North Carolina General Statutes 31A-6. Survivorship property
(a) Where the slayer and the decedent hold property with right of survivorship as joint tenants, joint owners, joint obligees, or otherwise, the following apply:
(1) The decedent‘s share passes immediately upon the decedent’s death to the decedent’s estate.
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 31A-6
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Decedent: means the person whose life is taken by the slayer as defined in subdivision (3) of this section. See North Carolina General Statutes 31A-3
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
- Property: means any real or personal property and any right or interest therein. See North Carolina General Statutes 31A-3
- Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
- Slayer: means any of the following:
(2) The slayer’s share shall be held by the slayer for life and at the slayer’s death shall pass to the decedent’s estate.
(b) Where three or more persons, including the slayer and the decedent, hold property with right of survivorship as joint tenants, joint owners, joint obligees, or otherwise, the following apply:
(1) The decedent’s share is converted effective upon the decedent’s death to that of a tenant in common and passes to the decedent’s estate.
(2) The remaining persons, including the slayer, continue to hold their shares with right of survivorship.
(3) If the slayer becomes the final survivor, upon the slayer’s death, the slayer’s share, which includes the other shares that passed to the slayer as the final survivor, shall pass to the decedent’s estate.
(c) During the slayer’s lifetime, the slayer has the right to the income from the slayer’s share, subject to the rights of the slayer’s creditors.
(d) Nothing in this section prohibits a partitioning of the property pursuant to Chapter 46A of the N.C. Gen. Stat. or severing the joint tenancy in any manner provided by law. Any share taken by the slayer by reason of partition or severance is subject to subdivision (3) of subsection (b) of this section. (1961, c. 210, s. 1; 2014-107, s. 1.1; 2020-23, s. 12.)