Whitford v. Gaskill

LAKE, Justice.

Defendants appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeals holding that a statutory short-form power of attorney must expressly con fer the authority to make a gift of real property in order to be valid, and that the power of attorney here did not convey such authority.

George W. Pittman, Jr., now deceased, owned and lived in his family homeplace on a parcel of land in Carteret County, North Carolina. Mr. Pittman became concerned about what would happen to the homeplace when he died. Mr. Pittman wanted to be assured that the homeplace would not be taken from his wife, Rose Lupton…