What happens if the family cannot locate the funeral contract or final receipt during probate? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina probate, a missing funeral contract or “paid-in-full” receipt usually does not stop the estate administration, but it can delay approval of an accounting or reimbursement until the expense is properly documented. The…
Can a deceased heir’s creditors force the inherited family home to be sold to pay debts, and can the family pay the debts to avoid a sale? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a deceased heir’s creditors generally cannot take more than what that heir owned—usually an undivided “share” of the inherited home—and…
Can I ask the estate to reimburse me for expenses I paid out of pocket, and what proof do I need? – North Carolina Short Answer Yes. In North Carolina, a personal representative (executor/administrator) can usually be reimbursed from estate funds for reasonable, necessary expenses paid out of pocket to administer and protect the estate,…
How do I get missing tax documents for a deceased person when the agency or provider won’t release them or won’t respond? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, the cleanest way to obtain missing tax documents for a deceased person is to show the requester is the court-appointed personal representative (executor/administrator) and provide…
If the clerk has been accepting the accounting form we’ve been filing, can we keep using it to finish the estate? – North Carolina Short Answer Sometimes, but it is not safe to assume that prior acceptance means the same form will be approved for the final filing. In North Carolina, the Clerk of Superior…
What happens if investment or bank tax forms keep getting issued under the deceased person’s Social Security number instead of the estate’s EIN? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina estate administration, tax reporting usually splits into two buckets: (1) the decedent’s final personal income tax return (reported under the decedent’s Social Security number)…
Can I sell a vehicle titled in my name if there are probate issues or a deficiency judgment connected to the estate? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a person can usually sell a vehicle that is titled in that person’s name, because the DMV title controls who has authority to transfer the…
Do I need to open a probate estate just to pursue a Camp Lejeune lawsuit on behalf of someone who passed away? – North Carolina Short Answer Often, yes. When the person who was harmed has passed away, the claim is typically pursued in the name of a court-appointed personal representative (executor or administrator), and…
How do I get copies of everything that was filed in my parent’s estate-related case so I can understand what happened? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, most estate administration filings are kept by the Clerk of Superior Court (Estates Division) in the county where the estate was opened. Copies can usually be…
Can a creditor contact family members directly for payment, and when does that become harassment? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a creditor (or a third-party debt collector) generally should not contact family members to demand payment of a decedent’s debt unless that family member is actually responsible for the debt or is…
