Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

California does not have "fee tail" estates. All inheritance tail estates were abolished in 1872 with the passage of Civil Code section 763. Your question concerns real estate in North Carolina, and you need to repost in that legal category. I cannot advise you on North Carolina law, because I am not admitted to practice in North Carolina.

By way of information, however, a "fee tail" estate is an interest in real property that can only be inherited by specific descendants of the original grantee. It lasts until the current holder dies without any bodily heirs (termed issue.) It is my understanding that fee tail has been abolished by all jurisdictions except Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, so it sounds to me as if someone is yanking your chain, and may be setting you up for a scam.

When California abolished fee tail, it provided that all such estates be treated as "fee simple absolutes." In that particular situation, you could sell the property.