Q: In ref the estate of a man who got many parking tickets over many years. Must the estate pay for very old tickets?
Is it possible that a judge might give us a bulk discount? The man died intestate, demented, and in deep poverty, in Craven Co. North Carolina.
Maybe I should have been more specific. We know there's enough money to bury him, and that has priority. But whether there's money beyond that is very doubtful, and he had quite a number of driving with expired registration violations and failures to appear. Connected to dementia, I'd guess.
A:
GREAT QUESTION
Actually, there is a process by which outstanding legal matters may be possibly dismissed. In fact, the statute says, the charges "must dismiss" the charges.
See: https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_15A/GS_15A-954.pdf
§ 15A-954. Motion to dismiss – Grounds applicable to all criminal pleadings; dismissal of
proceedings upon death of defendant.
(a) The court on motion of the defendant must dismiss the charges stated in a criminal
pleading if it determines that:
(b) Upon suggestion to the court that the defendant has died, the court upon determining
that the defendant is dead must dismiss the charges.
The estate may wish to retain legal counsel on behalf of the decedent and see if they could help.
With proper proof, we've been able to help clear this up in short order.
GREAT INQUIRY!
Bill Powers
North Carolina Criminal Defense Attorney
CarolinaAttorneys.com
Bill@CarolinaAttorneys.com
1 user found this answer helpful
A: I am wondering if he died in poverty, how is there money in the estate to pay the parking tickets? If you mean will his family members be personally responsible for the deceased's parking tickets - no that will not happen. Typically, the deceased's obligation to comply with things like parking tickets dies with him so it is likely the tickets can be dismissed with proof of a death certificate.
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