Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina
life estate
My mother passes away in March, she died intestate and was married at the time of her death - she owned her house for 20 yrs prior to their marriage. they were married for 2 1/2 yrs. He abandoned her for several months. He then had a stroke and she let him come back - He has paid nothing towards the upkeep of the residence no house payments, electric bills, water , cable, phone etc.. - can he still file for a life estate in the property? Everything in the house was hers before the marriage and he has been back for only a year.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: life estate
He can probably do more than file for a life estate. If your mother was married to him and she did not have a will, then he is entitled to a percentage of her estate including the real property. Depending on the number of children your mother had, her husband would have a 50% or 33% interest in the real property.