Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

I don't know where your mother will be living at the time of her death. If she resides in North Carolina, then North Carolina has no inheritance tax, but there may be an estate tax. Currently, estates up to $5 million will incur no federal/state estate tax, but the tax laws will change as of December of 2012 unless Congress acts. Much will hinge on the election and nothing may be done until the last minute so neither I nor any attorney can accurately predict what will happen there.

Some states do have an inheritance tax (like Pennsylvania) and you would need to check with a probate attorney in the county/state where your mother lived at the time of her death or where she owned real property to know what the laws of that state would be.

Your other question concerns your husband. The law pertaining to this question will be based on where you live. Since you are in North Carolina, then the rule is that any property acquired by a spouse through gift or inheritance stays separate. However, it depends on what the property is and whether it is commingled. For example, land is easy to keep separate as you would get a deed for that. However, if you then passed away and did not make a will, your husband would have a marital interest and might stand to inherit if you were still married. Also, with money, if you receive the inherited money (or stock) and stick it in a joint bank account, you have now made the property marital. And if you died and your husband's name was on the joint bank account, he would get all the money in the account. So you would have to make sure that you kept any inheritance separate and that you had a will or trust and made sure that he was not to inherit any of the property.