Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

Yes, but the wife, if she is left nothing, has a right to file for an elective share. The better alternative in NC is to either have a prenuptial agreement where the wife waives any marital rights of inheritance, elective share and to administer the estate or else to make a will which leaves the wife only as much as she would get if she filed for an elective share.

Of course, rights of inheritance and elective share only apply to probate assets. Many assets are non-probate - things like life insurance, joint bank accounts, IRAs/retirement, jointly owned real estate or anything which has a named beneficiary designation. Other ways are to set up a revocable living trust. The trust becomes irrevocable upon your death. In the trust, you leave your assets to the trust to be administered how you want. You appoint someone other than your wife as trustee. The trustee then pays out the money to your beneficiaries - you can include your wife or not. However, the wife will have no ownership rights in trust property. What you want to do is rather sophisticated. I would suggest that you sit down with an estate planning attorney if you intend on disinheriting your spouse so that it is done correctly and ni a way that cannot be challenged..