What happens if I can’t find current mailing addresses for my spouse’s children to give them notice? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a case usually does not stop just because current mailing addresses for a spouse’s children are missing. The court typically expects a documented, good-faith search for addresses first, and then—if…
How do I find out if Medicaid filed a claim against the estate after someone dies? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, Medicaid estate recovery is usually handled as a creditor claim by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The most reliable way to confirm whether a claim was…
What are the consequences if we can’t reach an agreement and have to ask the court to step in to force a sale or bring the property into the estate? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, if heirs cannot agree, the dispute often shifts into a court-supervised process that can (1) force a…
How can we challenge a joint bank account change if the account holder had dementia and may not have understood what they signed? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a joint account with right of survivorship can move money outside the will, so a late-in-life change can matter a lot. A challenge usually…
If the estate was already handled abroad, can I still do an ancillary probate in the U.S. just to collect U.S. bank accounts? – North Carolina Short Answer Yes. Even if an estate was opened and closed in another country, North Carolina can still require a North Carolina estate proceeding (often called an ancillary estate)…
Who is legally entitled to the money in the U.S. accounts if there is a will, but I haven’t seen the will myself? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, money in a deceased person’s bank accounts with no named beneficiary is usually paid to the person legally authorized to act for the estate…
Can your firm help if there’s a dispute over a will, or would I need a different attorney for that? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a dispute over a will can mean very different things: routine probate administration issues, or a true will contest (called a “caveat”). Many firms that handle estate…
Does an inheritance-advance payoff amount increase over time, or is it a fixed amount until the estate closes? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, the payoff on an inheritance-advance (often structured as an assignment of a beneficiary’s expected inheritance) is usually set by the contract, not by the probate timeline itself. Many funding…
Can I access or get information about my spouse’s bank accounts if some were joint accounts or were changed shortly before death? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, access depends on how each account was titled and whether there was a survivorship or payable-on-death (POD) designation. A surviving joint owner can usually access…
Which mailing address should be used for probate notices when the deceased had multiple addresses tied to a prior guardianship and a later address change? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina probate, notices should generally be mailed to the person’s last known, reasonably reliable mailing address based on current information, not an older…
