We flagged this as something we needed to dig into further when we first covered grandfathering, and after spending more time with it, "open question" is still the honest answer — but we can at least explain precisely what's unresolved and why.
The estate exception, precisely
C.R.S. 18-12-116(3)(f) exempts from the SSF restriction: "a transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the prospective transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or a trustee of a trust created in a will."
Read closely, that last category is specific: a trust created in a will. In legal terms, that's a testamentary trust — one that doesn't exist until the will creating it is probated after the person's death. It's a different legal instrument from the revocable living trust that most NFA gun trusts actually are, which is created and funded while the person who set it up is still alive.
Why that distinction matters
A typical NFA gun trust is set up as a living trust specifically so that suppressors, SBRs, and other NFA items can be held by the trust itself and transferred between current and successor trustees without going through a new ATF Form 4 transfer each time a trustee changes. If an SSF were placed into that kind of living trust — one that already existed and already held the firearm before the person's death — a change in trustee or beneficiary after death might not look like "a transfer that occurs because of the death of a person" in the same way an estate distribution does, because the firearm was already trust property before death, not something passing out of an estate. Whether that kind of internal trust succession counts as a "transfer" under Colorado law at all, and if so, whether it fits within 18-12-116(3)(f)'s specific language about wills, isn't something the statute answers directly.
What we're not going to do here
We're not going to tell you that a living NFA trust definitely does or doesn't work for passing along an SSF without the course and eligibility-card process. We don't think anyone can say that with confidence right now — not us, and not most general-practice attorneys, because this is a specific intersection of trust law and a brand-new statute that hasn't been tested.
What we'd actually suggest
If you're relying on an NFA trust as part of your plan for what happens to your firearms collection, this is a case where the stakes (a trustee or beneficiary facing a misdemeanor or felony question over an inherited rifle) are high enough to warrant a specific answer from someone qualified to give one — an attorney who works in both estate planning and firearms law, ideally someone who can either point you to existing guidance we haven't found or help you structure things (a testamentary trust instead of a living one, for instance) in a way that clearly fits the statute's language rather than hoping it does.
As always, we are not lawyers — just Colorado citizens trying to understand the new law and share what we learn. The information on this website is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice, nor does it create an attorney/client relationship. The accuracy, completeness, or currency of the content is not warranted. Your use of content on this website is at your own risk. Consult an attorney about your specific circumstances.
