In Wenninger v. Wenninger, decided May 7, 2024, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that an equitable distribution judgment was void for lack of a necessary party because the parties in the equitable distribution proceeding stipulated in a pre-trial order that certain items of property were held in a revocable Trust and further stipulated that some of the property held by the Trust was marital property. The court of appeals held that the Trust was a necessary party, even though the trial court refused to distribute the items in the Trust because they were not owned by either party.
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The 2024 Adult Protection Multidisciplinary Team Booster Shot Series: Key Takeaways
*This post was written by Adult Protection Network Director Kristy Preston.
Earlier this year, the UNC School of Government’s Adult Protection Network held six training events known as the “2024 Adult Protection Multidisciplinary Team Booster Shot Series” in regional locations across North Carolina including Transylvania, Alexander, Guilford, Robeson, Onslow, and Beaufort counties. The series aimed to foster collaboration, share resources, and address common challenges faced by adult protection multidisciplinary teams (MDTs). An MDT is a group of professionals in a geographic region who commit to working together toward a common goal. An adult protection MDT works to find ways to prevent and respond to adult abuse, including physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, self-neglect and caretaker neglect, and exploitation, including financial exploitation.
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After the Storm: Summary Ejectment and Assistance Programs in North Carolina
Hurricane Helene caused historic flooding in Western North Carolina, destroying or damaging approximately 126,000 residential properties. Many of those properties were occupied by tenants who now find themselves in unfit or uninhabitable properties. The owners of affected rental properties face the difficulty and expense of either rebuilding or making major repairs to return the properties to a fit and habitable condition. In addition to housing issues, many tenants have been left unemployed either temporarily or permanently due to damage or destruction of businesses. Loss of employment leads to difficulty paying rent which in turn affects the landlord’s ability to pay the mortgage. This cycle sometimes results in actions for “summary ejectment,” the legal term for “eviction” in North Carolina. This post will explore key issues in summary ejectment in the aftermath of a natural disaster and potential sources of assistance.
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Details Matter: The Importance of Proper Notice in Summary Ejectment Proceedings
In a series of recent decisions from the Court of Appeals, tenants in federally subsidized and federally funded properties have challenged whether the notice they received from their landlords was effective to terminate their leases. (See L.I.C. Assoc. I, Ltd. P’Ship v. Brown, __ N.C. App. __, 904 S.E.2d 822 (2024); see also Rosewood Estates I, LP v. Drummond, 290 N.C. App. 366 (2023) (unpublished); and Oxford Housing Authority v. Glenn, 290 N.C. App. 243 (2023) (unpublished). In all three cases, the landlords failed to comply with lease provisions mandated by federal regulations, including requirements for notice of lease termination and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). While these cases arose in the context of federally funded housing, the lessons they teach about proper notice to terminate a lease are applicable more broadly. Using facts from these cases, this post will trace a scenario where notice is at issue and explore what the law requires.
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Juvenile Remediation to Attain Capacity to Proceed: New NC Law
A new law governing capacity to proceed in delinquency cases is set to take effect beginning with offenses committed on or after January 1, 2025. Part V. of Session Law 2023-114 creates a juvenile capacity standard and establishes procedures to be used when capacity to proceed is challenged. You can find a description of much of the new law in my blog from September. This post explains the juvenile remediation process that will be available under the new law for certain cases in which a juvenile is found to lack capacity to proceed. Continue Reading
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Rule 17 GALs for Respondent Parents: A Final Lesson from In re A.K.
Recently, the North Carolina Court of Appeals rendered a decision in In re A.K., __ N.C. App. __ (August 6, 2024), which touches on multiple issues relevant to juvenile abuse, neglect, dependency (AND) practitioners. (I blogged about one of those issues – a parent’s right to be represented by a retained attorney of their choosing, regardless of the attorney’s AND experience – here. My colleague Sara DePasquale published a blog about another issue: considering a family’s culture, including religion and language, in an AND proceeding.) This post will explore a third issue raised in the opinion: the appointment of a Rule 17 guardian ad litem (GAL) to an incompetent respondent parent.
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Extension of the Chief Justice’s Emergency Order for Certain Counties
In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court entered an emergency order applicable to certain impacted counties on September 29, 2024, as amended September 30 (the “Original Order”). The Original Order extended “the time and periods of limitation for filing and of acts due to be done” in the following 28 counties: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey.
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New Resources for Protecting Vulnerable Adults in North Carolina
In state fiscal year 2022-2023, county departments of social services in North Carolina received 35,400 reports alleging the abuse, neglect, or exploitation of vulnerable adults. Fifty-six counties across the state have addressed this problem through creating adult protection multidisciplinary teams (MDTs)—groups of professionals from different disciplines who work together to prevent and respond to abuse, neglect, and exploitation of disabled and/or older adults. An additional 38 North Carolina counties are currently working to form adult protection MDTs. The School of Government’s Adult Protection Network is excited to announce a redesigned Adult Protection Network website with new resources for those in the adult protection field, including new online trainings and an MDT Toolkit with template documents for adult protection MDTs.
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Foreclosure Moratorium in Effect in North Carolina for Certain Counties and Certain Mortgage Loans
Many counties in Western North Carolina continue to struggle with the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene. As of today, seven county courthouses are reporting closures of some type. An updated list of counties along with the types of closures in each county is available through the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts website. Officials in federal, state, and local government are taking action to provide relief in many forms. This includes actions at both the federal and state level that impact foreclosures.
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The School Is Hiring for an Assistant Professor in Decedents’ Estates and Trusts
I absolutely love my job. As a faculty member at the UNC School of Government, I get to work with smart, dedicated, fun colleagues; focus on a subject area I am passionate about; create wonderful relationships with the professionals I teach; and be part of an institution that has helped North Carolina for more than 90 years. The UNC School of Government is unique—there aren’t other schools like this in the country. The School provides public service to the state of North Carolina by helping local and state officials do their jobs and do them well. Faculty members do this in three main ways: advising, teaching, and writing. Our philosophy is to provide engaged scholarship, meaning we provide practical resources for regular use by the officials we serve. We are responsive to the issues that professionals identify through our teaching, writing, and advising. Amazingly, we get thanked daily.
Is this the type of job that sounds like something you, or someone you know, would not only enjoy but would be great at? If so, keep reading. Continue Reading