In North Carolina, a person’s real property does not pass through probate, unless the property is specifically left by the decedent to his or her estate. Real estate instead passes outside of the probate process directly to the persons it is left to in the will. Thus, only a personal property (both and intangible) passes through probate.

General and Specific Bequests in a Will.

Gifts in wills can be either general or specific bequests. An example of a general bequest is “I give one half of my estate to each of my two children.” A specific bequest is a gift of specific items or accounts or sums of money to a specific person or charity. For example, “I give my mother’s piano to my daughter, Megan.” You will need to provide the name, address and contact information and state each such person’s relationship to you (e.g. mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, friend) and state what property you wish to leave to each such person. If it is a gift of a specific item of property then you need to describe that item of property so that it can be easily identified.