Rule 70.Judgment for specific acts; vesting title.

Rule 70 gives a court several ways to make good on a judgment that orders a party to execute a conveyance of land, deliver deeds or other documents, or perform some other specific act, when that party fails to comply in the time the judgment specifies. The judge may direct that the act be done instead by someone else the judge appoints, at the noncompliant party's cost, and the act then has the same effect as if the original party had done it. On the other party's application, the clerk issues a writ of attachment or sequestration against the noncompliant party's property to compel obedience, and the judge may also hold that party in contempt where appropriate.

For real or personal property located in North Carolina, the judge may skip ordering a conveyance altogether and instead enter a judgment divesting title from one party and vesting it in another -- a judgment that itself has the same effect as a properly executed conveyance. When a judgment or order calls for delivering possession of property, the party entitled to it may obtain execution by applying to the clerk and paying the necessary fees.