Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

Did the man have a will or trust? If he had a trust, he can do what he wants in accordance with the trust. If he made a will, did he give the goods outright to his wife? If so, she can make a new will and do what she wants with the property.

If the man gave his wife a life estate (only a right to use the funds), then she never had possession of the goods at all, just a right to use them. Upon her death, the life estate ends and whoever is specified as the beneficiary of the remainder will get the property and the woman's relatives can do nothing.

I do not see why the woman's nieces should get any of the man's property necessarily. Was this a blended family? I would expect the man to want to benefit his own relations, not the wife's relatives unless there were some other family dynamics at work.

All of this only relates to the man's property. I don't know what the man owned or how it was titled. Any land owned as a tenancy by the entirety or as a joint tenancy with right of survivorship with the wife would have passed outside of probate automatically to the wife and it would be hers. The man's will or trust would have no bearing on it. I also don't know about things like life insurance, IRAs or joint bank accounts. That may have passed to her as well. Further, any property that she owns solely is her property and is not governed by the man's will.