Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

I'm sorry but your question is too specific to answer without seeing the documents and knowing more about the family. Chances are that the property left to both of you in his mother's will goes 1/2 to you and 1/2 to your son but we would need to read the will and could depend who died first, what the will said and what other heirs there might be. The property you all owned really depends on the wording on the deed. I would suggest consulting a real estate attorney in your area.

I agree with Attorney Rosner that any attorney needs to see the mother's will and know what order they died in and how the property was titled.

If the property was owned by your husband, his mother and you as joint tenants with right of survivorship (it would say that under the heading of grantees on the deed; if the deed just says that the three owned property and there are no other "magic words" indicating how the property was owned then it is a tenancy in common), then that parcel would go to you completely. However, if owned as a tenancy in common, then the mother's share passes as per her will and your husband's share passes as per the intestacy laws to you and your son (assuming that your son is the biological or adopted child of your husband).

Regarding the other 2 parcels mentioned in the mother's will, I don't know if the mother died before or after your husband. If she died before your husband, then the interests in the property will pass in her will as per the will. Assuming that your husband was a beneficiary in the will, then when he died his share of property under the mother's will would generally pass to you and your son.

If your husband died before the mother, then you would have to know if the will stated anything about what would happen if a beneficiary died before the mother. It is possible that the mother had other children and that the will specified that the share of a beneficiary who died before her would pass to the surviving beneficiaries. Or, if the will said nothing then the property would pass as per the residue clause or if none to the mother's surviving beneficiaries under the intestacy law.

Of course, this scenario all depends on how the real property owned by the mother was titled. If it was jointly owned with the mother and one or more persons with a right of survivorship, then it would automatically pass outside of probate and the mother's will. If owned as a tenancy in common with another, then only the mother's share passes as per her will.

There are just too many variables here. I suggest you take the mother's will and copies of the deeds to the land and the order of death and see a probate lawyer and have him/her review the will and other information to properly apprise you of your rights.