Administrating A Mass Murderer’s Estate

Stephen Paddock left a collection of 47 guns valued at more than $62,000, many of which were used in his horrific mass murder.

On October 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. Paddock killed 58 people and injured more than 851 individuals. That night, Paddock also took his own life, having died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. This mass shooting, the worst in American history, was the center of several lawsuits and an impetus for gun control reform.

Upon death, mass murderers, like the rest of us, leave some kind of estate and some kind of family member, close or distant, to administer the estate affairs or receive its bounty. The Vegas shooting revealed an unusual estate issue regarding the disposition of the decedent’s tangible personal property. Paddock left a collection of 47 guns valued at more than $62,000, many of which were used in his horrific mass murder.

The Paddock estate’s representatives and the victims and victims’ families of his crimes have debated what do with the guns. Should the firearms be sold and the proceeds be paid to the victims and victims’ families? Or should the guns be destroyed so that no one can ever reap benefit or injure another with them? Finally, should the guns be destroyed as a statement against gun violence and the need for more control?

These issues are often debated in much more palatable terms when inventorying a deceased family member’s personal affects. Often debate ensues between children as to whether to sell Mother’s valuable but hideous brooch or to save it for future generations. A good last will and testament will direct how tangible personal property should be distributed and whether it should be sold or transferred in-kind. In the Vegas case, at least one family has expressed a desire to preserve the firearms so that they may be used in a case against the gun manufacturer.

In the Vegas case, the tensions and emotions are obviously more serious and more macro than family quibbling over alleged heirlooms.  The tensions, however, are between monetary relief and principal. These issues are all too common for an estate administrator, who in this case is an accountant specially appointed by a Nevada probate court.

Paddock died without a spouse or children and without a last will and testament. Pursuant to Nevada’s laws of intestacy, his mother is his sole heir. In March 2018, she transferred her interest in her son’s estate to Paddock’s victims. His estate is said to include two Nevada homes, the gun collection, and other monetary assets totaling approximately $1,400,000. In order to preserve estate assets for the victims, the families have been asked to refrain from suing the estate. As such, given his mother’s transfer, once Paddock’s assets are marshalled and the creditors are paid, the victim families can share in the proceeds.

To assuage this dilemma, news outlets have recently reported that an anonymous Silicon Valley executive has donated more than $62,000, representing the gun collections’ appraised amount, to be distributed to Paddock’s victims. The donation, however, is contingent on the guns being destroyed. It is reported that the donor’s impetus is to help to the victims and families’ pain. The destruction of the guns will need to be approved by the court and if the judge does not permit the destruction, the donor’s money will be returned.

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As attorneys, we are constantly focused on closing a case and getting to the end. For estate practitioners, this is especially significant because the end of the matter means an emotional closure following the loss of a loved one. I am not sure that the Vegas mass murder will ever result in closure for the victims and families — or for our country. It is uplifting, however, to witness the creative efforts of an anonymous citizen, who is trying in some way, to make the harder decisions in life (and death), a bit easier.


Cori A. Robinson is a solo practitioner having founded Cori A. Robinson PLLC, a New York and New Jersey law firm, in 2017. For more than a decade Cori has focused her law practice on trusts and estates and elder law including estate and Medicaid planning, probate and administration, estate litigation, and guardianships. She can be reached at cori@robinsonestatelaw.com

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