Executor Duties in South Carolina

Main duties and deadlines for a South Carolina personal representative: qualify by filing any required bond and a statement accepting the duties; within 30 days after appointment, give information of the appointment to the heirs and devisees; upon appointment, publish a notice to creditors once a week for three successive weeks in a county newspaper, requiring claims within eight months after the first publication (claims are in any event barred one year after death); within 90 days after appointment, prepare and file with the court an inventory and appraisement of probate property at date-of-death fair market value and mail a copy to the heirs and devisees; allow or disallow and pay claims; and then file a full accounting, a proposal for distribution and a petition for settlement of the estate with proof of publication of the creditor notice.

The county probate court issues letters to the personal representative. Applicants file an application for informal probate and appointment (the original will must be in the court's possession for informal probate) or a summons and petition for a formal testacy or appointment proceeding. Priority goes to the person named in the will, then devisees, the surviving spouse, other heirs, and later a qualifying creditor. Before receiving letters, the personal representative files any required bond and a statement of acceptance of the duties. Bond is not required when the will or all heirs and devisees waive it, among other cases. Probate or appointment generally cannot begin more than ten years after death. SCDMV and others accept the probate court's certificate of appointment.

After notice to creditors is first published, creditors have eight months from the first publication to present claims. A creditor given written notice must present the claim by the earlier of one year after death or 60 days after the notice was delivered. Claims arising before death are barred in any case if not presented within one year after death.