Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

I am not sure why you are directing this to an NC attorney. If your father owned land in New York and had a trust there then a New York lawyer needs to address this with you. If the trust is in Ohio, then an Ohio attorney needs to review this. It may be that you need attorneys in both places.

Generally, a person is free to dispose of their assets in any manner they choose. A spouse cannot be disinherited in most states, but there is no right of a biological child to inherit under a will or trust.

You leave out many details. How was the property in New York owned? When was it sold? Why did your father have to go to a nursing home? Does he have dementia or Alzheimer's or some other debilitating condition? If so, when did that begin? When did he make a will or trust? Is the trust revocable or irrevocable? Where did your father live in New York? When did he remarry his second wife? What kind of relationship did you have with your father?

From what you have stated, I cannot see anything nefarious going on, unless you left something out. The cost of living in New York is very high. It may be a lot cheaper in Ohio and if the woman moved in with her daughter, that may be logical. If your father has Alzheimer's or dementia or some other debilitating condition, then his being in a nursing home may make sense too. It may be very difficult for your step-mother to care for him. What is she supposed to do? She can keep him at home and hire a nurse or put him in a nursing home where he can have the care he needs. Either course is expensive. Further, why would she not move your father to Ohio to be with her? If she wanted to live closer to her daugher, what would the alternative be? To leave your father in New York?

You ask about your rights. What rights? If you are asking about yourself. your father is still alive. If he is no longer mentally competent and if he made a will or trust when he was mentally competent, the will or trust cannot be changed and you will inherit whatever your father gave to you in his will or trust when he dies to the extent there are any assets left (I don't know how old your father is or why he is in a nursing home or his life expectancy - nursing homes are very expensive and he may exhaust what he is if he is relatively young and hospitalized for 10 or 20 years). If there is no will, then you will inherit under the state intestacy laws (in this case Ohio if your father lives there until his death).

While he is alive, you have no right to any assets. And even when he dies, you have no real rights to object if he chose to disinherit you (assuming this choice was freely done and was not the result of fraud or undue influence). If you are the beneficiary of a will or trust, you can ask the trustee for a copy of the trust when your father or you can get a copy of his will once it is probated.

If, you are asking about how you can protect your father from his seemingly evil wife, does he have a legal guardian? You can ask an Ohio lawyer about this and apply to be his legal guardian and/or conservator. There can be a guardian/conservator of finances and guardian of health. You will have to show that your father is legally incompetent to handle his affairs. If successful, you can then move him anywhere you wish and manage any property that is not already in a trust. Any property that was conveyed to a trust is now trust property and that is managed under the terms of the trust by whoever is trustee. If the trustee is abusing his/her power and not following the trust, then the trustee can be removed. But if the trustee is doing the job correctly and managing the funds for your father's care, then there is not much that you can do over these assets.