Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

Re: Wife not in will

You have the right to an elective share. Depending on your situation, you may have rights to 1/3 of his total net assets or 1/6 (if you are a successive spouse and the children are from a prior marriage). You can look at North Carolina General Statutes 30-3.2(d) to see what the definition of total net assets are. It would then be reduced by certain property that would pass to you directly (for instance, if you owned a house as tenants by the entirety, the house would go to you notwithstanding the will). See 30-3.3(a)

You may be entitled to a $10,000.00 one year allowance as well (but this $10,000 would then be deducted from the total net assets).

As an alternative to the elective share, you would have life estate in a one-third interest of all real estate which your husband owns or owned during his lifetime (provided you didn't join in an instrument conveying the property to a third party).