kirksanderslaw's blog

March 20, 2018 Court of Appeals victory for property owners reported in Carolina Journal:

https://www.carolinajournal.com/news-article/court-of-appeals-shuts-down-ncdot-again-in-map-act-cases/

Winston-Salem’s Northern Beltway (I-74)

For a NC Estate & Trust Litigation Attorney, contact Kirk Sanders at 336-768-1515

Mr. Sanders has handled numerous highly contested estate litigation matters, including

Will Contests (Will Caveats),

estate administration mismanagement,

petitions to administer an estate and appoint administrator or executor,

spousal elective share cases,

trust disputes,

trust termination matters,

trustee removal actions,

guardianship & incompetency matters,

executor actions to recover assets,

How to Contest a Will in North Carolina?

These links to our NC Estate Litigation videos may help. Willcaveat.com is our site dedicated to estate litigation matters, including Will Caveats, Elective Share cases, Interpleaders, Power of Attorney Abuse cases, Guadianship-Incompetency hearings, and Trust litigation cases.

http://willcaveat.com/basic-overview-will-contests-north-carolina/ 

What is a Will Caveat & Who are the Propounders & Caveators?

 How do you force a person to file a will? 

Answer: North Carolina gives the clerk of court the power to compel that person to turn over the will by threat of jail time.

North Carolina favors putting a will through probate so that parties can know what rights they have to the deceased person’s property. North Carolinians have the right to dispose of their property after they die. When someone stands in the way of this right by hiding that person’s will, clerks have the power to force individuals to turn over the will.

How do I probate a copy of a lost will? 

Asnwer: If the will was lost and not intentionally destroyed by the testator, then we can attempt to probate a copy of the last will and testatament.

Many times this occurs because the Last Will & Testament became lost in a tsunami of papers. Sometimes it gets accidently trashed when a person downsizes to a retirment home. Other times it goes "missing" when a survivor doesn't like what the will gave them or didn't give them. For instance, have you ever heard or seen a house get ransacked by the relations after a person dies?

The Map Act and its cases, namely Kirby v North Carolina Department of Transporation, ruled that the NCDOT took property owners' fundamental property rights when the NCDOT filed the Map Act Corridors on the register of deeds in the respective counties. These counties include Forsyth, Wake, Guilford, Cleveland, and Cumberland, to name a few. This claim is called inverse condemnation.

If you have an eminent domain case or a Map Act case, contact Kirk Sanders

CALL 336-768-1515

A partition of property occurs when the property owners cannot agree. Finally, one says "that's enough, I want out" or "I want my 1/2, you can have your 1/2". If the other side won't buy the other out, then one files a partition action with the court. The clerk of court (in North Carolina cases) will determine if the property can be divided equally or needs to be sold.

If you are in a situation where you question whether the estate was administered properly by the personal representative (executor or administrator) or whether the last will and testament was executed properly, then let it be known: once you sign the release for your estate proceeds you are waiving further right to challenge the estate or will. for more, go to Kirk Sanders' companion site at www.willcaveat.com

One way to prevent estate litigation is to discuss it with your heirs.  Sure, it's none of their business, if you want it to be that way. However, believe me when I say that I've seen heirs fight over pieces of personal property worth hundreds of dollars when the estate was worth millions of dollars. 

Here are some suggestions that may help you in your estate planning & possibly in preventing estate litigation from my willcaveat.com site: 

In NC Lis Pendens are effective ways to preserve real estate assets that are involved in the litigation of a case. This is particularly useful when contesting a will or contesting a trust. If not filed, then the assets could be sold or transferrred to a third party or bona fide purchaser, the sales proceeds get squandered, and the plaintiff in the case ends up with a paper judgment instead of cash on the barrel head.