Judica County Radio Legal Q & A

Coming up on this edition of Judica County Radio, it's Josh Whitaker, Solo. It's the Solo Power Hour with Josh Whitaker. He is a managing partner at Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. They've got offices located in Raleigh, Garner, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fukeque Parina, Gastonia, and in Moorhead City. Our normal co-host, Joe Hamer, on assignment.

That's all coming up on Judica County Radio. Whitaker and Judica County. with Joshua Whitaker and Joseph Hayman. Welcome into Judica County Radio. Your host this week is Josh Whitaker.

He's going solo. Joe Hamer is on assignment. The two of them are the managing partners at Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm and they're practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. And they've placed offices in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuque Verina, Gastonia, and down at the coast, Moorhead City, for your convenience. And it's all about just, you know, you've got legal issues, you got legal questions.

You can get them answered with Whitaker and Hamer.

Now, if you've got a question you'd like the attorneys to tackle on a future broadcast, just send it to us: questions at judicacountyradio.com. That's questions at judicacountyradio.com. And during the course of today's program, we do have complimentary consults available with Whitaker and Hamer in and around estate planning. Or if you have been in a recent car accident and you just don't know the steps to take, what's next? Grab a consult with Whitaker and Hamer and come in and talk about it.

No cost, no obligation. 919-77270000. That's 919-7727000. You can also visit the website. WH.

Lawyer. Before we get into QA, question and answer with Josh. Josh, how was your week? It was good, or has been good. It could change I guess, right?

But it's so far it's it's uh It's been good.

So, no, no complaints there, you know, Morgan. But I was thinking earlier this week, you know, I was thinking when we do this radio show. We talk a lot about certain things, right?

So the law firm, the law firm of Whitaker and Hamer, we're built. We have multiple attorneys, multiple practice areas. We're built. to help you with kind of anything life. Throws at you.

That's how we built the law firm.

Sometimes you'll hear us say your law firm for life because we can handle most things that the average people come into contact with. And so on this show, We spend a lot of time talking about estate planning. We'll bounce around, talk about business planning. You know, we'll talk about the things that you use an attorney. to plan ahead for.

So an attorney's practice, a a big law firm. We got these two parts, and we talk a lot about the part that helps you plan for things, right? We've talked about this. 100% of our clients are going to die one day, right? I was talking to some folks.

Guaranteed, by the way. That's right. I was talking to some clients of mine who. Who have a funeral home? That's their business, right?

They run funeral homes, great folks. But we were talking about how You know, obviously they're discussing death with people every day. We're talking about estate planning and trust. We're basically talking about what happens when you when you die and people People aren't often comfortable with that. And I guess once you've been doing it for a while, you get.

Comfortable with it, right? Like, I know that I will die, and I need to plan accordingly because I got kids. You know, things like this, you know. But anyway, there's two parts of the law firm. There's the law firm that.

helps you plan for things that are inevitable. Mm. Right. And then you're talking about auto accidents because our law firm does a lot of, we call it personal injuries statewide when you've been in a car accident and you need help. fighting the insurance companies.

For compensation. You can't really plan for that, right? That's just something that happens, right?

So you get a ticket, you get arrested, you're in a car accident, somebody sues you.

Sometimes there are things that you can't plan for. And so that's the two sides of the firm, right? There's the part that. Helps you plan for things that everybody needs to plan for. And there's the part that helps you when something comes out of.

left field. But I say that to say On the radio show, the radio show format tends to have us talk more about what you can. plan for instead of things that just kind of happen to you. Um but we can help you with with any of that. That was that whole diatribe.

That's all that was meant to say. That's what I was trying to say.

Well, and I think it needed to be said. I mean, we get on here and it's you, it's Joe, and it's legalese, but your firm is much more than that. I mean, you guys are the figureheads, you guys are the hood ornaments, you guys are the managing partners of the firm, and you do practice law in this state, but the firm is big. You guys have offices all over our state, meaning you have attorneys that are handling lots of legal issues. around North Carolina.

So it's not just limited to two attorneys. You guys have an all-star team. And me and Joe, we we like to um We won't. You know, I don't know if it happens this way. We try to make this show entertaining.

We want you to learn something. We want to give you something you can use. But we also try to joke around. We try to make it entertaining.

Sometimes maybe that comes through, sometimes it doesn't. But just because we try to. be very light on the radio show. We're talking about these very serious issues. We're not joking around if you call us, right?

If you call to engage us as your attorney. We're very serious. We're normally very serious people.

Well, on the radio show, so buttoned up, buttoned up, buttoned up, buttoned up. Right. We put on our fancy shirts when we're at the law firm and we're and we're very serious. We do try to have fun here. It'll probably be a lot less fun since Joe's on assignment today.

Well, you know, he just He's pretty dry, which I mean, it absolutely adds to the program because. You know, it's just a good match. And again, we've had reaction to this program in such a positive way, and certainly your ratings will prove that.

So, very popular program in our area.

So, let's go ahead and get to some of our question and answer. And we have a number of these we're going to get to today. The first one is: I let my friend, again, these questions deal with legal issues. Maybe some things have happened. You might be in one of these categories or similar categories.

So, just listen up.

So, here it is: I let my friend move into my rental without a lease, and now they will not leave. What are my options?

So Maureen, we'll talk about this question. But again, as a reminder, when we do these listener question shows, so a lot of times these questions are born out of. Conversations I have with clients, conversations I have with real people, things that I've seen as an attorney. And we might use AI or something to put a spin on it. Of course, we never use anybody's names.

There's no. identifying uh Features here, we just kind of, this is the root of the issue that came up.

So, all these things come up. And so, when we put these together for the show, we assume that if these are coming up, if people are paying us to take care of these issues, these are issues that other people. may run into. And so this first question, I've gotten a ton. And so, you already read the question, but I let my friend move into my rental.

Without a lease, I'm gonna assume Rental's house here. I let my friend move into my house without a lease, and now they won't leave. What are my options?

And they're not good. Right? You know, I was reading an article. I was just reading an article about one of the We don't really have This problem to the same extent other states do, but in New York and California, you'll have. You'll see those squatters write stories.

where people have like an investment property or a second home and And um somehow people get in there. And in those states it's very hard to evict people. And so you'll hear these horror stories of how they were in there for eight or nine or 10 months and they couldn't get them out. North Carolina is not nearly that bad. But you still have to evict people, right?

If someone has taken residence In your house, in this situation, you they invited this friend to move in, the friend does not have a lease. Um But Your option here, Morgan, is you have to get them evicted, right? If you invite someone into your house, they take up residence there, they get mail there, they get packages delivered there. They now reside there. And even if you revoke your permission and say, hey, this was supposed to be temporary, this was only supposed to be for two weeks, you're sleeping on the couch.

More than likely, you can't call the cops and tell them they're trespassing. The cops are not going to remove them. If they can prove their residing there.

So anytime you invite anybody to your house to stay, you have to be careful. Right? I don't know. Things just kind of have changed over the years, and now you would have to formally evict. You're Unwelcome house guest.

An eviction isn't Quick by design. You know, eviction, they have to get served. Uh you go to court. It can be appealed.

So you might have this. this guy on your couch. For a while. uncomfortable. Yeah, in the same house.

Wow.

Okay, so let's hold that thought. We need to take a short break. We'll come back on the other side. We'll finish the conversation. Again, the first question right out of the box: I let my friend move into my rental without a lease, and now they won't leave.

What are the options? And obviously, one of the options, if you don't have a rental and they're just staying at your house, Again, we'll talk more about that coming up. We want to remind you: Judica County Radio is. Brought to you by our good friends at Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm. Our hosts are Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer.

They're the managing partners at the firm. They're practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Complimentary consult available with the firm, 919-7727000. Estate planning, maybe a recent car accident, you don't know what steps to take. You can grab one of those consults, 919-77270000, or you can visit wh.lawyear.

We've got more at Judica County coming up. We are back on Judica County Radio, your host Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. And again, offices everywhere across our state, down at the coast, Moorhead City, also in Gastonia, over near Charlotte. You got Fuquay Verena, Goldsboro, Clayton, Garner, Cleveland, and Cap City, Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm Morgan Patrick.

Pleasure to jump on. We are in the middle of QA, different questions. A lot of these are hypotheticals, but these are questions that come into Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, and we're answering some of those questions. We're leaving the names out to protect the somewhat innocent, right?

So if you've got a question about something you're going through, grab one of our complimentary consults, especially if it's in and around estate planning or maybe you've been in a recent car accident. Just dial 919-7727000. Pick up one of those. No cost, no obligation. 919-7727000.

You can also visit. The website, wh.lawyer.

So just to go back to our first question and get you to sum it up for us, Josh. I let my friend move into my rental without a lease, and then that kind of transformed into what if they moved into your house and maybe they're staying in a spare bedroom. Um and they're not going to leave. What are my options?

Yeah, it's the eviction process in North Carolina. When someone is. You know, a resident somewhere. I think it's a little bit different in North Carolina if they like broke in and started staying there. If we're talking about.

Like a true squatter, somebody who didn't have permission to be there to begin with. That's a little bit different situation. But if you've invited someone, if you said someone could stay a couple of weeks while they get back on their feet. and they decide not to leave, you have to evict them. And that shocks a lot of people.

A lot of people think they could just call the cops and say, hey, this person. Overstayed their welcome, house guest. Anyway, it's not the way it works. You have to file an eviction. Big process.

So, you know, my my advice to people is Just be very careful, right? Have something, that's what lawyers always say: have something in writing. If you're going to let someone stay for two weeks, put it in writing. You still may have to go through the eviction, but your life will be better because you have something in writing. But that was that question.

It happens way more than you think. Tell you, legal questions, you've got your own. You can send them to us, and we will try to get to those on a future broadcast. Questions at JudicaCounty Radio.com. That's questions at.

Judicacountyradio.com. And again, the complimentary consult in and around estate planning, or if you've been in a car accident and don't know next steps. Grab one of the consults, no cost, no obligation. 919-77270000. That's 919-77270000.

All right, next question up for you, Josh, is. I sold my house as is. And that's in quotations.

Now the buyer is claiming, I hid issues. Am I still liable?

So Again. We get this call a lot. You know, people who have just bought a house. Once they're in the house, they discover a leak. Or someone painted over a leak, or water damage under a floorboard, or um.

You know, electrical issues, but things that it would seem a seller.

Someone who lived in the house would have had to know about, right?

So the law. changed a few years back. And so now when you're selling a house you have to fill out Residential property disclosures, right?

So if you're using an agent, you're not using an agent, there's a law that says you have to make certain representations to a potential buyer.

So it's a lot of questions. Has there been flooding? How old's the roof? You know, there's all these questions you used to have to answer yes or no. The law changed a while ago to say, give you another option, no representation.

And I think the thought was. If you were selling your rental property, investment property, property you've never lived in. You needed this no-representation offer. You bought it out of foreclosure. There's people who bought houses, they don't know how old the roof is.

They bought it out of foreclosure, they didn't get a lot of information.

So, anyway, the law changed, so you could say no representation. A lot of people. Run with that. And they just check no representation, right?

So you get asked all these questions about: has there been damage to the house? Has there been a major repair? Has there been flooding? And you used to have to answer yes or no, and now you can, even if you know something. Right, a lot of people think you can just answer no representation.

Um but you can't. Right, the laws changed a little bit, but you can't lie. You can't conceal a material fact, right?

So if you know there's an active. Leak. Or you know, there's there's all A lot of times it has to do with water damage or incoming water. electrical issues you knew about. You cannot hide a material fact once you know it exists.

And um Because the buyer is going to figure it out. whatever you think you're hiding. Septic issues is a big one. Right. Knowing that the septic's going to fail, the HVAC's on its last leg, you know, you.

You can't hide the ball. You can't. You can't commit fraud. Right? Because that's what happens.

If you make a no-representation on something. Let's say there's a big leak in the roof, the buyer didn't discover it in their home inspection doing their due diligence, you know it's there. The first rain after the house closes, the buyers get tons of water in the house. and they can prove you knew about it and made no representation and hid the fact. They can sue you for fraud.

Right, so in this question, I sold my house as is. The buyer is now claiming I had issues, am I still liable? Um Maybe. Um Because you cannot lie and you cannot You cannot hide a known defect.

So let me let me ask you this, Josh, and and this again. I'm I'm Joe Public. I see as is. And we've been to sales, estate sales. We've been in secondhand stores, and there are those signs that have as-is.

There are. Car lots that you know it states as is. Does that protect the seller in any way? No, so we're talking about real property.

So I don't want to get too much into like personal property and vehicles because there's different laws and different situations. But as far as a house, real property. Um, no, as is, kind of says, hey, I'm not going to make any repairs. Right, as is, is like this is the shape you're going to get it in. I'm not going to negotiate later for repairs, but you still can't lie about a defect.

You can say, hey, the roof's got a lot of problems. Here's what I've done in the past. I ain't fixing it. take it or leave it as is you know that's kind of what as is means so so can't hide the ball. No trick plays.

All right, I like that explanation. Let's talk a little bit about the consultation that the firm is going to offer. Again, we throw out the numbers, but there's no cost to this, there's no obligation to this. And again, we're focusing in on estate planning, but also a recent car accident, just knowing steps to go through. But talk about that consult, Josh.

Yeah, if you listen to the radio show, if you suffer through me, Morgan, and Joe, and we talk about estate planning, free consults for estate planning, a will, a trust. Just answering questions about probate, answering questions if you're in a car accident, you need an attorney to help you. You know, we we do all that we do that for free if you listen to the radio show.

So, you give us a call, 919-772-7000. You can go to the website, WH.lawyer, and there's a way to contact us on the web if you don't want to pick up the phone and give us a call. But we will get you in contact with one of our attorneys. It may be me. I talk to a lot of folks who hear us on the radio show.

It may be Joe, it may be one of our other attorneys, but we will talk to you. And help you get things figured out. Help you, you know, if you're calling us for estate planning, we'll give you our advice on estate planning. Car accident will tell you what to do, tell you how the firm can help you. Um but we want to talk to you.

That's the reason we do the show. All right.

Well, consult available. Call 919-77270000 in and around estate planning, or if you've been in a recent car accident, need next steps, 919-7727000. You can also visit the website, wh.lier. We've got more coming up. Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, the power behind this program.

And they are practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. And currently, Joe Hamer on assignment. Josh, going solo this week. Again, opportunity to get on the calendar with Whitaker and Hamer at any time. Complimentary consult 919-77270000.

It's 919-7727000. You can also visit the website, wh.lawyer, estate planning consult, recent car accident, next steps consult available to you. 919-7727000. WH.Lawyer is the website. And the offices are everywhere.

Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuqua Verina, Gastonia, and in Moorhead City. We continue with QA, Josh.

Next up, Here we go. My parent passed away with credit card debt. Am I responsible for paying it?

So, on the show, we talk a lot about what happens after someone dies. You'll hear people talk about probating a will. You'll hear people talk about administering the estate. Um but if you pass away and you have Assets, right? Most people, when they pass away, they'll have a vehicle, they may have a house.

Of course, they can have a lot more than that, but just you know, the average person has assets that need to be dealt with. They also have debts. Right when you die And we're handling an estate. You're going to have medical bills, maybe, right? Our question is asking about credit card debt, which is unsecured debt.

So you may have unsecured debt. You may have secured debt, like a mortgage. Like, maybe you die out with a house, and that house has a mortgage. And all these things have to be dealt with through Probate or administration of an estate. And so the specific question here: my parents passed away, my parent.

Passed away with credit card debt. Am I responsible for paying it?

The short answer is no. Right? When someone dies, they're unsecured. Debt, that's an important distinction. They're unsecured debt.

dies with them.

Now they may this credit card company Visa It's always visa somehow, but they might have a claim. They're going to file a claim in the estate and say, hey, You know, Joe Blow passed away, he owed us $12,000 on his credit card. They're going to file a claim in the estate. That claim is only good against a state. Assets.

And so we have to talk about what assets. Does the estate have?

Sometimes the estate doesn't have anything.

Sometimes it does.

So, the short answer is no. I have a lot of adult children who come in, their parents passed away, and they've been paying the bills. Right, the bills kept coming, so they kept paying the bills. Hey, I paid his credit card bill, I paid the car note. I paid the mortgage.

Um And the mortgage is different. I hate to mention that now because we're talking about unsecured debt. Right. But that's not your bill to pay. You tell them, hey, this person passed away.

And then they ha they they can only get to estate assets usually. There's always some exceptions, right?

So, don't continue to pay those bills.

Now, the bills you do have to continue to pay. If somebody inherited the house That mortgage goes with the house. The utility bills go with the house. The real property taxes go with the house. That is secured debt.

So when you sit down. This reminds me, I was at church. And somebody told me They like the radio show, which is good. I always like to hear that. They told me we're too technical.

Right. We're too technical. And I was like, well, sometimes we get in the weeds. And so, this is one of those times.

So, I'll stop there. But this ain't credit card debt, no, don't pay it. If they're dead, that dies with them. All right.

Well, we are going to have more questions for you. You're listening to Judica County Radio, Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, your host, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer law firm, practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Complimentary consult in and around estate planning, or if you've been in a recent car accident and don't know next steps. Certainly, you can grab one of these consults and talk about it, 919-7727000. 919-7727000.

You can also visit the website, wh.lawyer. We've got more at Judica County coming up. Welcome back in Judica County Radio. Your hosts are Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, Managing Partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm. They are practicing attorneys here in North Carolina.

Joe's on assignment this week. We've got Josh, he's solo. The offices for the firm, they placed them all over the state for your convenience. Right here in the capital city, Raleigh, we got Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuque Verena. Down near Charlotte in Gastonia and over at the coast, Moorhead City.

I'm Morgan Patrick. A pleasure to jump on with the attorneys. If you've got a question you'd like the attorneys to tackle on a future broadcast, just send it to us: questions at judicacountyradio.com. That's questions at judicacountyradio.com. And as always, through the course of the show, complimentary consult in and around estate planning.

If you've got questions, maybe you've been thinking about it, but you haven't gotten the ball rolling. A complimentary consult on estate planning available to you: 919-772-7000. But also, if you've been in a recent car accident and you just don't know the next steps, grab one of the consults, come in and talk about it: 919-772-7000. No cost, no obligation. You can also visit the website, wh.lawyer.

All right, more questions for you, Josh. Here's the next one: I started a business with a buddy, a friend. No paperwork involved.

Now we are arguing. What governs this?

So, I get a lot of these. You know, I get a lot of these where. People get together. And they start a business. And when you start a business, you hope it's successful.

But a lot of times, when you start a business, you don't want to throw or don't have a lot of money to invest in the. In the business, right?

So we see a lot of people start a business out and they don't talk to a lawyer ahead of time. They don't talk to a CPA, like an accountant ahead of time. And then they just start the business, and if it's successful, You know, they really haven't planned for that. The paperwork's not in place for it. They don't know about self-employment tax.

They don't know how to, they don't know, you don't know what you don't know. Right. And a lot of times, people, sometimes that's not the case, but I see a lot of people. Who start a business, buy a business, and they do it with very little formality in the beginning. They have one partner, maybe two or three partners.

It's not clearly defined how they're going to split profit, how people are going to get paid back. Who's going to operate the business? What's everybody's responsibilities? And it doesn't take very long. for there to be problems.

Um So, here in our example, they say they started a business. I don't know exactly what that means in this situation, right? I started a business with a friend. No paperwork. We are arguing what governs this.

So, if you didn't. Form an entity, right?

So some people will go downtown and start an LLC or start a corporation. You have a partnership, right? If me and Morgan just decide we're going to buy out a hot dog stand and start running the hot dog stand. Um We put our money in there, we buy it, we got ourselves a partnership, presumed 50-50. But let's say I end up running the hot dog stand every day.

Morgan's not doing anything. He's on the radio. Wait, why am I the lazy one? What?

So I'm running the hot dog stand. Let's say it's making a big profit. It's doing great. Morgan wants his half. Right?

I don't want to give it to him because he's not helping me. But we never put down in writing what we're going to do. We both put in the same amount of money. I should probably be paid for my time separately. And that comes but anyway, we didn't put it in writing, so who who knows?

And so me and Morgan have an argument. There's not an easy way to fix it. We're either going to have to negotiate and figure it out after the fact, or we're going to have to sue each other. We're going to have to litigate. And so what we usually try to do before you start a business.

It's just like our lease question. When we invited the friend to get something in writing, anything. It'd be great if an attorney did it. Right? If me and Morgan had gone to an attorney saying, hey, We wanna buy this hot dog stand.

We're each gonna throw in 25 grand. Josh is gonna work it.

So, and then we could have been like, okay, well, Josh should get more of the profits, or he should get a salary. We could have figured it out. You know, Morgan gets paid back slower because he's a passive partner. Yeah, I'm working somewhere else. I've got another business.

I can't really focus in on hot dog sales and Josh can. I didn't want to come across as lazy. I'm just busy doing something else. But we could have all that in writing. We could have put all that in writing.

We could have understood it going in. And you also talk about what if the business fails? We both put in 25 grand. If the business fails or is failing or needs more money, how does new capital come in? Mm-hmm.

Yeah. You you look at this ahead of time. And it doesn't always work out that way because you're excited. Me and Morgan have always wanted to have a hot dog cart. We got our opportunity to buy this guy out.

And uh And it all just moved really fast. And that happens a ton. I don't fault people when that happens, but I see it. you know, when it falls apart. And there's not, you know, sometimes people come to me with problems, and I can solve their problems.

Sometimes people come to me with a problem, and I can be like, oh, this is what you need to do. Or we'll just do this. Or we'll do this. A lot of people come to me with their problems. I'm like, we're going to have to sue the other side.

There's some problems that the only s the only way you can solve it is with litigation. Um And so Yeah. All right, so since we're talking about a hypothetical hot dog business, I'm concerned about the profits coming in from the hypothetical hot dog stand. What is your hot dog what's your call? I mean, you go to ball games.

How are you attracting business on the street to our hot dog stand? Let me hear it. Yeah. Hot dog here! Get your hot dog!

Hot dog here! That's a good question, man. I haven't put enough thought into it. You know, I usually liked. Cold dad, a hot dog.

When I was a younger man, and we would go out at night, and we would stay out later than. 10:30, right? When I, you know, when you was always real impressed with the people that pulled up to like a bar at like one in the morning with a hot dog cart. These guys, they were killing it. Um I remember going to a, this was a long time ago, so they're probably better now, but like staying in a bar, getting out, being starved, right?

And then nothing in Raleigh's open at one o'clock, right, or two o'clock. And they'd have chicken sandwiches and hot dogs like in their cart. It was beautiful. It's a good idea. I hope they made a lot of money.

I hope it was very successful because that's smart.

So, placement, placement of the cart. That's what I'd go with. Location, location. Location. Location.

And have somebody clever doing the hot dog call. That'll work. I got your dog right here. Onions, relish, chili. Anyway, we got to work on our advertising if we're going to do a hypothetical hot dog stand.

All right, we've got more questions coming up. We do have consults, they're complimentary in and around estate planning. If you've been in a recent car accident, don't know next steps and what to take. Certainly, grab one of these consults by calling 919-7727000. That's 919-77270000.

Also, visit the website and treat that as a resource, too. WH.Lawyer. Go there and check it out. You can kick the tires. WH.LAYER.

Now, the consults, you're not paying for it. Um there's no obligation to become a client. And guess what? Whicker and Hamer, they're not obligated to take you as a client. Gonna sit, see if it's a good fit.

Want to roll forward? You certainly can. 919-7727000 or WH.lawyer. All right, so what I'm gonna do here, Josh, is I'm going to throw out our next question. We'll take a break.

We'll come back and we'll answer it. That's called a tease, right? It's called a tease.

So if I die without a will in North Carolina, does everything just go to my spouse? That's the question. I want our listeners to think about that because there are a lot of people out there that don't have a simple will.

So, you really need to stay tuned for this. That's coming up next. Want to remind you too, we'll get to that question and several more before the end of the program. But during the course of the show, grab one of the consults in and around estate planning or if you've been in a recent car accident, 919-772-7000. That's 919-7727000.

And also, The website, wh.lawyer, go there. Again, Whitaker and Hamer, your law firm for life. We're back with more Judica County right after this. Judica County Radio, your host, Josh Whitaker, Joe Hamer, Managing Partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, located right here in North Carolina, and that's exactly where Josh and Joe practice law. They've got offices in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fucuvarina, Gastonia, and down at the coast, Moorhead City.

I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to be on with the attorneys today. We've got Josh Whitaker going solo, Joe Hamer on assignment. If you've got a question you'd like the attorneys to tackle on a future broadcast, just send it to us. Questions at.

JudicaCounty Radio.com. That's questions at Judica County Radio. And the complimentary consults, we talk about it throughout the show. You're not paying for it. You're not obligated to become a client.

This is a fact-finding mission for you in and around estate planning, or if you've been in a recent car accident. Grab one of our consults, 919-7727000. That's 919-7727000. You can also visit the website, WHO. All right, so we teased you in the last segment as we went to break.

If I die without a will in North Carolina, does everything just go to my spouse? I think a lot of people just assume that is the case. Yeah, and the answer, well, that we're going to talk about it, obviously, the answer is maybe.

Alright, so if you die without a will.

So, if you die with a will, the law says you died testate. You died with a will. At any time, you can create a will while you're alive. You can tell everybody exactly where you want your property to go. If you want your property, everything to go to your spouse, you can do it in a will.

All right.

If you die without a will, the law says you died intestate. And there are laws on the books in every state. North Carolina has its own, every state's different. But North if you die in North Carolina you're and you don't have a will. You're intestate, and your property passes by intestate succession, and that is a fancy legal word for what the laws dictate.

And so if you're married with no kids. then your property will probably all make its way to its wife. through pro through an estate proceeding. Um if you don't have a will. That's more than likely.

There could be some factors that change it. But more than likely, you die without a will, you die intestate. You're just married, no kids. everything's probably going to go to your wife. Um Now, if you have kids, that's where it changes because the law wants to provide for your spouse and your kids.

So if you have kids, your kids are gonna get and you die without a will. The intestate succession law says some property is going to go to your kids, some is going to go to your wife. That's what's gonna happen, right? which may be what you want to happen. Maybe that's what you want to happen.

If you don't want it to happen, you should have had a will. This creates a problem. You know It happens where, you know, a young family, it's super sad. No one wants to talk about it, but it happens where a super young family. You know, they lose a parent, you know, they lose a dad that's 30 or in his 40s, and he has a couple of kids under 18.

If he dies without a will, Those kids under the age of 18 inherit part of the real property, part of the house, right? If they own a house. Um It can cause a lot of problems. If you're underage children, like if something happened to me right now and I didn't have a will. I have three kids under 18, and they would all inherit part of my estate, whatever it is, vehicles.

Um Houses, real property, you know, bank accounts that were just in my sole name. And And that's a problem. Because you cannot the surviving spouse, So in this example, my wife couldn't just handle those assets for them. The law requires that a guardian be appointed Downtown at the courthouse that is not the parent, the surviving spouse, and that guardian. dictates.

how those kids handle those assets. Right. in the wrong situation, could own half of your house. But the other half is with your underage kids, and she has to go to a court-appointed guardian to figure out how to sell the house, refinance the house.

So to answer to answer this question, Maybe, maybe things go to your wife. You die without a will in North Carolina. Does everything just go to your spouse? Maybe. That's the best answer I could have.

And it's a nice transition into what we have compromised consults on. That's estate planning. Making sure you have your end game in order. And a lot of people avoid this, Josh, because it's just morbid. They don't want to talk about or think about or plan for what is going to be their end.

But when you start thinking about it, it's actually the ultimate gift to your family. To have your paperwork done, to have your estate plan locked down and beneficiaries correct. Powers of attorney. All in your estate plan, but a lot of people don't do that. Yeah, it's It's hard to do.

You know, I tell people when I when I meet 'em, You know, everybody's everybody's always a little embarrassed that, you know, like they haven't updated their will in twenty five years since they had they got one when they got when they had kids.

Now the kids are all grown and they come back and they they're almost embarrassed. Like they should have been doing it the whole time. I'm like, don't be embarrassed.

So when I graduated from law school, it took me seven years. I didn't have to go talk to anybody. I didn't have to consult with an attorney. All I had to do was draft my own. Will.

And it took me seven years to do it. I'm not proud of that, but I tell people that because it's okay. It happens. But it's easy. Yeah, at any time you can you can draft You could have an attorney do it.

In theory, you could do it if you observe all the statutes, but at any time the law allows you, as long as you're competent. To draft a will, have a will made, have an estate plan made. And if you can have an estate plan in a nice little binder. With all the information you need, everything wrapped up in a trust, and after you're gone, your family can just take that binder. And they're good.

They know where everything is, they know what to do, you've avoided probate. You can. Easily make a tidy little estate plan so that when you're gone, It's easy. You got questions? Grab one of our complimentary consults in and around estate planning.

919-7727000. That's 919-77270000. You can also visit the website, wh.lawyer. Let's get to this next question, Josh. We'll wrap this segment up.

Do I really need title insurance if the attorney already is doing a title search?

So we're switching gears and this question comes up very often. You're buying a house. You're buying real property. You've engaged an attorney. In North Carolina, attorneys handle.

Title searches, attorneys handle. Closings in North Carolina. A lot of people who moved here from New York, California. Attorneys may be involved, but they dealt with settlement companies. Here in North Carolina, the way the laws are written are attorneys are involved in there, and an attorney.

Um Is probably more often than not going to get you title insurance. And I have a lot of people who ask about title insurance: what it is, what it covers. And I won't spend too much time on it because title insurance bores people. Like, I think it even bores people. in the industry, you know, it's not very exciting to talk about.

Um But if you're getting a mortgage, if you're getting a loan, you're going to have to get title insurance. If you're paying cash for property, you kinda can choose. But title insurance covers things that maybe not are on the public record, right? Title insurance will cover. If the attorney missed something in their title insurance, right?

Didn't see somebody had a 1/12th interest somewhere along the line or. Or missed it. But title insurance always also protects you from things that attorneys won't know. Like in North Carolina, a full title search is. thirty years.

Right, so we're in 2026.

So, a full title search, if your root deed is 96. That's a 30-year search. And that's a full search in North Carolina. An attorney may choose to go back further. But 1996 that wasn't a long time ago, 1996.

And it didn't seem like that should be thirty years ago. Yeah. But it was But it was. But so if someone if there's a title defect that was 120 years ago. Your closing attorney is more than likely not going to see that because they don't have to go that far back for anything.

Um But if somebody has an interest, an easement, something that was 120 years ago, and it comes up after closing, it's your title insurance that steps in and protects you, compensates you for any loss. Defends litigation.

So, title insurance is good to have. And as long as you own the property. You've got title insurance protection, right? If you die and it goes to the heirs and they inherit it, it's still good.

So, it's a title insurance policy: if the property stays in your family, The protection goes on for a long time. We are going to take a short break. We're back on the other side. Want to remind you to compliment a consult on estate planning, or if you've been in a recent car accident, don't know the next steps, or at least want to talk about it, you can grab one of the consults, no costs, no obligation, 919-77270000. 919-77270000, or visit the website, wh.lawyer.

More Judica County coming up. Welcome back in. You're listening to Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, Managing Partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm. Again, the power behind this program, and both practice law in the great state of North Carolina. They placed offices across that great state: Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuque Verina, Gastonia, and in Moorhead City.

Again, An option for you. If you've got questions, you can contact Whitaker and Hamer. We do have complimentary consults in and around estate planning, but also car accident. If you were in one recently and don't know next steps or just have questions, grab one of the consults, 919-7727000. That's 919-7727000 or visit the website, wh.lawyer.

I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to jump on with Josh again. Joe is on assignment this week. We are going to get to our next question, and here it is: I'm the trustee of a small trust. Can I just go ahead and distribute everything and close it out?

So, I'm going to add some facts to this, right?

So, here we've got a trust.

Somebody went to an attorney's office, they drafted a trust. Um They passed away. Right. And so, you know, we talk about trust all the time. You know, if Morgan, if Morgan comes into our office and he creates a trust.

Morgan is, we're going to call Morgan some legal terms, right? Morgan's going to be the grantor of the trust, the settler of the trust, meaning he's creating it. During his life He's going to be the trustee. The trustee's the one who manages the trust. And then he's also going to be the beneficiary.

He's the one who's supposed to benefit from the property and the trust, right? Those are the three roles you have in a trust. The settler The one who makes it The trustee, the one who runs it, and the beneficiary, the one who gets the money, right? The one who gets the benefit.

So Morgan during his life, he's all three of those things. Um Morgan, I'll have to kill you all for this one. But something terrible, horrible happens to Morgan. Oh, wow. He.

I'm sorry. And he's no longer with us. He has named in his trust He has named you, you provide for all kinds of contingencies in this trust that he had me skillfully create for him, skillfully draft. And one of those contingencies is who's going to be the backup trustee. Um when he's passed away.

And let's for the purposes of our hypothetical It's gonna be me. All right, I'm the backup trustee.

So Morgan's gone. He wanted me to be the back up trustee. He wanted me to manage the trust. For his beneficiaries. And now that he's gone, he's no longer the beneficiary.

It's his spouse and his his kids, all right, are the beneficiaries. Um And so the trustee, I'm going to manage that trust. And he gave me terms. Right in that trust, let's say Morgan decided he wanted his kids to get annual payments of interest until they reached the age of 40, and he wanted to make sure his spouse was taken care of with annual payments from different assets, right?

So he set everything up. I'm the trustee. I'm supposed to do that. I have a fiduciary duty to his beneficiaries. We talk about a fiduciary duty that's higher than your normal relationship, right?

Your HVAC guy, as important as he is, he doesn't owe you a fiduciary duty. Right. I can't misrepresent, I can't lie, I can't commit fraud, I can't benefit myself. I have a fiduciary duty. The Morgans.

beneficiaries.

So in this example, that's what's happened, right? But say, say I've been managing the trust for a long time. Morgan's ample assets have been depleted. And now we're in a small trust situation where we don't have a lot left. That's what this person's asking this question.

I'm the trustee of a small trust. Can I just go ahead and distribute everything? And the answer is. I think I feel like we've had a lot of questions where the answer is maybe. The trust in itself is going to tell you what to do when you get to this point where you have a small trust.

And so, a lot of trusts have kind of generic language. Like, if you get under $5,000, the. trustees instructed to distribute, make a final distribution and close it. Or, if it's under 50,000, if it's under a million, whatever makes it a small trust in your eyes, a lot of times that's going to be in the trust, so the trustee can do something. Right.

The trustee needs to be able to function. But if you don't have it, if it's not in the trust, then you just have to figure it out. You have to talk to an attorney. That's what you have to do. And see what see what the statutes allow you to wind up a small trust.

But there are certain things you need to do. You need to make sure the beneficiaries are on board. This is a very complicated question, for one of our listener questions, this is a very complicated question.

Well, and there are going to be legal questions that our audience is going to face, and they're going to have. You know, they're going to have head-scratching moments. They don't know what steps to take. Again, seeking professional advice. Um Never a bad thing, right?

You're not familiar with the area or the circumstance, you know, talk with an attorney at some point. Uh, complimentary consult available with Whitaker and Hamer. You can have those conversations in and around estate planning, uh, possibly a car accident. We're going to get to a car or a vehicle situation here in our final question. But if you've got questions in those categories, in those areas, grab one of the consults with Whitaker and Hamer.

It's no cost, no obligation. If you want to roll forwards, you can, but you don't have to if you don't want to. 919-772-7000. It's 919-77270000. You can also visit the website wh.lawyer.

All right.

Josh, final question of the program. Got a speeding ticket and in another county, so not my home county. Do I have to go to that county or can I just have a lawyer? Handle it.

So if you just have a speeding ticket And it's a routine speeding ticket.

So you weren't going 125 in a school zone, right? You were just going nine over, 15 over. Um yes, you you can hire an attorney. And that attorney can appear. without you.

So in fractions. Um You can hire an attorney, an attorney can take care of it. You don't have to be present. If it gets over an infraction, so if it's a misdemeanor, right, and every, you know. You know, they find something in your car they don't like.

You get charged with a concealed weapon. You get a careless and reckless because you were going super fast in a school zone. There's all kinds of things that can make your appearance Necessary. Um But for what I would call a routine infraction, minor speeding offense, You can hire an attorney to handle that for you.

So I got a question for you, Josh. If you're not familiar with that county, Uh is it a good idea to Maybe talk with a local attorney that you know that might know an attorney from that county? We get that call a lot. You know, we handle a lot of counties in North Carolina for traffic. Uh lol, but we don't handle all a hundred.

Um, and so a lot of times people will call and be like, Hey, I got a ticket in the mountains, you know, and we'll tell you who we know there, who's who's who's reputable. But yeah, you want you want to find a good one. You know, you wanna find a good one.

Okay. All right, so closing thoughts. The importance of just, you know, having a pathway, having a plan when you're faced with really any legal situation, don't let it fester, don't let it stagnate over there. This is something that's important and needs to be certainly addressed. But talk about the consults real quick, Josh.

Again, no cost, no obligation. Yeah, give us a call. Let our intake folks, our paralegals, if you're calling us on the weekend, we probably won't be here, right? But if you're emailing us, you're contacting us through the website, wh.lawyer, or you're giving us a call 919-772-7000. If you let the intake folks know you listen to the radio show, Um we'll get you on the we'll get you on the schedule.

We do a lot of things electronically. We try to make your life easy. We can send you a link.

So you can see what's available.

So you can schedule a phone conference, a Zoom consult, or in-person consult, whatever's easiest for you. But that's why we're here. That's why we do this show. We want you to call us. Uh if you have a legal issue.

Right, or if you want to do some planning. Um that's what we're here for. Consult, grab one right now, 919-77270000. Estate planning, recent car accident. You've got questions, get in touch with Whitaker and Hamer.

Complimentary consult awaits 919-77270000. That's 919-7727000 or visit the website wh.lawyer. Another edition of Judica County Radio is in the books for Josh Whitaker and the vacationing. I'm sorry, on assignment, Joe Hamer. I'm Morgan Patrick.

We'll see you on the radio next week. I'm a dance man. Judica County is hosted by attorneys licensed to practice law in North Carolina.

Some of the guests appearing on this podcast may be licensed North Carolina attorneys. Discussion on this podcast is meant to be general in nature, and in no way should the discussion be interpreted as legal advice. Legal advice can only be rendered once an attorney, licensed in the state in which you live, has the opportunity to discuss the facts of your case with you. The attorneys appearing on this podcast are speaking in generalities about the law in North Carolina and how these laws affect the average North Carolinian. If you have any questions about the content of this show, you can direct such inquiry to Joshua Whitaker at jmw at mwhlaw.lawyer.