Issue

Coverage under parents' policy—resident of household—time spent in the home—intent to form common household

Summary

In an action where an insurance company sought a declaratory judgment stating that defendant was not covered under her mother's and stepfather's underinsured motorist policy (for severe injuries resulting from a car accident), the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to defendant where a genuine issue of material fact existed regarding whether she was a "resident" of her mother's household entitled to coverage under the policy. Although defendant claimed in affidavits that she split her residency between her divorced parents' homes, she also gave sworn testimony indicating that she merely visited her mother's home for occasional, short periods of time without necessarily spending the night. Moreover, some of defendant's statements cast doubt on whether she and her mother intended to form a common household, indicating instead that she was part of her father's household only (she stated that she lived alone with her father for the fifteen-year period preceding her car accident; she depended on her father for financial support; all of her mail went to her father's home; and she treated her father's address as her home address for car title, property tax, and voter registration purposes).

Summary from the North Carolina Reports digest (official subject index). Read the opinion →