[Alpo]

Originally Posted by OcelotZ3

My father's estate went through this a few years ago. I had the estate transfer a SBR to me, and we also went through the transfer of two machine guns to a buyer.

For either type of transfer, you'll need copies of the original registration papers. If you don't have them/can't find them, then you have to roll the dice and hope the BATFE will look them up. According to a friend who does a LOT of transfers, you'll probably be out of luck.

You fill out the forms, get your fingerprints done, etc. The administrator of the estate has to sign the transfer form. (You used to be able to see the form online to see what was needed). You then send it in, along with copies of the original registration papers & fingerprints and play the waiting game... The local Sheriff also has to sign something, either the original forms or something else, I forget.

You still can. http://www.titleii.com/pdf/010205-Form5.pdf The Sheriff (actually the "Chief Law Enforcement Officer" where you live. Might be Sheriff, Police Chief, DA, etc.) signs the Form 5 (block # 17), saying that you aren't a criminal and there is no legal reason why you can't have the gun.

Originally Posted by OcelotZ3

If you get approved, those papers then go back *to the administrator of the estate*, not you. In my case, I wasn't notified and only found out about a month later by contacting BATFE and being told that it was accepted a month earlier, and my brother had been sitting on the papers for all that time without telling me... So I would recommend telling the administrator that you are very interested in when they come in and to notify you ASAP.

I'd mention to the administrator, that, as soon as the papers came back, the gun was mine, which meant that he would be "in possession of an NFA item that was not registered to him", and that was worth a quarter million dollar fine and ten years in the Federal pokey. ATF don't like people having unregistered machine guns. Hangin' on to it for a month, after the paper came back? Damn.

Originally Posted by OcelotZ3

It wasn't too difficult and didn't cost much. The fingerprints were the highest cost item.

The only costs involved should be the fingerprints and the photographs. Our Sheriff's office used to do prints for free (police charged five bucks) but I noticed they have started charging. I used to go to professionals to get my picture taken. Cost around ten bucks. Last time I did, though, I saw he used a digital camera and printed out the pic. So the last time I needed pix, I did it myself. All it cost was the semi-glossy photo paper.