1941 public laws – Ch.381 Sec.1

That Section four thousand one hundred and fiftytwo of the Consolidated Statutes of North Carolina, relating to the allowance; filing and registration of certified copies of wills of non-residents be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Whenever any will made by a citizen or subject of any other state or country is duly proven and allowed in such state or country according to the laws thereof, a copy or exemplification of such will and of the proceedings had in connection with the probate thereof, duly certified, and authenticated by the clerk of the court in which such will has been proved and allowed, if within the United States, or by any ambassador, minister, consul or commercial agent of the United States under his official seal, when produced or exhibited before the clerk of the Superior Court of any county wherein any property of the testator may be, shall be allowed, filed and recorded in the same manner as if the original and not a copy had been produced, proved and allowed before such clerk. But when any will contains any devise or disposition of real estate in this State, such devise or disposition shall not have any validity or operation unless the will is executed according to the laws of this State, and that fact must appear affirmatively from the testimony of a witness or witnesses to such will, or from findings of fact or recitals in the order of probate, or otherwise, in such certified copy or exemplification of the will and probate proceedings, and if it does not so appear, the clerk before whom the copy is exhibited shall have power to issue a commission for taking proofs touching the execution of the will, as prescribed in the preceding section, and the same may be adjudged duly proved, and shall be recorded as herein provided.