Helen Locust, Individually, and as Administratrix of the Estate of Lester R. Tyson v. Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Inc., James M. Galloway, M.D., Linda G. Monteith, M.D., and Pitt Family Physicians, 358 N.C. 113

Summary

The Supreme Court of North Carolina held that a spouse who had wilfully abandoned the decedent and was living apart at the time of death was barred under Chapter 31A from inheriting under the Intestate Succession Act. Accordingly, the decedent's siblings were potential beneficiaries of wrongful-death proceeds and had standing to pursue the action through the estate's administratrix. The court reversed and remanded the Court of Appeals' decision affirming summary judgment for the defendants.

Holdings

1. Chapter 31A must be read together with Chapter 29 as modifying the Intestate Succession Act for purposes of determining who is entitled to wrongful-death proceeds.
2. Because the decedent's abandoning wife was barred from inheriting, the decedent's brothers and sisters were the proper beneficiaries of any wrongful-death recovery, and Locust had standing as a beneficiary and as administratrix to pursue the action.

Questions Presented

1. Whether an administratrix who is the decedent's sister has standing to pursue a wrongful-death action when the decedent was legally married but the surviving spouse was barred from intestate succession because she had willfully abandoned the decedent and was not living with him at the time of his death.
2. Whether North Carolina's Acts Barring Property Rights statute, Chapter 31A, must be read together with the Intestate Succession Act, Chapter 29, in determining the beneficiaries of wrongful-death proceeds.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded