North Carolina · State Breaking a Lease Guide

North Carolina Breaking Lease Laws: When a Tenant Can End a Lease Early

North Carolina lets a domestic-violence victim end a lease early under N.C.G.S. 42-45.1, gives servicemembers a state right under 42-45 on top of the federal SCRA, and requires the landlord to mitigate. Here is how breaking a lease works in 2026.

Breaking a lease early in North Carolina sits between two rules. A fixed-term lease is a binding contract, so a tenant cannot simply walk away without consequences – but Chapter 42 of the General Statutes carves out grounds to terminate without penalty, and even when none applies, the landlord’s common-law duty to mitigate limits what the tenant owes. Knowing which rule applies is what decides the bill. This guide covers the statutory grounds, the servicemember protections, the duty to re-rent, and what a tenant owes with no justification. If you are filling a unit a tenant left early, our overview of how to screen tenants step by step pairs well with the rules below.

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Video: a plain-language walkthrough of North Carolina early lease-termination rules – the legal grounds to break a lease and the landlord’s duty to mitigate.

Key Takeaways: North Carolina Breaking Lease Laws

• Domestic-violence, sexual-assault, and stalking victims may terminate under N.C.G.S. 42-45.1 – written notice effective at least thirty days after receipt, with a Chapter 50B or 50C order, criminal restraining order, or Address Confidentiality Program card.
• The 42-45.1 tenant owes only prorated rent and no early-termination fee, the protection cannot be waived in the lease, and a remaining co-tenant’s tenancy continues.
• Servicemembers may terminate under the federal SCRA (50 U.S.C. 3955) and under North Carolina’s own N.C.G.S. 42-45 for a permanent change of station fifty-plus miles away, involuntary discharge, or a ninety-day-plus deployment.
• North Carolina’s military statute caps liquidated damages – one month’s rent if less than six months of the term are complete, half a month at six to nine months, and nothing after nine months.
• The landlord must mitigate under Isbey v. Crews, 55 N.C. App. 47 (1981) – a reasonable effort to re-rent – so with no statutory ground the tenant owes rent only until a reasonable re-rental, not the full remaining term.
• North Carolina is not a repair-and-deduct state – a habitability exit runs through N.C.G.S. 42-42 and 42-44 and constructive eviction, not self-help rent withholding.
• The deposit returns within thirty days under N.C.G.S. 42-52 with an itemized statement; 42-51 lets it cover re-rental costs but not the full remaining term.

Legal Reasons to Break a Lease in North Carolina

North Carolina recognizes a handful of distinct legal grounds to end a lease before the term is up. Each one has its own notice clock and documentation requirement, and getting those details right is what separates a penalty-free exit from full contract liability. The grounds below cover domestic-violence, sexual-assault, and stalking victims; military servicemembers under both state and federal law; an uninhabitable unit; and landlord misconduct. Our companion guide to North Carolina lease termination laws covers the separate mechanics of ending a month-to-month or fixed-term tenancy at its natural end.

Domestic-Violence, Sexual-Assault, and Stalking – N.C.G.S. 42-45.1

The clearest early-out for a victim is N.C.G.S. 42-45.1, titled the early termination of a rental agreement by victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. A protected tenant – the victim, or a tenant with a minor household member who is a victim – may terminate the tenancy by giving the landlord written notice effective on a date stated in the notice that is at least thirty days after the landlord receives it. The statute is one of the strongest tenant protections in Chapter 42 because it cannot be waived or modified by agreement of the parties: a lease clause that purports to strip the right is simply void.

What sets North Carolina apart from many states is the documentation list, which is specific and closed. The written notice must be accompanied by one of three things: a valid order of protection issued by a court under Chapter 50B (domestic violence) or Chapter 50C (civil no-contact), other than an ex parte order; a criminal order that restrains a person from contact with the protected tenant; or a valid Address Confidentiality Program card issued to the tenant or a minor member of the household. A domestic-violence or sexual-assault victim must also submit a safety plan, dated during the term of the tenancy, from a domestic-violence or sexual-assault program. Any one qualifying document, paired with the written notice, satisfies the statute.

Military Servicemembers – N.C.G.S. 42-45 and the Federal SCRA

North Carolina servicemembers have two overlapping early-termination rights, and the two run in parallel rather than canceling each other. The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, at 50 U.S.C. 3955, is the broader and more familiar one and is covered in depth below. On top of it, North Carolina enacted its own statute, N.C.G.S. 42-45 – early termination of a rental agreement by military personnel, surviving family members, or a lawful representative – which gives a state-law path with its own triggers and a capped-damages structure the federal law does not spell out.

Under N.C.G.S. 42-45, a servicemember may terminate by written notice when one of three things happens: a permanent change of station requires a move fifty or more miles from the dwelling, the member is prematurely or involuntarily discharged or released from active duty, or the member is deployed with a unit for ninety days or more. The notice must be accompanied by a copy of the official military orders or a written verification signed by the member’s commanding officer. For a change of station or discharge, termination is effective at least thirty days after the landlord receives the notice; for a qualifying deployment, it is effective thirty days after the next rent due date or forty-five days after the landlord receives the notice, whichever is shorter.

Uninhabitable Unit and Constructive Eviction

An uninhabitable unit can supply grounds to leave, but North Carolina ties this to a court remedy rather than a self-help walk-away, and the difference is the single most misunderstood point in the state. Under N.C.G.S. 42-42, every residential landlord must comply with building and housing codes, keep the premises fit and habitable, maintain common areas, and keep electrical, plumbing, heating, and other supplied systems in good working order – the statutory implied warranty of habitability, which 42-42(b) says a tenant cannot waive by accepting bad conditions. The full repair standards are in our guide to North Carolina habitability laws.

The remedies live in N.C.G.S. 42-44, and they make North Carolina different from repair-and-deduct states. North Carolina tenants generally cannot arrange a repair and subtract the cost from rent, and cannot unilaterally withhold rent without a court order – doing so risks a nonpayment eviction. The lawful path is rent abatement: the tenant gives written notice of the defect, the landlord fails to fix it, and the tenant sues for the diminished value, often in small claims court. When a defect is so serious and so persistently uncured that the unit becomes unusable, a tenant who gives notice and then vacates may treat the lease as ended on a constructive-eviction theory – the route that actually breaks the lease, distinct from staying and seeking abatement.

Landlord Harassment or Unlawful Entry

Landlord misconduct is its own ground. North Carolina’s self-help prohibition, N.C.G.S. 42-25.6, makes it the public policy of the state that a residential tenant may be removed only through the summary ejectment procedure in court – never by lockout. A landlord who changes the locks, removes doors or windows, or shuts off utilities to force a tenant out violates 42-25.6 and exposes itself to liability under N.C.G.S. 42-25.9. Repeated unlawful entries or a utility shutoff can also make the unit unfit for its intended use, which supports the same constructive-eviction analysis as a serious habitability defect. Our look at North Carolina landlord entry laws covers the access rules in full, and the North Carolina eviction notice laws page covers the lawful process a landlord must use instead.

Uninhabitable Units and Repair Remedies in North Carolina

North Carolina habitability law gives a tenant facing a serious defect a narrower toolkit than tenants in repair-and-deduct states, and choosing the wrong move can leave the tenant owing rent or facing eviction. The lawful remedy is rent abatement under N.C.G.S. 42-44, pursued through the courts: the tenant documents the defect, gives the landlord written notice (except in a genuine emergency, where actual knowledge can substitute), allows a reasonable time to fix it, and – if the landlord still does not act – sues for the reduced value of the tenancy for the period the defect persisted. A magistrate or judge can award a rent rebate measured by how much the defect diminished the unit’s fair rental value, and the same claim can be raised defensively if the landlord sues for unpaid rent.

Constructive eviction is the path that actually breaks the lease. When a habitability defect is so serious and so persistently uncured that the unit becomes unusable for its intended purpose, a tenant who gives notice and then vacates within a reasonable time may treat the lease as terminated, because the landlord’s failure has effectively evicted them. The tenant who wants out this way should build the record first: dated photos, the written repair notices, the landlord’s response or silence, any inspector citation, and the move-out date – because a constructive-eviction claim that fails leaves the tenant owing the lease.

The Landlord’s Duty to Mitigate in North Carolina

North Carolina is a duty-to-mitigate state, though the rule comes from case law rather than a single statute. The leading authority is Isbey v. Crews, 55 N.C. App. 47, 284 S.E.2d 534 (1981), where the Court of Appeals held that the nonbreaching party to a lease has a duty to mitigate, so that when a tenant abandons the premises and stops paying, the landlord can recover only the damages it could not have avoided by reasonable diligence in re-renting. In plain terms, the landlord cannot let the unit sit empty and bill the departed tenant for the whole remaining term.

So a North Carolina tenant who leaves early generally owes rent only for the time the unit sits vacant before a reasonable re-rental would have filled it, plus the landlord’s actual re-rental costs such as advertising or a leasing commission – not the rest of the lease. The burden of proof matters here: under Isbey, the tenant who claims the landlord failed to mitigate carries the burden of showing it, so the documented re-rental record – listing date, asking rent, showings, and applications – is the evidence that decides what the tenant actually owes.

What a Tenant Actually Owes – A Worked Example

Put real numbers on it. Suppose the rent is fifteen hundred dollars a month, the tenant leaves with six months left on the term, and the unit is in a market where a diligent landlord would re-rent in about two months. The starting figure is the remaining rent: six months at fifteen hundred dollars, or nine thousand dollars. From that, subtract what a reasonable re-rental recovers – four of the six months at fifteen hundred dollars, or six thousand dollars – because the mitigation duty under Isbey reduces the tenant’s liability by the loss a good-faith re-rental could have avoided. The tenant’s exposure is the two-month vacancy gap of three thousand dollars, plus the landlord’s actual re-rental costs, such as a couple hundred dollars in advertising or a leasing fee. Net, the tenant owes on the order of thirty-two hundred dollars, not the full nine thousand.

The arithmetic flips against the landlord who does nothing. If that same landlord never lists the unit and lets it sit all six months, the mitigation rule still measures recovery by what a reasonable re-rental would have avoided, so the failure to try erases most of the claim.

Military Servicemembers and the SCRA – 50 U.S.C. 3955

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is federal law, so it preempts state landlord protections and any lease clause that tries to waive it is void. Section 3955 of Title 50 covers residential leases, and its mechanics are precise: a North Carolina landlord who follows them faces no real exposure, and one who resists faces federal liability. The SCRA right is broader than the state statute and is usually the one a servicemember invokes.

The right is triggered in two ways. First, a person who signs a lease and then enters military service may terminate it. Second, a servicemember already in service who receives orders for a permanent change of station, or for a deployment of ninety days or more, may terminate. In either case the servicemember delivers written notice with a copy of the orders to the landlord – by hand, by private business carrier, or by return-receipt mail.

The effective date is the part most people miss. For a lease that pays rent monthly, termination takes effect thirty days after the first date on which the next rent payment is due after the notice is delivered – not the day the notice landed. Rent is owed only through that effective date and is prorated; any rent paid in advance beyond it is refunded, and the security deposit is returned under the normal North Carolina rules in 42-52.

A North Carolina landlord may not charge an early-termination fee, impose a penalty, or hold the servicemember liable for the unpaid balance of the term under the SCRA, and may not refuse to return the deposit on that basis. Where the state statute N.C.G.S. 42-45 applies instead, its capped liquidated damages can apply – so a servicemember choosing between the two paths should weigh the broader federal release against the state route’s surviving-family provisions and use whichever fits the orders.

Early-Termination Fees and Liquidated Damages in North Carolina

Many North Carolina leases include a flat early-termination or buyout fee – one month’s rent, two months’ rent, or a fixed figure – that the landlord treats as the price of leaving early. North Carolina has no statute that blesses a flat residential lease-break fee, and two doctrines work against it. First, the duty to mitigate under Isbey v. Crews measures the landlord’s actual recovery by the re-rental-reduced loss, so a fee that exceeds that real number is hard to defend. Second, the Tenant Security Deposit Act in N.C.G.S. 42-51 ties the deposit’s permitted uses to the landlord’s actual damages and bars retaining an amount that exceeds actual damages.

The practical consequence runs both ways. A tenant who signed a lease with a two-month flat fee is not automatically bound to pay it; if the landlord re-rents quickly, true exposure under the mitigation rule may be far less than the fee, and a pre-set charge that operates as a penalty rather than a reasonable estimate of actual loss is vulnerable. Conversely, a genuine, mutually negotiated buyout – the tenant and landlord agreeing at termination on a sum to release the tenant – is a settlement, not a pre-set penalty, and is generally enforceable.

When There Is No Legal Justification in North Carolina

If no statutory ground and no servicemember protection applies, a North Carolina tenant who breaks the lease is responsible for the rent – but not automatically for the entire remaining term, because the landlord must mitigate under Isbey v. Crews. The tenant’s best move here is to manage the mitigation directly: give written notice, present a qualified replacement, and document everything – a tenant who hands the landlord an approved replacement effectively performs the mitigation and cuts the vacancy to near zero. Putting a forwarding address in writing also starts the deposit clock cleanly.

Security Deposit at an Early Exit – N.C.G.S. 42-52

The deposit is handled separately from the rent claim, and the Tenant Security Deposit Act sets the rules. Under N.C.G.S. 42-50, the deposit itself is capped – two weeks’ rent for a week-to-week tenancy, one and a half months’ rent for month-to-month, and two months’ rent for terms longer than month-to-month – and must be held in a trust account or bonded. Under N.C.G.S. 42-51, the deposit may be applied only to specified items, which – importantly for a lease break – expressly include the tenant’s nonfulfillment of the rental period and the costs of re-renting the premises after the tenant’s breach, but not normal wear and tear and not an amount exceeding the landlord’s actual damages.

The return mechanics are in N.C.G.S. 42-52. The landlord must deliver an itemized statement of any deductions and the deposit balance within thirty days after the tenancy ends and the tenant returns possession. If the landlord’s claim cannot be finalized in thirty days, the landlord must give an interim accounting within thirty days and a final accounting within sixty. A willful failure to provide the accounting or to comply with the Act voids the landlord’s right to retain any part of the deposit, and the tenant can recover the deposit plus, in some cases, attorneys’ fees. Our overview of North Carolina security deposit laws covers the deduction rules and penalty exposure in full.

At a lease break the two systems interact directly: the landlord may apply the deposit to the mitigated rent the tenant owes, plus documented damage and lawful re-rental costs under 42-51, but cannot inflate the deduction to the full remaining term, because the underlying rent claim is still capped by the duty to mitigate.

Subletting, Assignment, and the No-Sublet Clause

Subletting or assigning the lease is often the cleanest way to leave early, and it interacts with the duty to mitigate in the tenant’s favor. In a sublet, the original tenant stays on the hook to the landlord but installs a new occupant who pays the rent; in an assignment, the new tenant steps fully into the lease. Most North Carolina leases require the landlord’s written consent before either, and that consent requirement is enforceable – a tenant who sublets in violation of a no-sublet clause has breached the lease.

But the no-sublet clause does not let the landlord ignore mitigation. When a departing tenant presents a qualified, creditworthy replacement in writing and the landlord unreasonably refuses, that refusal works against the landlord: by rejecting a tenant who would have filled the unit, the landlord undercuts its Isbey mitigation position, and the rent the replacement would have paid becomes loss the landlord could have avoided – powerful evidence that the resulting vacancy was the landlord’s choice, not the tenant’s debt.

Step-by-Step: Breaking a Lease in North Carolina

Whether you are the tenant invoking a ground or the landlord responding to a request, the order of operations is the same, and following it is what keeps the exit penalty-free and defensible.

1. Identify the legal ground first. Check whether a statutory exit applies – a victim termination under N.C.G.S. 42-45.1, a military order under N.C.G.S. 42-45 or the federal SCRA, or an uninhabitable unit under 42-42 and 42-44. The ground decides the notice period and whether any rent or capped damages are owed.
2. Match the notice clock to the ground. A 42-45.1 termination takes effect at least thirty days after the landlord receives notice; SCRA terminates thirty days after the next rent due date; a 42-45 deployment termination runs thirty days after the next rent due date or forty-five days after receipt, whichever is shorter.
3. Gather the documentation the statute names. A Chapter 50B or 50C order, criminal restraining order, or Address Confidentiality Program card plus a safety plan for a victim claim; military orders or a commanding officer’s verification for a service claim; dated written repair notices for a habitability claim.
4. Deliver written notice with proof. Put the ground, the effective date, and a forwarding address in writing, and deliver it by a method that creates a record – personal delivery with a signed receipt or return-receipt mail.
5. Mitigate, or help the landlord mitigate. With no statutory ground, the duty to re-rent under Isbey v. Crews caps the bill; a tenant who presents a qualified replacement effectively performs the mitigation and cuts the vacancy.
6. Close out the deposit. Within thirty days under N.C.G.S. 42-52, the landlord delivers an itemized statement and returns the balance, deducting only the mitigated rent owed, lawful re-rental costs, and damage beyond ordinary wear.

North Carolina Lease-Break Documentation Checklist

Keep this file from the day the tenant first raises an early exit. It is the record that answers a disputed balance or a fair housing inquiry.

• The written termination request and the legal ground claimed.
• The supporting documentation – protective order, criminal restraining order, Address Confidentiality Program card and safety plan, or military orders.
• The written notice itself, with its delivery date and proof of service.
• For a habitability exit, the dated repair notices, the landlord’s response or silence, and any inspector citation.
• The re-rental record: the listing date, the asking rent, showings, and applications received – the Isbey mitigation evidence.
• The date the unit was actually re-rented and the new rent.
• The deposit accounting and itemized statement delivered within thirty days under N.C.G.S. 42-52.

Quick Reference: North Carolina Breaking Lease Law

Early Termination, Retaliation, and Fair Housing in North Carolina

How a landlord responds to an early-termination request is governed by anti-retaliation and fair housing law. N.C.G.S. 42-45.1 itself bars penalizing a tenant for a domestic-violence termination, and the federal Fair Housing Act bars applying a harsher early-exit standard because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability. The safeguard is a uniform policy: honor the statutory grounds, mitigate in every case, and treat comparable tenants the same. For the federal baseline on protected characteristics, see our Fair Housing Act guide for landlords.

Screening the Replacement Tenant

When a tenant leaves early, filling the unit is itself the duty to mitigate – and screening is what makes the replacement reliable. Screen every applicant to the same standard: get written consent, pull a consumer report for a permissible purpose under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, and send an adverse action notice if the report drives a denial. Our North Carolina tenant screening laws page and the broader tenant screening laws by state guide cover the screening half of the picture, and the free North Carolina lease agreement form helps paper the replacement tenancy cleanly.

Common Mistakes That Create Liability

The recurring North Carolina errors are refusing a valid domestic-violence or servicemember termination, billing a departed tenant for the full remaining term without trying to re-rent, locking a tenant out instead of using summary ejectment, mishandling the deposit at an early exit, and failing to document the re-rental effort. Almost every one turns on the statutory grounds and the duty to mitigate – so the records that prove honored grounds and a diligent re-rental are the landlord’s strongest rebuttal to a disputed balance. Our guide to verifying tenant income rounds out the financial side of managing a tenancy.

North Carolina Breaking Lease Laws: FAQ

Can a North Carolina tenant break a lease for domestic violence?

Yes. Under N.C.G.S. 42-45.1, a tenant who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking may terminate the tenancy with written notice effective at least thirty days after the landlord receives it, paired with qualifying documentation. The tenant owes only rent prorated to the effective date and no early-termination fee, and this protection cannot be waived in the lease.

What documentation does a North Carolina domestic-violence termination require?

Under N.C.G.S. 42-45.1 the written notice must be accompanied by one of three things: a valid protective order issued under Chapter 50B or 50C (other than an ex parte order), a criminal order restraining a person from contact with the tenant, or a valid Address Confidentiality Program card. A domestic-violence or sexual-assault victim also submits a safety plan dated during the tenancy from a qualifying program.

Can a North Carolina tenant break a lease for military service?

Yes, two ways. The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 3955) lets a servicemember terminate on entering active duty or receiving qualifying change-of-station or ninety-day-plus deployment orders, effective thirty days after the next rent due date. North Carolina’s own statute, N.C.G.S. 42-45, adds a state right for a permanent change of station fifty or more miles away, an involuntary discharge, or a ninety-day-plus deployment, with capped liquidated damages.

Does a North Carolina landlord have to mitigate damages?

Yes. North Carolina follows the common-law duty to mitigate confirmed in Isbey v. Crews, 55 N.C. App. 47, 284 S.E.2d 534 (1981): a landlord whose tenant abandons the unit can recover only the loss that reasonable diligence in re-renting could not avoid, not the full remaining term. The burden is on the tenant to show the landlord failed to make reasonable efforts.

What does a North Carolina tenant owe for breaking a lease without cause?

Rent for the time the unit sits vacant until a reasonable re-rental would have filled it, plus the landlord’s actual re-rental costs, which N.C.G.S. 42-51 lets the deposit cover. Because the landlord must mitigate under Isbey v. Crews, the tenant does not automatically owe the entire remaining term.

Can a North Carolina tenant break a lease if the unit is uninhabitable?

Possibly. N.C.G.S. 42-42 imposes the implied warranty of habitability and 42-44 makes it enforceable by civil action. North Carolina is not a repair-and-deduct state and a tenant cannot withhold rent without a court order, but a serious defect the landlord fails to fix after written notice can support a constructive-eviction claim that lets the tenant vacate.

Is a flat early-termination fee enforceable in North Carolina?

It is vulnerable. A landlord’s recovery is measured by actual, mitigated damages under Isbey v. Crews, and the Tenant Security Deposit Act in N.C.G.S. 42-51 caps deposit use at the landlord’s actual loss and bars keeping more than actual damages. A pre-set fee that exceeds the real, re-rental-reduced loss functions as an unenforceable penalty, though a freely negotiated buyout signed at the exit is different.

When must a North Carolina landlord return the deposit after a lease break?

Under N.C.G.S. 42-52 the landlord delivers an itemized statement and the deposit balance within thirty days of the tenancy ending and possession returning. If the claim cannot be set in thirty days, the landlord gives an interim accounting at thirty days and a final accounting within sixty. A willful failure to comply voids the landlord’s right to retain any of the deposit.

Can a North Carolina tenant sublet to get out of a lease?

Often, but most leases require the landlord’s written consent and subletting without it breaches the lease. The upside is mitigation: if the tenant presents a qualified replacement and the landlord unreasonably refuses, that refusal undercuts the landlord’s mitigation position under Isbey v. Crews, because the resulting vacancy was the landlord’s choice.

Can a North Carolina landlord lock out a tenant who breaks a lease?

No. N.C.G.S. 42-25.6 makes self-help eviction illegal: a residential tenant may be removed only through the summary ejectment procedure in court. Changing the locks, removing doors, or shutting off utilities to force a tenant out exposes the landlord to liability under N.C.G.S. 42-25.9, even when the tenant has broken the lease.

How much notice does a North Carolina lease-break termination require?

It depends on the ground. A domestic-violence termination under N.C.G.S. 42-45.1 takes effect at least thirty days after the landlord receives notice. A federal SCRA termination ends thirty days after the next rent due date. A no-cause lease break has no statutory notice that erases liability, but written notice and a forwarding address still help cap the bill by letting the landlord re-rent quickly.

What does a North Carolina tenant actually owe after mitigation?

The remaining rent, minus what a reasonable re-rental would recover, plus the landlord’s actual re-rental costs. On a fifteen-hundred-dollar unit with six months left and a two-month re-rental, that is nine thousand minus six thousand, plus a couple hundred dollars in costs, on the order of thirty-two hundred dollars rather than the full nine thousand.

Related North Carolina Breaking a Lease and Rental Guides

• Breaking lease laws by state – compare North Carolina to the rest of the country.
• North Carolina lease termination laws – month-to-month notice, non-renewal, and holdover rules.
• North Carolina security deposit laws – limits, deductions, and the thirty-day return deadline.
• North Carolina eviction notice laws – notice periods and the summary-ejectment timeline.
• North Carolina habitability laws – the repairs a landlord must make and the abatement remedy.
• North Carolina landlord entry laws – the access rules and self-help prohibition.
• North Carolina rent increase laws – notice periods and the limits on raising rent.
• North Carolina tenant screening laws – what you can check before renting.
• Free North Carolina lease agreement form – a configurable, fillable North Carolina lease PDF.
• Tenant screening laws by state – screen the replacement tenant.

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Legal Disclaimer

This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. North Carolina and federal laws change, and how they apply depends on your specific facts. Before acting on any screening, fee, deposit, termination, or fair housing question, consult a licensed attorney in North Carolina. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Updated 2026