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South Carolina estate administration

South Carolina probate: rules, process, costs, executor fees and deadlines

Small-estate limit: $45,000

This guide explains probate in South Carolina: South Carolina allows collection of personal property by affidavit when the entire probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $45,000 (S.C. Code § 62-3-1201), heard in the county Probate Court. The filing fee is a statewide graduated schedule keyed to gross estate value (§ 8-21-770), executor commission is capped at 5% of appraised personalty plus realty-sale proceeds (§ 62-3-719), and creditor deadlines turn on multiple notice triggers (§§ 62-3-801, 62-3-803).

Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.

Answer first

South Carolina simplified probate route

Up to $45,000; usable 30 days after death. Source: S.C. Code § 62-3-1201.

Collection of personal property by affidavit (S.C. Code § 62-3-1201); small-estate summary administrative procedure (S.C. Code § 62-3-1203)

Screen a specific South Carolina estate with the calculators on the small-estate page and the executor-fee page, or compare states in the full estate navigator.

What the reviewed rules establish

Simplified route

$45,000

Collection of personal property by affidavit (S.C. Code § 62-3-1201); small-estate summary administrative procedure (S.C. Code § 62-3-1203); usable 30 days after death.

Eligibility and caveats

Executor compensation

Court-reviewed

The statute caps compensation; the court sets the amount within it. Source: S.C. Code § 62-3-719.

Compensation detail

South Carolina decision map

The four facts that change the South Carolina route

Each South Carolina answer below links to the page that sets out its source.

QuestionRecorded South Carolina answer
What route is being screened?Collection of personal property by affidavit (S.C. Code § 62-3-1201); small-estate summary administrative procedure (S.C. Code § 62-3-1203)
What property and basis count?probate property within the rule's stated scope; net of enforceable liens and encumbrances.
What is the amount screen?$45,000
What is the time or deadline record?30 days after death; creditor deadlines: separate clocks by triggering event
What does the cost record establish?1 published schedule; the proceeding and value basis control the total.
What does compensation use?Statutory ceiling, measured on gross probate property.

Limits and unresolved costs

  • Filing-fee marginal components (0.15%/0.25%) must be implemented as band-limited marginal charges added to the $95 base, per the verbatim § 8-21-770 text — not as a flat percentage of the whole estate.
  • Creditor deadline published as UNKNOWN because multiple notice triggers (8-month publication, actual-notice, 1-year outer) coexist.
  • Small-estate routes separated: § 62-3-1201 (self-help collection affidavit, no personal representative, probate-judge countersignature) and § 62-3-1203 (summary administrative procedure inside an opened estate after inventory/appraisal, closed by § 62-3-1204 sworn statement) are distinct procedures that share the $45,000 net-of-liens cap; both now sourced.

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What South Carolina courts publish

Every link is probed before each release.

Limits on court material

  • Probate is heard in the county Probate Court. The filing fee is a statewide graduated schedule (§ 8-21-770); the small-estate affidavit threshold ($45,000) is net of liens and encumbrances.

South Carolina primary sources

Every quotation, edition label and machine check is on the South Carolina source record.

South Carolina record: 5/5 verified, 20 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction