§ 28A-19-7.  Satisfaction of claims other than by payment.

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary,

(1) If a decedent was liable in person at the time of the decedent's death for the payment or satisfaction of any claim or the performance, satisfaction, or discharge of any liability or obligation, whether joint or several, primary or secondary, direct or contingent, or enforceable in any other manner or form whatsoever, or

(2) If only the property of a decedent or some part thereof was liable at the time of the decedent's death for the payment or satisfaction of any claim or the performance, satisfaction, or discharge or any liability or obligation, whether joint or several, primary or secondary, direct or contingent, or enforceable in any other manner or form against the property of the decedent but not against the decedent or the decedent's estate as a personal liability, and

(3) If any person other than the personal representative of the decedent is willing to assume the liability of the decedent and of the decedent's estate or to receive or accept property of the decedent subject to such liability in cases where the decedent was not personally liable and the creditor, obligee, or other person for whose benefit such liability exists is willing to accept an agreement with that effect and to discharge the personal representative of the decedent and the estate of the decedent from the payment, satisfaction, or discharge of such liability, and

(4) If such creditor, obligee, or other person for whose benefit such liability exists and the person assuming the liability or the person receiving or accepting property of the decedent subject to such liability shall execute, acknowledge, and deliver in the form and manner required for deeds conveying real property in North Carolina, an agreement between themselves as to such assumption of liability or the receipt or acceptance of property of the decedent subject to such liability which shall contain a release, as hereinafter defined, discharging the personal representative of the decedent and the decedent's estate from the payment, satisfaction, or discharge of the liability, and thereafter the said creditor, obligee, or other person for whose benefit such liability exists shall have no remedy for the enforcement thereof except against the person assuming it or against the property subject to it as provided in the said agreement; then upon the filing with the clerk of superior court having jurisdiction over the estate and the personal representative of one duplicate original of the said agreement, or of a certified copy thereof if it is a duly recorded instrument, the same shall be accepted in the same manner as a voucher showing payment or discharge of the said liability in the accounts of the personal representative of the decedent.

The word "person" as used in this section shall include one or more natural persons, corporations, partnerships, or entities having the power to own property or to make contracts in regard thereto. The word "release" as used in this section shall include a covenant not to sue in any case in which an unqualified release or discharge of one obligee would discharge another, and if the liability involved is a negotiable instrument or other instrument transferable to a holder in due course, such release shall not be effective unless notice thereof is endorsed on the instrument involved, dated, and signed by the creditor or the holder of the indebtedness or person for whose benefit the property is encumbered. (1965, c. 1149; 1973, c. 1329, s. 3; 2011-344, s. 4.)