In an earlier blog post, I summarized North Carolina’s harm reduction immunity laws, including our safe syringe exchange law, G.S. 90-113.27, our Good Samaritan law, G.S. 90-96.2, and others. As practitioners may know, our Good Samaritan law was enacted in 2013. Since then, the General Assembly broadened the scope of the law, and we have a new appellate case discussing when the law applies. As practitioners may know, the Good Samaritan law can provide limited immunity from prosecution for a person calling to report a drug overdose and the person overdosing. This post lays out the current state of the Good Samaritan law and offers advice on how to litigate and preserve arguments under the law.
Continue Reading-
-
Navigating North Carolina’s New Expedited Removal Law
A common conundrum for law enforcement, judicial officials, and citizens is how to remove an occupant from residential property when the occupant is not a tenant. If the occupant is a tenant, even one holding over after the expiration of the lease, the law is clear that the property owner is required to evict the tenant, using the judicial procedure of summary ejectment if the tenant refuses to vacate the property. When it is not clear whether the occupant is a tenant or a trespasser, law enforcement may hesitate to arrest the occupant for trespass, especially if the occupant argues that the property is their residence. Sometimes, a law enforcement officer may instruct the property owner to file a criminal complaint with the magistrate for the issuance of criminal charges for trespass or other applicable crimes. Sometimes, the officer may instruct the property owner to file an action for summary ejectment, only for the property owner to learn in small claims court that this remedy is not available in situations where there is no landlord-tenant relationship.
Continue Reading -
When Should an Entry of Default Be Set Aside?
When a defendant fails to answer a complaint, the plaintiff can seek default judgment. Default judgment is a two-step process governed by G.S. 1A-1, Rule 55. Step one: the plaintiff moves the clerk of superior court to enter default against the defendant. Step two: the plaintiff moves the court to enter default judgment. Sometimes litigants confuse these two steps so it pays to read Rule 55 and the case law interpreting it carefully. For a complete discussion of procedure under Rule 55 in North Carolina, see the Superior Court Judges’ Benchbook.
Continue Reading -
2025 Delinquency Law Changes
The 2025 legislative session resulted in a small number of changes to the laws that govern delinquency proceedings. They include extended terms of probation and post-release supervision in some cases, prosecutorial authority to file a motion for review, a new requirement for hearings to terminate probation for cases in which there is a victim, and technical changes to conform school notification requirements. Continue Reading
-
Anatomy of a Judgment Form: Summary Ejectment
In my last post, I dissected the form Judgment for Actions to Recover Money or Personal Property, AOC-CVM-400. This post will focus on AOC-CVM-401, Judgment in Action for Summary Ejectment, the form used in evictions. During a recent session at the Fall Magistrates’ Conference, there were some lively exchanges about the practicalities around rendering judgments when the magistrate has a courtroom full of people waiting to be heard and a stack of judgments to enter electronically. The discussion centered on amendments to G.S. 7A-224 and G.S. 7A-228, which became effective October 1, 2025, affecting the rendition and entry of judgments in small claims. In light of the changes to the law, now seems like a good time to talk about the rendition, entry, and service of magistrates’ judgments. So, make sure you have AOC-CVM-401 handy, and let’s explore the contents of the form and the importance of rendering and entering judgments at the end of the hearing.
Continue Reading -
Family Law Legislation Effective On or Before October 1, 2025
The North Carolina General Assembly recently addressed family law issues in several pieces of legislation. This post addresses legislation effective on or before October 1, 2025. Changes effective on later dates will be addressed in subsequent posts.
Child Support
Accrual of child support arrears and DSS custody.
S.L. 2025-16, sec. 1.21.(a).
Amends G.S. 50-13.10 (which governs establishment and modification of past due child support) to include subdivision (5), to provide that a child support payment is not past due and no arrears accrue for foster care assistance that is owed to the state by the supporting party during any period when the child is in DSS custody.
Continue Reading -
Trends in Delinquency Complaints and Juvenile Detention Utilization
The 2024 Annual Report issued by the North Carolina Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (DJJDP) includes descriptive information related to the processing of cases in the juvenile justice system and the use of facilities that serve juveniles. Highlights include a notable increase in motor vehicle-related property offenses and increased demand for capacity in juvenile detention facilities. This post explores these highlights. All the data included below comes from the 2024 Annual Report unless otherwise noted. Continue Reading
-
Disclosure of Child Welfare Records in Cases Where DSS is Not a Party
Child welfare records maintained by a department of social services (DSS) contain sensitive information that parties in various proceedings are often interested in seeing. A complex web of state and federal law governs the disclosure of these records – more than I can cover here. For purposes of this post, it’s sufficient to know that G.S. 108A-80 is a broadly applicable confidentiality statute that applies to DSS and covers client information generally. Absent limited statutory exceptions, G.S. 108A-80(a) prohibits disclosure of information related to individuals who apply for or receive public assistance or social services, including child welfare services.
Child welfare information is also subject to an additional set of confidentiality restrictions under Chapter 7B of the North Carolina General Statutes. For example, G.S. 7B-302 makes information that is obtained by DSS related to a juvenile’s alleged abuse, neglect, or dependency (A/N/D) confidential. Similarly, G.S. 7B-2901(b) requires DSS to maintain confidential records of juveniles it has in its custody. Both statutes provide exceptions to the confidentiality requirement.
This post explores how the exceptions in G.S. 7B-302 and 7B-2901(b) apply when a party—either in a North Carolina civil case where DSS is not a party or in a criminal or delinquency matter—wants DSS child welfare records about someone other than themselves. Note that in this post I use the term ‘DSS records’ to refer to child welfare records maintained by DSS, including those from juvenile A/N/D proceedings. Continue Reading
-
North Carolina Authorizes a New Kind of Will
On January 1, 2026, a new kind of will can be offered for probate in North Carolina. Session Law 2025-33, Part VIII adds a new Article 11 to Chapter 31 of the General Statutes, allowing an attested written will to be stored as an electronic record and later offered for probate as a certified paper copy.
Continue Reading -
The Fostering Care in NC Act: Changes to Child Welfare Effective October 1, 2025, Part 2, and an On-Demand Webinar on the Legislative Changes
This is my third post discussing S.L. 2025-16, the Fostering Care in NC Act. The various sections of this significant 32-page session law have different effective dates: June 26, 2025, October 1, 2025, December 1, 2025, and April 1, 2026. This post discusses two significant changes to child welfare law that are effective October 1st:
- the right to seek expungement from the Responsible Individuals List (RIL) through a district court action under the new G.S. 7B-325, and
- post-adoption contact agreement and orders between parents and prospective adoptive parents for children who are in DSS custody through an order entered in an abuse, neglect, or dependency (A/N/D) action under the new G.S. 7B-909.2, -909.3 and 50-13.2B.
Because the changes made in S.L. 2025-16 and some other shorter session laws addressing child welfare are so numerous, my colleague, Kristi Nickodem, and I made a 1.5 hour on-demand webinar discussing these changes. It is free of charge and can be viewed at any time. There are no continuing education credit hours available. You can view the webinar at https://vimeo.com/1121169767. The end of this post has a list of all the posts addressing the legislative changes discussed in the webinar. Continue Reading