Matter of Estate of Etheridge

MARTIN, Judge.

Petitioner does not contest the trial court’s ruling that Item X of the will was valid. He does, however, contend that the court erred in concluding that the intestate share of Doc Etheridge, Sr. should first be satisfied from the lands devised to Doc Etheridge, Jr. and his sons, Joe and Owen.

At the threshold of our considerations in this case, we are confronted with the question of whether a real party in interest was substituted in this action when Doc Etheridge, Sr. died. Every action must be prosecuted in the names of the real party in interest. G.S. 1-57.

If, as in the case…