Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

It is impossible for your grandfather's estate not to be closed after the passage of this much time. The courts have a policy- they do not let estates be open indefinitely and there would be no reason to keep this open merely for a lease.

Your uncle is lying or incompetent or both. I question whether an estate was opened for your grandfather. It may be that your uncle simply assumed he was in charge because he was the eldest or something and his other siblings acquiesced because they were intimidated or id not know or did not care.

However, you don't really know and neither do I or any other attorney. What I would do is contact the court clerk for the county in which your grandfather lived at the time of his death and review the estate file if any.

Did your grandfather have a will? If so, what did it say about who would get the land? Land is not left to the "family." If there is a will, the land would be left to the spouse. if any, and children. If there was no will, was your grandmother alive at the time of his death? How many children did your grandfather have other than your uncle and your parent? Did any children die before your grandfather? If so, did any of the dead children have children of their own (your cousins)?

If there is no estate file there is no estate but you do not need to create one. All of the owners of the land must sign any real estate contracts in order to sell it and if there is no will and your grandfather left children or grandchildren then they all are going to need tracked down and sign or else some kind of special proceeding would need brought so that the land could be sold.