My condolences on your loss.
The FRB portal does not allow you to inherit any guns from anyone that doesn't have a MA LTC active upon their death. It was designed that way intentionally to help minimize the number of guns coming into MA.
To make matters worse, many widows/personal representatives ask their PD for advice on inheritance and most do one of two things: tell them to go to an FFL (MGL and Fed Law does NOT require this on inheritance) in which case handguns that aren't on the EOPS List and AG approved are lost to any rightful heir in MA OR they come and confiscate the guns directly (illegal, but nobody will prosecute them for it).
That said, MGL and Fed Law allow you to inherit guns from ANYONE anywhere in the USA regardless of their license status upon death. They also allow inheritance across state lines without any FFLs involved.
For that reason, I always advise the heirs to REGISTER the guns under Registration, NO info on the source of the guns, merely info on the new MA owner and the gun itself.
All this said, for an inheritance to be legal, a will or the laws of succession for someone who dies intestate MUST specify that the new owner is the heir for the guns. Otherwise, any transfers from the personal representative must go thru an FFL. It is a Federal Felony for transfers between 2 people that live in different states without an FFL, with the sole exception of someone designated to inherit the guns.
The FRB portal does not allow you to inherit any guns from anyone that doesn't have a MA LTC active upon their death. It was designed that way intentionally to help minimize the number of guns coming into MA.
To make matters worse, many widows/personal representatives ask their PD for advice on inheritance and most do one of two things: tell them to go to an FFL (MGL and Fed Law does NOT require this on inheritance) in which case handguns that aren't on the EOPS List and AG approved are lost to any rightful heir in MA OR they come and confiscate the guns directly (illegal, but nobody will prosecute them for it).
That said, MGL and Fed Law allow you to inherit guns from ANYONE anywhere in the USA regardless of their license status upon death. They also allow inheritance across state lines without any FFLs involved.
For that reason, I always advise the heirs to REGISTER the guns under Registration, NO info on the source of the guns, merely info on the new MA owner and the gun itself.
All this said, for an inheritance to be legal, a will or the laws of succession for someone who dies intestate MUST specify that the new owner is the heir for the guns. Otherwise, any transfers from the personal representative must go thru an FFL. It is a Federal Felony for transfers between 2 people that live in different states without an FFL, with the sole exception of someone designated to inherit the guns.