To change a column from NOT NULL to NULL without dropping it

 ALTER TABLE myTable ALTER COLUMN myColumn {DataType} NULL

How to drop a column with a default value constraint in SQL Server

DECLARE @ConstraintName nvarchar(200)
SELECT @ConstraintName = Name FROM SYS.DEFAULT_CONSTRAINTS WHERE PARENT_OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID('__TableName__') AND PARENT_COLUMN_ID = (SELECT column_id FROM sys.columns WHERE NAME = N'__ColumnName__' AND object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'__TableName__'))
IF @ConstraintName IS NOT NULL
EXEC('ALTER TABLE __TableName__ DROP CONSTRAINT ' + @ConstraintName)
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM syscolumns WHERE id=object_id('__TableName__') AND name='__ColumnName__')
EXEC('ALTER TABLE __TableName__ DROP COLUMN __ColumnName__')