North Carolina Trusts Legal Questions

You do not have to transfer title of the house to the estate.  In North Carolina, the law transfers ownership of real estate at the time of death to the heirs or the devisee of the real estate under the Will.  So, either you (and your siblings, if any) are considered the owners now in NC or whomever your parents gave the house to in their Will is the owner.    While title need not be changed right away, someone will want to get legal authority in NC so that he or she can transfer, refinance, or sell the house.  This requies filing probate in North Carolina. The first step is to determine whether one or both of your parents' estates need to be probated.  This depends on how they owned the property, which is in the language of their deed.  If they owned the NC house as joint tenants or tenants by the entirety, the surviving spouse owned the house and only that parent's estate needs to be probated.  If they owned the NC house as tenants in common, then each parent owned an interest in the house and each estate must be probated.  Check the language in their deed to determine which form of ownership applies.   A Will for an estate requiring probate must be filed in NC with the clerk of the Superior Court for the county where the land is located.  Depending on the language in your parents' Wills, you may be able to transfer the property as their heir or you may be required to gain appointment as personal representative of their estate to do so.  There also is a process whereby creditors are notified of your parents' deaths and given a deadline for presenting claims against their estates.  The forms to begin NC probate are available online at www.nccourts.org/forms.   There are a lot of nuances in this case and NC law regarding real property is quite different than other states, so you may want to seek the assistance of an NC attorney who practices in this area.  Goodl luck.       You can file court-certified copies of your appointment as executor with the NC probate court and they will recognize this appointment such that you have legal authority over any estate property in NC.  This is called ancillary probate.  ... Read More

Dont call me but call a local lawyer who knows NC law. In my state, PA, Computershare would be right. You are screwed unless she signs off. You will probably have to buy her out. But, you may want to see if a local lawyer has an idea about filing a suit in equity based on the fact that you contributed all of the money. ... Read More

If you believe that an executor is not following the guidelines set forth in the will, it may be worth your while to hire an estate dispute attorney with experience in litigating these matters.  That attorney can get a copy of the will, the estate file, and other materials and can give you an indicaiton as to whether things are being done properly.  If it is determined that the executor is not carrying out his/her fiduciary duties, you can bring an action to have him/her replaced with a different executor, and you may be able to bring an action for breach of fiduciary duty. Good luck going forward. James J. Mills 2626 Glenwood Ave., Ste. 560 P.O. Box 10867 Raleigh, NC 27605 Telephone: 919.235.3824 Fax: 919.782.2311 www.burnsdaypresnell.com... Read More

You can accomplish your goal through the use of a "Health Care Power of Attorney" that gives each of you the right to act for the other with regard to medical matters.  You should also consider executing a "Durable General Power of Attorney" as well that gives each of you the power to act for the other with regard to financial matters. Daniel K. Hicks Attorney at Law Ingersoll & Hicks, PLLC 336-794-2278... Read More

Bruce - your Will likely needs to be replaced as it is probably a "pour over" Will - meaning it is not really expected to be used and might only be used if you fail to fund your Trust properly. In other words, it would be used if you die owning property just in your name instead of in the name of your Trust. Your Trust needs to be amended. You cannot use the same document to amend both your Will and your Trust. If your documents are very old (more than 5 years) you may need to do extensive other changes, even though you think you only need this one. NEVER EVER, do estate planning documents that only paint one picture. Always name a back up Executor and/or Trustee in case the ones you originally named are deceased. That said, if it is just that you just no longer want who you originally named as Executor and/or Trustee to have the job, back to the lawyer you must go. To Your Success, Gale Allison, Principal AttorneyAllison Firm, PLLChttp://www.theallisonfirm.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/galeallison.com   ... Read More