Your state’s pack. New issues arrive periodically on Mondays. Bookmark it. I built this for the North Carolina T&E solo who knows N.C.G.S. Chapters 28A/31 cold but still loses an afternoon a week tracking the current homestead number, the NC Medicaid (DHB) eligibility posture, whether the latest North Carolina bar ethics opinion changes how you scope an engagement, or whether a recent Court of Appeals of North Carolina decision just moved the law on capacity, undue influence, or a trustee’s duties. What’s below is what mattered in North Carolina lately — the week’s developments and the recent rulings from the bench.
For licensed attorneys. This pack is general legal information and professional commentary for practicing attorneys — it is not legal advice, does not apply to any specific matter, and creates no attorney-client relationship. Verify every authority against the cited primary source before relying on it with a client. Published by Mike Moss, a Utah-admitted attorney, as an AI-enablement information product; it is not an offer of legal services and is not a representation that the author is admitted to practice in your jurisdiction.
Three developments from the last seven days that I think actually matter to a North Carolina T&E solo. Each one has a read that lands on your practice specifically — and each one comes with the citation so you can verify the detail yourself before you use it with a client.
Per the North Carolina State Bar, 2024 Formal Ethics Opinion 1, ‘Use of Artificial Intelligence in a Law Practice,’ is an adopted opinion: a lawyer may use a third-party AI tool only after satisfying the confidentiality (Rule 1.6(c)), competence, supervision, verification (Rules 3.3/4.1), and reasonable-billing duties, and the duty of care continues throughout use. The opinion expressly declines to opine on attorney-client privilege, leaving that as a separate legal question.
If you use AI-assisted drafting in a North Carolina T&E practice, this is the adopted standard your conduct is measured against: verify every machine-produced citation, treat client data entering an AI tool as a Rule 1.6 confidentiality question first, and resolve the privilege question yourself before inputting client data — the opinion will not do it for you. Also useful as a checklist against any out-of-state “AI estate-plan” vendor pitch.
N.C. State Bar · 2024 Formal Ethics Opinion 1 · ncbar.gov · 2024 FEO 1
Per the North Carolina General Statutes, Session Law 2025-46, s. 6(b) (effective Sept. 1, 2025, for actions filed on/after that date) amended N.C.G.S. 1C-1601, repealing subdivision (a)(10). The core homestead figure remains the fixed $35,000 of residence equity (rising to $60,000 for an unmarried debtor 65 or older where the property was formerly held by the entireties or in joint tenancy and the co-owner is deceased) — a fixed statutory figure, not CPI-indexed, set by S.L. 2005-401.
Because 1C-1601 was touched this cycle, confirm the operative edition for any debtor by the date the action was filed — the repeal of (a)(10) means a checklist built off the pre-Sept. 2025 statute can over- or mis-state available exemptions. The homestead dollar figures themselves are unchanged, but the surrounding exempt-property structure moved, so re-read the section rather than relying on a cached summary.
N.C.G.S. 1C-1601 (am. S.L. 2025-46, eff. Sept. 1, 2025) · ncleg.gov · G.S. 1C-1601
Per NC Medicaid (Division of Health Benefits), the agency announced (Dec. 10, 2025) it will restore provider reimbursement rates to Sept. 30, 2025 levels, and it maintains a dedicated ‘Impact of H.R. 1 and Federal Changes to Medicaid’ page. North Carolina recovers under N.C.G.S. 108A-70.5 (DHHS is a sixth-class estate creditor) for LTC/HCBS, hospital, drug, and personal-care services for recipients 55+ or institutionalized at any age.
For a North Carolina elder-law solo, both items change the planning baseline: provider-rate volatility affects facility access and the cost figures that feed a spend-down, and the federal-changes posture means the program assumptions in a plan written even months ago may be stale. Treat NC Medicaid LTC availability and recovery exposure as moving variables this cycle, and check the agency’s federal-changes page before quoting program terms to a client.
NC Medicaid (DHB) · provider-rate restoration + Federal Changes page · medicaid.ncdhhs.gov
Decisions from the courts that bind a North Carolina practitioner — the Supreme Court of North Carolina and the Court of Appeals of North Carolina, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina, and the Fourth Circuit — read for what actually changes how you draft, advise, and plan. Trusts and estates broadly, not Medicaid alone: wills and capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, trust construction, and estate recovery. One read, the holding, and the official cite.
Across the Supreme Court of North Carolina, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina, the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina, and the Fourth Circuit, no qualifying trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision has been logged with a full citation this period. Per the lane’s no-invent rule, this row says so plainly rather than inflating a holding.
Nothing to re-paper from the bench this period; controlling authority is unchanged. CourtListener is used for discovery only and is never cited here as authority.
Awaiting verified weekly signal — CourtListener used for discovery only, never cited as authority.
This slot holds the next significant trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision from North Carolina’s appellate courts or the federal courts covering North Carolina. The lane reads each opinion before it lands here, and reads-and-discards Medicaid program/provider litigation as not T&E. When the trailing window has no new ruling, this row says so plainly rather than inventing one.
Nothing to re-paper from the bench this period; controlling authority unchanged.
[Official reporter · court · date — never courtlistener.com]
This week in North Carolina for the T&E solo with NC Medicaid clients: the developments from the North Carolina Bar Association (Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law Section) and NC DHHS (NC Medicaid) that actually moved your practice this period — each one primary-source verified.
Bar and Medicaid changes land on different schedules and aren’t indexed by practice focus. Every item here was checked against its primary source, with the link, so you can verify before relying on it.