Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

I am the executrix of my parent's estate. I hired an auctioneer to dispose of the belongings but NOT the house. I found out later he was also a real estate agent. I could find the will at that time and hired a lawyer to help. I also told him I did not want to sell the house at that time. After the auction, the real estate agent, listed the house without my knowledge, did not ask me what I wanted for it. He came up with a price on his own. When we got an offer on the house, I wasn't sure about. He kind of forced me into signing the papers. He and the lawyer would talk about the estate but they wouldn't talk to me. The lawyer when it came time to sign the papers, it was on a day I couldn't be there, but I was going to in town the previous day and offered to stop by and sign them. They insisted on me signing papers and letting the lawyer be in charge. I feel like I was cocered into things and signing papers against my will. Is there anything I can do?


Asked on 6/03/11, 9:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Rachel Hunter

Not now. You could complain to the real estate board about his actions. There is also an auctioneers board and the NC state bar where you can file a complaint.

Somethng is not right here. No one can force you to do anything against your will. If the agent/auctioneer was not doing his job in accordance with his contract then you should have fired him. I also don't understand about the lawyer. If you hired him and paid him, why was he siding with the auctioneer/agent? He is supposed to be representing YOU. If he was not doing his job then you should have fired him as well.

You don't tell me what was in your parent's estate, if there were any claims or if there were other heirs. Why was it even necessary to sell the land? If there were other heirs, did they agree as well?

The problem is that you signed the papers and I do not know when this occurred. The only thing you could possibly argue is some type of fraud and you would have to sue the lawyer and auctioneer/real estate agent for the difference in value between what the property was sold for (the agent could not just have made up a number - it had to be based on either an appraisal, which should have been done or a comparison with comparable homes in the area and their selling prices) and its true value of you are alleging it is worth a lot more. You would have to get it appraised in that case. Property values are depressed so the home may not be worth as much as you think.

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Answered on 6/03/11, 11:30 am


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