South Carolina H 4511: Rev. James Cooper

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4511 Text of Previous Version (Feb. 10, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4511

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

Amended

February 10, 2026

H. 4511

Introduced 
by Rep. Wetmore 

S. Printed 2/10/26--H.

Read the first time May 6, 2025

________

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING 
SECTION 15-9-720, RELATING TO SERVICE ON UNKNOWN PARTIES BY PUBLICATION FOR 
CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY ACTIONS, SO AS TO ALLOW SERVICE BY PUBLICATION TO BE 
PUBLISHED IN EITHER THE PRINT OR ONLINE VERSION OF A NEWSPAPER OF GENERAL 
CIRCULATION IN THE APPROPRIATE COUNTY; AND BY AMENDING SECTION 62-3-801, 
RELATING TO NOTICE TO CREDITORS, SO AS TO ALLOW PUBLICATION ONLINE ON A 
CENTRALIZED WEBSITE FOR THE SOUTH CAROLINA PROBATE COURT OR IN A NEWSPAPER OF 
GENERAL CIRCULATION IN THE APPROPRIATE COUNTY.

 Amend Title To Conform

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 15-9-720 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 
15-9-720. (A) For the purposes of 
this section, "court" means a court, judge, clerk of court, master-in-equity, 
special referee, or judge of probate of competent jurisdiction in the county 
where the action is pending.

 (B)(1) A court shall grant an order 
allowing a party with an interest in or lien on a parcel of real property 
subject to a partition action, mortgage foreclosure action, or other action 
affecting the property's title to serve by publication any unknown party or known party, whose address cannot be ascertained, to 
the action and who has an interest in or lien on the real property, any such 
legal notice as will accomplish the underlying purposes set forth in this 
section, if the:

 (a) 
identity or residence of the unknown 
party cannot, with a reasonably diligent effort, be ascertained by the 
plaintiff; and

 (b) 
plaintiff presents an affidavit to the court stating he or 
she has been unable to ascertain the identity or residence 
of the unknown party after making a reasonably 
diligent effort.

 (2) 
A court order allowing a party to serve an unknownthe party by publication must require the party serving 
by publication to publish the service once a week for three successive weeks in a either the print or online version of a newspaper of 
general circulation in the county where the property is situated. Service by 
publication under this section is equal to personal service on the unknown party.

 (C) A 
party may accomplish service by publication pursuant to this section for 
multiple units in a single horizontal property regime by consolidating the 
services into a single service that identifies each apartment included in the 
action based on the apartment's description in the master deed. This 
consolidated service must comply with the other requirements of this section 
and other applicable statutes, including the requirement that publication must 
take place once a week for three weeks in a either the print or online version of a newspaper of 
general circulation in the county where the property is situated.

SECTION 2. Section 62-3-801 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 
62-3-801. (a)(A) Unless notice has 
already been given under this section, a personal representative upon his or her appointment must publish a notice to creditors 
once a week for three successive weeks in the print 
version of a newspaper and online version, if available, at no additional 
charge to the personal representative, of a newspaper of general 
circulation in the county where the estate is being 
probated, announcing his or her appointment 
and address and notifying creditors of the estate to present their claims 
within the earlier of eight months after the date 
of the first publication of the notice or one year of date 
of death or be forever barred. Online notices shall 
also be placed on a statewide website, at no additional charge to the personal 
representative, that is established and maintained as a joint venture of the 
majority of South Carolina newspapers as a repository for such notices and the 
notice will remain on the repository website for at least as long as it appears 
in the newspaper. A personal representative may supplement this notice 
requirement in the counties in which the county probate court provides online 
notice by maintaining on its county website a publicly accessible and 
searchable list of decedents' estates and names of personal representatives 
whereby creditors may find an estate in which to file a claim.

 (b)(B) If the probate court in the 
county where the estate is filed facilitates the publication of notice to 
creditors in an online or print format, the probate court may charge the cost 
of the publication, which may be paid from