Question about unlocks, please help!

That depends actually, depending on either CAS Unlocks or BB Unlocks. BB Unlocks will only move with your household so long as you move them to the household inventory only. BB unlocks will work like any other furniture you leave behind in a former residence if you don't take all your items with you. It doesn't matter how you move them so long as you keep this in mind. CAS unlocks always follow your household.

As for splitting households, this one has gotten some difficulty from me through personal experience. Apparently it's not guaranteed that CAS or BB unlocks will follow a household if you decide to split them. I believe in a case where you split a household, only the original household will keep the unlocks while the split household does not. Feel free to test that out and decide for yourself though.

@paradiseplanet I know I can take the BB unlocks with my household in inventory, I'm wondering about the ability to actually buy more from BB though. Can the ability to buy from BB mode move with the household in any way?

To frame what I mean: I took the easels and all the inspiration inducing decor from a generation 1 painter with me when I moved my sims in later generations, and have discovered that I cannot actually buy more, it's locked in the catalog again. While I can still use the heirloom items, I'm curious what I need to do when moving to ensure I can buy them again in future generations if I want to (if there even is a way).

In this particular instance I moved via the gallery because I started a new game and just brought the household back into it....hence why gallery questions are absent from what I'm asking about. LOL

I appreciate your answers! My own experience is also still a little unclear for me to be sure, so I thought I'd get some insight from other players.

Ok, now I understand your question; I believe it would work the same as when a Sim who has unlocked them dies. When a Sim who's had BB Unlocks dies, the household they left will no longer be able to purchase those items unless someone were to unlock it themselves on another Sim. By this logic, the answer to your question would probably be that the Unlocks in your case will be transferred only with the Sim you used to unlock it. I might also be just as wrong on that, but unlocks have never been 100% for me.

@paradiseplanet, thanks for sharing what info you do have. They aren't 100% for me either, obviously, any insight will help me try to piece it together. With no one else commenting to give a 'sure' answer, I have to assume they might be a little unclear to a lot of players, so at least we aren't alone.

Aren't BB unlocks tied to specific Sims?

Like in my game I had a household:
Father, a Writer who had unlocked a bunch of stuff from that job
His Wife, and then his Son who had some Musician career unlocks..

I had the son Move out on his own, and in his house, all the items that his father had unlocked for the family through the Writer career were back to being locked. And back in the Father and Mother's house, the Musician items that the Son had unlocked were now locked for them.

It seems like item unlocks are tied to a single Sim, and that Sim just shares the ability to buy those items with the entire household they're a part of, for as long as they're a part of it.

@lyasenu, That's how CAS unlocks work, I just never was sure regarding BB unlocks.
Google searches that I read through all implied they were tied to a household for the BB unlocks, leaving me unclear regarding how things specifically work whens sims start moving and households split, etc.

Sounds like you have the answers I was looking for, thanks!