North Carolina’s Year’s Allowance
All states, including North Carolina (N.C.G.S. 30-15 through 30-33), have statutory provisions that allow for the support and maintenance of a surviving spouse during administration of the estate. North Carolina calls these payments for support and maintenance, which are made from the decedent’s personal property, the “year’s allowance.” Every surviving spouse is entitled to a $60,000 allowance for a one-year period. If the decedent dies without a will, the allowance is in addition to the spouse’s intestate share. If the decedent left a will, the allowance is deducted against the share the surviving spouse is given under the will. The total of all allowances, including to those provided to minor children, cannot exceed one-half of the average annual net income of the decedent for the three years preceding his or her death.
Dower and Curtesy
Dower and curtesy are common law doctrines that have been abolished by most states, including North Carolina pursuant to N.C.G.S. 29-4. Even so, North Carolina preserves the benefit of dower for a surviving spouse, whether a widow or widower, in N.C.G.S. 29-30.
Under the statute, a surviving spouse who would be entitled to take (i) an intestate share because his or her spouse died without a valid will, or (ii) an elective share because his or her spouse died with a valid will, may instead choose to take either:
- A life estate in a one-third interest of all real estate of which the deceased spouse owned during marriage; or
- An elective life estate in the usual dwelling house plus fee simple ownership in the household furnishings
North Carolina’s Homestead Exemption
Put simply, the purpose of the homestead exemption is to ensure that a surviving spouse has somewhere to live. The North Carolina Constitution provides that the homestead exemption, which consists of a dwelling and outbuildings, is available to a surviving spouse, so long as he or she does not own a separate homestead. The period of the exemption begins after the owner’s death and continues while the owner’s children are minors. If the owner died leaving a surviving spouse but no minor children, then the exemption lasts until the surviving spouse remarries.
It is also important to note that because a homestead is not an estate, the protection afforded by the homestead exemption is only against creditors, not against the possibility that the property will be devised to another person.