Do I need to notify heirs or creditors when applying for letters of administration related to a wrongful death case? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, an application for letters of administration is typically filed with the Clerk of Superior Court, and the court process does not usually require the applicant to send…
How is the house split when one child died earlier leaving children and the other died without a will? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, the house is not “split” based on who was alive in the first family generation. It is distributed based on who owned it at death and whether that…
Does a letter blaming the spouse for the death matter under slayer law and could it stop them from inheriting? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a letter that blames a spouse for the death can matter as evidence, but it does not automatically stop inheritance by itself. To block inheritance under North…
How can I schedule or change an appointment with the estates department? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, appointments with a Clerk of Superior Court estates department are typically scheduled or changed through the county clerk’s estates office using the phone prompts or the county’s published contact methods. The exact steps and available…
When does a house legally pass to the heirs, and how do we document a voluntary buyout of one heir’s share without filing a court action? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a decedent’s house typically passes to the heirs (if there is no will) or to the devisees named in a will…
How do we open a probate estate for someone who died after inheriting from a relative so the first estate can be closed? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, when a beneficiary dies after surviving the first decedent but before receiving the inheritance, the share usually must be paid to the beneficiary’s estate—not…
Should I file a creditor claim now or wait until my surviving parent passes, and what notice and deadline rules apply? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a creditor claim is usually a claim against the deceased person’s estate, not against the surviving parent’s later estate. That means waiting until the surviving parent…
How can I endorse and deposit a refund check made payable to the estate if I’m the court‑appointed administrator? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a court-appointed administrator generally has authority to collect estate assets and deposit them into an estate bank account. Most banks will require current Letters of Administration (or a…
Can I sell the vehicles I’ve already retitled to my name now, and how should I handle vehicles that are only in my spouse’s name or have signed titles from prior sellers that were never registered? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a vehicle that is already titled in the surviving spouse’s name…
Is there a faster way to retitle multiple estate vehicles without repeated trips to the DMV? – North Carolina Short Answer Yes. In North Carolina, a personal representative (executor/administrator) can usually retitle multiple estate vehicles by preparing the title-transfer packet for each vehicle and submitting them together by mail to DMV headquarters, instead of making…
