Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

Its not necessarily an either/or situation. Depending on what the documents say, it might be that both things are valid.

Any attorney will need to see both documents. When revocable living trusts (RLTs) are drafted, they are accompanied by what is called a pour-over will. It is called that because the purpose in drafting an RLT is to put all your property into it. For various reasons, sometimes property is left out of the RLT, either by design or by accident. The pour over will cures that problem by saying that any property remaining after the estate is probated will "pour-over" into the trust.

The pour over will could have been revised in 2007. Or, the person who made the trust, could have decided that they did not want the trust any longer and could have made a will revoking the trust. The person could have done that but the person would also have to undo any transactions putting property into the trust. For example, if a person conveyed land to a trust and then later decided to revoke the trust, the person would have to re-title the land from the trust back to him or herself. Same for cars or any other things where the trust is designated as a beneficiary.

So you have to review the 2007 will and see if there is any language in there revoking the 2001 trust.

If there is not, then the trust will govern any assets conveyed to the trust and the will is going to govern the disposition of any probate assets that are not in the trust.

I will be happy to review the documents for a reasonable fee. Please contact me at [email protected] if interested.