Abstract
On June 18, 1982, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted House Bill No. 67 entitled "AN ACT TO EQUALIZE BETWEEN MARRIED PERSONS THE RIGHT TO INCOME, POSSESSION, AND CONTROL IN PROPERTY OWNED CONCURRENTLY IN TENANCY BY THE ENTIRETY." This article explores several of the issues raised by the legislation: (1) Does it alter the pre-reform law under which a creditor of neither husband nor wife alone could reach any interest in entirety property? (2) Does it extend that exemption to the rents and profits arising from tenancy by the entirety property? (3) Will the provisions for management of entirety property by husband and wife generate a theory of estoppel by acquiescence? (4) Will the courts utilize the curative principles of the reform act when holding that pre-reform law was unconstitutional because of gender discrimination? (5) Does the act intend to change ownership of rents and profits accruing after the act's effective date, January 1, 1983, from entirety property where the cotenancy was created before that date? (6) Does the act intend to shift management and control of pre-enactment entirety property? (7) Does the act enable thirdparty donors creating a tenancy by the entirety to validly claim two federal gift tax annual exclusions on the theory that the wife's interest is no longer a future interest? and (8) Does the act cause a shift in the bases of the husband and wife in entirety property that will affect federal income tax liabilities?
Recommended Citation
William A. Reppy Jr., North Carolina's Tenancy by the Entirety Reform Legislation of 1982, 5 Campbell L. Rev. 1 (1982).