Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina
My mother passed away in January 2009. She left a will naming my brother as executor. I have other siblings and he has basically just cut us out of his life. We found out that he took the will to the court house in our county but did not do the proper procedure, He only probated the will . he had done nothing else. My mother put everything in his name, not his and his wife's name because she was afraid to lose everything because of medical bills. My brother was supposed to divide things up equally, following her death he went and changed all the deeds to the property to his and his wife's names. Told us there was nothing for us except some furniture items from the house. What can we do about it? I think there is a 3 year stat. limitations.
1 Answer from Attorneys
This is a tough situation. If your mother changed everything into your brother's name before she passed, then everything was your legally your brother's property before she died. If this was the case, then the will, even though probated, doesn't leave anything to anyone because there was no property in your mother's name. While your brother may have an ethical obligation to honor your mother's intent, he doesn't have a legal obligation to divide everything between her children unless he fraudulently acquired this property. If that is the case then you will need to hire an attorney to prove such a case. Typically these cases are very hard to win.
Sincerely,
Cheryl David
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