Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

My father passed away in September and left a deed with us three kids on the land. He also has a trailer on the piece of property with only two childrens names on it. Can the third child make us move it or tear it down? Also if we have it divided off can they cut the well off to our house


Asked on 5/14/14, 8:31 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Your post is confusing. Are you saying that your father deeded you and your siblings a piece of property and that on this piece of property there is a trailer?

Trailers may or not be part of the land. Read the deed to see if the trailer is included on the land and made a part of the land. If it is, then the certificate of title will be cancelled for it. Trailers affixed to the land are treated like regular stick built houses. To be treated like this and get the deed cancelled the trailer has to have brick underpinning.

If the trailer is not mentioned on the deed and still has a certificate of title, then it is treated like a car.

From your post, it sounds like 2 of the kids have title to the trailer (I will call them A & B) and A,B and C own the land. The problem here is that all of the kids have an undivided 1/3rd interest in the whole property so they all have to agree here.

Can the land be divided into equal 1/3rd portions? Where is the well located and can it be placed on one of the same parcels left to A or B?

You ask if C can make you move the trailer. Not exactly, but C can make life miserable. A & B also own the land and they can do what they want with it and can have the trailer there. But C does not agree. That is why I suggested that the land be divided up if possible. If not, then A & B need to get together and buy out C's share of the property. If A & B do not do this, then C can bring a partition action and ask that the land be divided and C's share split off and sold or the whole thing sold.

You ask about the well. On whose land is the well located? If it is on the 1/3rd share of C is there any kind of an agreement in writing about the well? Would C be willing to have an agreement (kind of like an easement)? If C will not agree and the well is on C's 1/3rd share then again, A & B need to buy out C's share of the land or else divide the land so that the well is on the land going to A or B. If there is no agreement, nothing stops C from being mean and cutting off the water. You can probably get this overturned but it means going to court. Nobody wins in a legal battle except the lawyers as court cases are lengthy and costly.

So the best solution here is to buy out C's share (its 1/3rd the value of the land). If C refuses to sell and refuses to make accommodations regarding the well or subdivision of the land, then you will need to see a real estate litigation attorney who practices in the county where the land is located about a partition action.

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Answered on 5/15/14, 12:35 am


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