§ 28A-19-7. Satisfaction of claims other than by payment.
§28A‑19‑7. Satisfaction of claims other than by payment.
Notwithstanding any provisionof law to the contrary,
(1) If a decedent wasliable in person at the time of his death for the payment or satisfaction ofany claim or the performance, satisfaction, or discharge of any liability orobligation, whether joint or several, primary or secondary, direct orcontingent, or enforceable in any other manner or form whatsoever, or
(2) If only the propertyof a decedent or some part thereof was liable at the time of his death for thepayment or satisfaction of any claim or the performance, satisfaction, ordischarge or any liability or obligation, whether joint or several, primary orsecondary, direct or contingent, or enforceable in any other manner or formagainst the property of the decedent but not against him or his estate as apersonal liability, and
(3) If any person otherthan the personal representative of the decedent is willing to assume theliability of the decedent and of his estate or to receive or accept property ofthe decedent subject to such liability in cases where the decedent was notpersonally liable and the creditor, obligee, or other person for whose benefitsuch liability exists is willing to accept an agreement with that effect and todischarge the personal representative of the decedent and the estate of thedecedent from the payment, satisfaction, or discharge of such liability, and
(4) If such creditor,obligee, or other person for whose benefit such liability exists and theperson assuming the liability or the person receiving or accepting property ofthe decedent subject to such liability shall execute, acknowledge, and deliverin the form and manner required for deeds conveying real property in NorthCarolina, an agreement between themselves as to such assumption of liability orthe receipt or acceptance of property of the decedent subject to such liabilitywhich shall contain a release, as hereinafter defined, discharging the personalrepresentative of the decedent and his estate from the payment, satisfaction,or discharge of the liability, and thereafter the said creditor, obligee, orother person for whose benefit such liability exists shall have no remedy forthe enforcement thereof except against the person assuming it or against theproperty subject to it as provided in the said agreement; then upon the filingwith the clerk of superior court having jurisdiction over the estate and thepersonal representative of one duplicate original of the said agreement, or ofa certified copy thereof if it is a duly recorded instrument, the same shall beaccepted in the same manner as a voucher showing payment or discharge of thesaid liability in the accounts of the personal representative of the decedent.
The word "person" asused in this section shall include one or more natural persons, corporations,partnerships, or entities having the power to own property or to make contractsin regard thereto. The word "release" as used in this section shallinclude a covenant not to sue in any case in which an unqualified release ordischarge of one obligee would discharge another, and if the liability involvedis a negotiable instrument or other instrument transferable to a holder in duecourse, such release shall not be effective unless notice thereof is endorsedon the instrument involved, dated, and signed by the creditor or the holder ofthe indebtedness or person for whose benefit the property is encumbered. (1965,c. 1149; 1973, c. 1329, s. 3.)