How Probate Works in South Carolina

1) File an application for informal probate and appointment (or a summons and petition for a formal proceeding) with the county probate court; the original will must be in the court's possession for informal probate. 2) The court issues letters to the personal representative. 3) Publish notice to creditors once a week for three successive weeks. 4) File the inventory and appraisement (fair market value at death) with the court within 90 days of appointment. 5) Pay valid claims, expenses and taxes. 6) Distribute and close the estate. Probate or appointment generally cannot begin more than ten years after death.

If the inventory shows the probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, is not more than $45,000 plus exempt property, allowances and certain costs, the personal representative may publish notice to creditors and then distribute directly without the full process. The same summary procedure is available when the appointed personal representative is the only heir or devisee. The estate is then closed by a sworn closing statement filed after the inventory and court fees.

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.

The court appoints by priority: a person named in the will, then devisees, then the surviving spouse, then other heirs, and later a qualifying creditor. A person under 18 or found unsuitable by the court cannot serve. A personal representative appointed in the decedent's home state has priority for a nonresident's estate. Bond is not required when all heirs and devisees waive it or the will waives it, among other cases; if bond is required and no amount is set, it must be at least the estimated value of the personal estate.

If the whole probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, is $45,000 or less, a person entitled to the property may collect personal property (money owed, bank funds, stock, tangible items) with a sworn affidavit once 30 days have passed since the death and no personal representative application is pending. The affidavit must be approved by the probate judge and filed with the probate court. Real estate counts toward the limit but cannot be transferred by this affidavit.

The probate court has exclusive original jurisdiction over estates of decedents, including will contests and construction of wills, with some matters (such as formal probate and will construction) removable to circuit court on timely motion (S.C. Code 62-1-302). The South Carolina Judicial Branch's Case Records Search links to each county's Public Index for trial court records; the page does not list probate court records among them.