Please excuse me, but I need help understanding the given scenario, as you've presented it. Comments follow.
So I have five silver bars all worth $2,100 each total price that's $10,500 the money goes to an estate …
You wrote that the
money goes to the estate, so the bars were sold, and the estate received $10,500 in cash. Is this correct?
… the feds take out half the profit …
Profit? I don't understand. Perhaps, you're thinking of something like, "The estate pays 50% (for taxes) of the $10,500 received, leaving $5,250 to be distributed amongst the heirs."
… The estate gets divvied up 35% 25% 20% 20% …
If $5,250 is distributed thusly, then the 35% heir receives $1,837.50 and the 25% heir receives $1,312.50 and each of the 20% heirs receive $1,050.
One person with the 35% buys one of the bars one person with 20% buys one of the bars and one person with 20% buys three of the bars. Saying that the bars are at the same value …
The bars? I suppose that means each heir buys some silver, and they individually pay $2,100 for each bar they buy (from wherever).
… what is the return on the purchase of the bars per person if at all
I'm not sure I understand "return on purchase". If I've followed correctly, none of the heirs inheirited enough money to cover the bars they purchase, so they would each need to use other funds to cover the cost. But they each have $2,100 in value for the $2,100 they spent, so there's no change in their pre-purchase assets. Any return (positive or negative) would occur, if they were to sell the silver.
We're thinking of different scenarios, I'm sure. Maybe you could reword your presentation; don't hesitate to provide as much extra detail as you can. Cheers :cool: