or changed once set up.
Gun trusts are an important part of a Colorado estate plan for gun owners, especially those who own weapons that are classified under the National Firearms Act (NFA) Title II of the Gun Control Act of 1968. These include:
