Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

The police confiscated family heirloom guns from a relative who has recently been charged with assault. There was a fourth gun discovered later which the relative declared but the police only found three. I took the fourth gun because it belonged to my grandfather and because I have no contact with the relative. The guns were not registered to the relative and as far as I know, were registered to their original owners, my father and grandfather, one from WW1 to which I have the bayonet that goes with it. The police are now after the relative to reveal the location of the fourth gun, and because I have it (which nobody knows), the gun is considered missing and the relative is claiming it has been stolen. Do I have any rights to the items if the relative has no legal documents stating he is the owner of the items but I am not the next logical heir (which would probably be my mother, who will undoubtedly return the gun to the relative since she just bailed him out of jail)? Should I declare the fourth gun to the police? How can I get these family heirlooms from the police?


Asked on 9/26/12, 7:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Sher Wagshal and Sher

If your grandfather and father did not have Last Will and Testaments indicating to whom the guns were left in their estates, then they would have become the property of their next of kin according to the intestate law of the state where they were living. In the case of your grandfather, that might have been a surviving spouse if any, or if none his children. If the gun you took was registered to your father, most states' intestate laws divide up the decedent's property roughly between surviving spouse and children. It's unlikely that you have any legal claim to it under the circumstances. Since your relative is claiming theft, you ought to turn the gun into the police, lest you become the target of a criminal inquiry.

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Answered on 9/27/12, 7:46 am


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