{"id":313,"date":"2026-07-24T11:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/?p=313"},"modified":"2026-10-02T11:44:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T09:44:41","slug":"estate-duties-and-the-case-of-the-vanished-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/?p=313","title":{"rendered":"Estate Duties and the Case of the Vanished Gun"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later today I am going to a police station to report a missing firearm in an estate, of which I am the executor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not the late owner\u2019s fault; the firearm was handed in to a legitimate dealer for repairs, but this dealer went bust plus was doing some shady stuff. There are others that went missing too. There\u2019s a case with the police about it all. But I, as executor, am responsible for a firearm in an estate. Wonderful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have learnt from the professional executors who help me with my estates, that, when a firearm owner passes away and I am the executor, it is my responsibility to ensure that any firearms have been moved to a place that is registered and licenced to store firearms. And if not, there\u2019s a possibility of a case of negligence against me. Getting better all the time! Learning all this over the past year, has made me decide to check carefully that I am aware of whether you own firearms and that there are plans in place for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something to think on here\u2026 if you own firearms and don\u2019t use them or haven\u2019t for years and years and might never again, sell them. It will be helpful for your estate. If there is no-one to inherit them, then the estate can simply sell them. If whoever you have nominated to inherit your firearms wants them \u2013 yes, check with them first \u2013 then they need to be prepared to apply for and get a firearm licence as soon as possible when you pass away. Plus they need to be prepared to buy a proper gun safe. But in both cases, I\u2019m still supposed to ensure they\u2019re moved to legal storage in the meantime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are just my thoughts for what is potentially the most frightening – not necessarily the most frustrating or time consuming; I can list those for you \u2013 but frightening, item in an estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if no-one hears from me all weekend, I\u2019m in a police cell waiting for the magistrate on Monday morning for the bail hearing because I\u2019m in trouble for not reporting a missing firearm close enough to the date of death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen a firearm owner passes away and I am the executor, it\u2019s my responsibility to ensure that any firearms are moved to a registered, licensed place for storage. If not, there\u2019s a possibility of a negligence case against me. Learning this has made me check carefully who owns firearms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"A missing firearm turns estate duties into a legal puzzle. Insights on executor responsibilities, firearm laws, and lessons for estate planning","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Estate Duties and the Case of the Vanished Gun","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[79,78,80,72,73,74,77,75,76,81],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-thoughts","tag-compliance-and-negligence-risks","tag-estate-administration-insights","tag-estate-management-stories","tag-estate-planning","tag-executor-responsibilities","tag-firearm-laws-south-africa","tag-legal-duties-of-executors","tag-missing-firearm-case","tag-probate-challenges","tag-south-african-estate-law"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions\/315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinmurray.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}