How to Contest a Will In North Carolina
Is this the situation you find yourself: You thought you were a beneficiary under a Last Will & Testament. You believed you were designated to receive a dead person’s life insurance policy or financial account. Did the decedent (dead person) lack testamentary capacity to change or make a will? Was the decedent improperly influenced to change their will or to change the beneficiary designations? There is a way to challenge your loss of inheritance. There may be cause to bring a challenge to the validity of the will and/or beneficiary designations. Or perhaps you are the beneficiary...
Read MoreWill Challenge Litigation Timeline in NC
NC Estate Litigation Attorney, Kirk Sanders, discusses the time period and different stages of litigation over a challenged Last Will and Testament in North Carolina. This must-see video is for the potential client to understand what to expect time wise when attacking / challenging a decedent’s last will and testament. The video includes a discussion about the filing of the complaint or caveat, alignment of the parties, discovery process, mediation, and trial. Timeline & Description of Phases in Caveat Litigation (NC) Call Kirk Sanders at Hendrick Bryant Nerhood Sanders & Otis...
Read MoreRevoking a Will Litigation North Carolina
Revoking a Will Litigation North Carolina Life changes quickly. Often, these changes mean that testator’s last will and testament no longer reflects her desire for the distribution of property after her death. When that happens, she may want to revoke her prior will. The testator has several options to consider if she wants to revoke her prior will. If a testator (or maker of the will) wants to revoke a Last Will & Testament, she should #1 go see her attorney. This is not an action to be done without sound legal advice. There are consequences to this action. Sometimes wills go missing....
Read MoreKirk Sanders Teaches NCBAR Paralegal Division
On May 5, 2017, Kirk Sanders spoke at the North Carolina Bar Association’s Annual Paralegal meeting in Pinehurst, NC. His one hour topic was POA Abuse and Litigation under North Carolina law. At the course, he taught about warning signs for abuse and misappropriation by the POA agent. He spoke on the fraud triangle. The fraud triangle involves weaknesses in the situation where the agent has opportunity to mismanage or steal, there’s perceived pressure on the agent (eg. debt issues, divorce, no savings), and rationalization by the agent concerning their bad faith acts. The...
Read MorePersonal Representative’s Inspection of Assets
Personal Representative’s Inspection of Assets in an Estate: What do you do when a family member refuses to turn over property to you as the personal representative of the estate? What can you do when your demands to return the property are ignored? Fortunately, North Carolina gives personal representatives, both administrators and executors of the estate, numerous tools to put estate assets back in the rightful owners’ hands. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 28A-15-12 allows personal representatives to sue in superior court to recover any property of any kind belonging to the estate. The statute...
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