In Re the Estate of Lunsford

MARTIN, Justice.

This appeal concerns the distribution of the estate of Candice Leigh Lunsford (Candice), who died intestate in an automobile accident on 30 June 1999, just nine days after her eighteenth birthday. Petitioner Dawn Collins Bean (Bean), Candice’s mother and the administratrix of her estate, contends that Candice’s father, respondent Randy Keith Lunsford (Lunsford), wilfully abandoned Candice during Candice’s infancy and thus is not entitled to share in her estate under N.C.G.S. § 31A-2 (2003). Lunsford claims that he did not abandon his daughter and that even if he did, he is…