Senate Bill 729 Summary

• Recodifies and reorganizes North Carolina's partition statutes from Chapter 46 to new Chapter 46A, creating three articles covering general provisions, real property partition, and personal property partition.

• Establishes new procedures for partition proceedings including requirements for attorneys' fees allocation, mediation options, court authority to order partition sales based on "substantial injury" standard, and modernized language throughout.

• Adds new provisions for carrying costs contribution rights, methods of partition selection (actual partition, partition sale, or combination), and updated procedures for commissioners' reports, confirmation, and appeals.

• Modernizes procedures for life estates, mineral interests, timber sales, and property sales for public purposes, with clearer definitions and updated legal references.

• Applies technical, conforming, and modernizing amendments to related statutes in G.S. Chapter 29 (elective life estates) and other related chapters, effective October 1, 2020.