South Carolina Estate Planning: Free Wills, Forms & Calculators

Estate planning in South Carolina involves navigating a specific set of state laws that differ in important ways from neighboring states. Understanding these distinctions helps ensure your documents will be valid and your wishes carried out as intended.

Like all states, South Carolina recognizes formally executed wills and living trusts as valid estate planning tools. A standard will here requires 2 adult witnesses, and adding a notarized self-proving affidavit can streamline the probate process later.

Financial powers of attorney here require both 2 witnesses and a notary, making South Carolina one of the stricter states for these documents. All requirements can be satisfied at once at a bank or attorney's office. The state adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in 2017, modernizing its rules around financial powers of attorney. Documents created before 2017 may not reflect the current law's protections.

If you die without a will in South Carolina, your heirs must survive you by at least 120 hours to inherit anything. This "survival period" exists to prevent property from passing through multiple estates in quick succession when family members die close together in time, such as in an accident.

South Carolina does not impose a state estate tax or inheritance tax, which means estates are only subject to the federal estate tax (currently exempting the first $15,000,000 per person, or $30,000,000 for married couples using portability). This is a meaningful advantage over the states that layer their own death taxes on top of the federal system.

South Carolina does not allow transfer-on-death deeds for real estate. Without this option, real property must pass through probate or be held in a trust to avoid court proceedings. Transferring property into a revocable trust does not trigger a property tax reassessment in South Carolina, so property taxes remain at their current level.

South Carolina provides a statutory homestead exemption protecting up to $76,125 in home equity from creditors. While not as strong as the constitutional protections in states like Texas or Florida, this still provides meaningful protection for the family home. Executors must publish a notice to creditors, who then have 8 months to file claims against the estate. Known creditors must also receive direct written notice.

South Carolina automatically revokes an ex-spouse as beneficiary on life insurance, retirement accounts, and similar designations upon divorce. However, these automatic revocations can be overridden by a divorce decree or by re-designating the ex-spouse after the divorce.

South Carolina has not yet authorized remote online notarization (RON). All documents requiring notarization must be signed in the physical presence of a notary.