I've got an elderly friend who's a shotgun owner. He doesn't have any children and, as far as I know, there's noone else with a SGC to look after the guns if he becomes incapacitated.
I'm wondering what would happen to the shotguns if something were to happen to him. I'd like his wife to benefit from their value, but I worry that they might be seized if there's noone with a SGC in control of them.
It's not the sort of thing that I want to bring up with him and his wife, but he's getting a bit frail and I wonder what typically happens in these situations. Is there any grace period to allow relatives and friends to get an SGC to cover the guns? Should I, or someone else be thinking about getting a SGC now? Can you get a certificate if you don't have any guns?
I want to avoid the situation where the guns get seized and destroyed or sold below value because there's noone able to act as custodian. This is in Kent if there's differences between forces.