Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

If the property is subject to a mortgage or equity loan, then read the will. What does it say, if anything, about satisfaction of the debt? If the will is silent then the person who is devised the property in the will inherits subject to the mortgage/equity loan. That means that the person who inherits has to keep paying the debt. It depends on the value of the property - as long as the property is worth more than what is owed, it might behoove the person who inherits to sell it, pay off the debt and keep the rest (caveat - the property cannot be sold for 2 years following the death of the deceased unless the executor is involved as part of the transaction). Or, depending on what the will says, perhaps the heir may want to disclaim so the executor can sell and distribute as part of the estate.

If the property is worth less than what is owed, the heir might just want to tell the lender to come and foreclose.

However, before anything is done, I would take the will to a probate attorney and pay him/her to review the document and advise you.