N.C. Gen. Stat. » Chapter 39
NC General Statutes

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 39-7 (2026)

Instruments affecting married person's title; joinder of spouse; exceptions

✓ current as of July 2026
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(a) In order to waive the elective life estate of either husband or wife as provided for in G.S. 29-30, every conveyance or other instrument affecting the estate, right or title of any married person in lands, tenements or hereditaments must be executed by such husband or wife, and due proof or acknowledgment thereof must be made and certified as provided by law.

(b) A married person may bargain, sell, lease, mortgage, transfer and convey any of his or her separate real estate without joinder or other waiver by his or her spouse if such spouse is incompetent and a guardian or trustee has been appointed as provided by the laws of North Carolina, and if the appropriate instrument is executed by the married person and the guardian or trustee of the incompetent spouse and is probated and registered in accordance with law, it shall convey all the estate and interest as therein intended of the married person in the land conveyed, free and exempt from the elective life estate as provided in G.S. 29-30 and all other interests of the incompetent spouse.

(c) Subsection (a) shall not be construed to require the spouse's joinder or other waiver of the elective life estate of such spouse as  provided for in G.S. 29-30 where a different provision is made or provided for in the General Statutes including, but not limited to, G.S. 39-13, 39-13.3, 39-13.4, 31A-1(d), and 52-10. (C.C.P., s. 429; subsec. 6; 1868-9, c. 277, s. 15; Code, s. 1256; 1899, c. 235, s. 9; Rev., s. 952; C.S., s. 997; 1945, c. 73, s. 4; 1957, c. 598, s. 3; 1965, c. 855.)

 

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases, 1959–2012 · leading case: White v. White, 324 S.E.2d 829 (N.C. 1985).
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White v. White, 324 S.E.2d 829 (N.C. 1985). “G.S. 39-7 et seq. carry forward the intent of those early statutory provisions.”
Harvell v. Scheidt, 107 S.E.2d 549 (N.C. 1959). · cites it 2× “irtue of having been convicted of five traffic laws (excluding parking meter fines),within an eighteen months period; maximum suspension period to be nine miomth-s; provided further, that any operator or chauffeur who shall have been convicted of more than eight -traffic law…”
Harrell v. Powell, 112 S.E.2d 81 (N.C. 1960). “52-2, “every married woman is authorized to contract and deal so as to affect her real and personal property in the same manner and with the same effect as if she was unmarried.”
Heller v. Heller, 171 S.E.2d 335 (N.C. Ct. App. 1969). “” G.S. 39-7(a). Plaintiff alleged that her husband’s conveyance was “without plaintiff’s knowledge nor has plaintiff since ratified or otherwise joined in said conveyance.”
Ratcliffe v. Comm'r, 2012 T.C. Memo. 349 (Tax Ct. 2012). · cites it 2× “Specifically, in the event of that contingency, petitioner would be entitled to elect to take a life estate in a portion of the value of Mr. Ratcliffe's real estate holdings.”
— N.C. Gen. Stat. § 39-7(a) — 1 case
Heller v. Heller, 171 S.E.2d 335 (N.C. Ct. App. 1969). “” G.S. 39-7(a). Plaintiff alleged that her husband’s conveyance was “without plaintiff’s knowledge nor has plaintiff since ratified or otherwise joined in said conveyance.”
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