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.
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Tag: estate administration
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More Changes to the Year’s Allowance in Decedents’ Estates: The Procedure to Claim and Assign the Allowance
*Update, March 1, 2024: The N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts published revised year’s allowance forms in connection with the changes enacted by Session Law 2023-120. They are AOC-E-100, Petition and Assignment Year’s Allowance and AOC-E-101, Deficiency Judgment. Both the revised and previous version of the forms are available on the AOC’s website. The revised forms should be used for the estates of decedents dying on or after March 1, 2024. The previous version of the forms should be used for the estates of decedents dying on or before February 29, 2024.
This is the third and final post in a series that focuses on changes to the year’s allowance in decedents’ estates resulting from Session Law 2023-120. This post discusses the process to apply for the spousal and child’s allowance. The statutory changes are effective for decedents dying on or after March 1, 2024. You can access my two previous posts in this series here and here. Continue Reading
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Changes Specific to the Child’s Year’s Allowance in Decedents’ Estates
My prior post identified two key changes to the year’s allowance resulting from Session Law 2023-120: (i) the elimination of the one-year limitation period a surviving spouse and eligible children have to apply for the allowance, and (ii) the elevation of the assignment and payment of the spousal allowance over the child’s allowance. This post will focus on specific changes applicable to the child’s year’s allowance resulting from S.L. 2023-120. Continue Reading
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The New Clerks’ Manual Website is Here!
I’m excited to announce the launch of two major things today.
First, the new North Carolina Clerk of Superior Court Manual Series website is now available at www.sog.unc.edu/clerksmanual.
We took the old clerks’ manual and gave it a complete make-over in response to feedback we received from clerks of superior court. It is no longer a printable PDF volume but now is an online manual series, featuring the following eight manuals organized by subject matter:
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A Frequent Flyer in Estates: The Spousal Year’s Allowance
If I had to guess, I would say the most common filing in a decedent’s estate is the year’s allowance. Last year in NC, there were 18,000 filings for a year’s allowance. There are two types of year’s allowance: one for children of the decedent and one for the spouse of the decedent. This post focuses on some basics of the spousal year’s allowance. Continue Reading
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You May Not Need that Guardian of the Estate After All: Other Methods of Distributing Property to Minors
A guardian of the estate for any unemancipated minor may be appointed under G.S. Chapter 35A to receive and administer property on the minor’s behalf. G.S. 35A-1221; G.S. 35A-1251; G.S. 35A-1202(12) (requiring also that the minor must not be married). This is because such minors are legally incompetent to transact business or give consent for most purposes. G.S. 35A-1201(a)(6); see G.S. 7B-3507 (rights of emancipated minors). Unemancipated minors therefore need responsible, accountable adults to handle property or benefits to which they are entitled. Id.
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More than the Budget: Estate and Power of Attorney Changes Circulating at the Legislature
UPDATE: During the third extra session of 2018, the General Assembly passed House Bill 1025. It was signed by Governor Cooper and became law effective December 14, 2018. It is now Session Law 2018-142. The full text is available here. Senate Bill 778 did not pass.
UPDATE #2: Although SB 778 did not pass during the 2018 legislative session, Session Law 2019-178 incorporated identical provisions of SB 778 described in Sections A, C and D below. Session Law 2019-178 went into effect on July 26, 2019.
In all of the hustle and bustle of news related to the budget, you may have missed a bill filed that impacts law regarding estates and powers of attorney. Below are just some of the changes that would occur if Senate Bill 778 becomes law. You can follow along with the progress of this bill here. [Note, House Bill 1025 includes some of the changes in SB 778 related to powers of attorney as indicated below; HB 1025 does not include the living probate, estate administration, or electronic wills changes described in this post. You can follow along with the progress of HB 1025 here.] Continue Reading