Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

My condolences on your loss.

It depends on how your companion and you titled your assets and what assets existed. If you owned real property as tenants in common, then the companion's share of the land would pass to his heirs and you would own the other half. If owned as a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, then it would pass automatically to you as the survivor.

If you and the companion shared a bank account, then the bank account would belong to the survivor, but it may be that the funds in the account could be reclaimed by the personal representative of the estate if needed to pay any claims.

If you were designated as a beneficiary on life insurance or other non-probate assets, then those things would pass to you, free of any claims of any creditors. In such case, you would need to file a claim with the insurer or plan administrator.

Since you and he were not married and he had no will, you have no right at all to anything, land or otherwise, which is solely in his name.