South Carolina H 5246: Probate

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 5246 Text of Previous Version (Feb. 24, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 5246

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

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

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS 
BY AMENDING SECTION 62-3-108, RELATING TO INFORMAL AND FORMAL PROBATE AND 
APPOINTMENT PROCEEDINGS, SO AS TO INCREASE THE TIME WHICH SUCH PROCEEDINGS MAY 
BE COMMENCED AFTER A DECEDENT'S DEATH FROM TEN YEARS TO TWENTY YEARS.

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

SECTION 1. Section 62-3-108 of the S.C. 
Code is amended to read:

 Section 
62-3-108. (A)(1) No informal 
probate or appointment proceeding or formal testacy or appointment proceeding, 
other than a proceeding to probate a will previously probated at the testator's 
domicile and appointment proceedings relating to an estate in which there has 
been a prior appointment, may be commenced more than ten twenty years after the decedent's death.

 (2) Notwithstanding any other provision 
of this section:

 (a) if a previous proceeding was 
dismissed because of doubt about the fact of the decedent's death, appropriate 
probate, appointment, or testacy proceedings may be maintained at any time upon 
a finding that the decedent's death occurred prior to the initiation of the 
previous proceeding and the applicant or petitioner has not delayed unduly in 
initiating the subsequent proceeding and if that previous proceeding was 
commenced within the time limits of this section;

 (b) appropriate probate, appointment, 
or testacy proceedings may be maintained in relation to the estate of an 
absent, disappeared, or missing person for whose estate a conservator has been 
appointed, at any time within three years after the conservator becomes able to 
establish the death of the protected person;

 (c) a proceeding to contest an 
informally probated will and to secure appointment of the person with legal 
priority for appointment in the event the contest is successful may be 
commenced within eight months from informal probate or one year from the decedent's 
death, whichever is later; and

 (d) appropriate appointment proceedings 
may be maintained in relation to the estate of an individual for the sole 
purpose of allowing a claim to be made pursuant to Section 804 of the "Sergeant 
First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics 
Act of 2022". United States Public Law 117-168, as amended, regardless of the 
date of that individual's death.

 (B) If no informal probate and no 
formal testacy proceedings are commenced within ten 
twenty years after the decedent's death, and no 
proceedings under subsection (A)(2) are commenced within the applicable period 
of time, it is incontestable that the decedent left no will and that the 
decedent's estate passes by intestate succession. These limitations do not 
apply to proceedings to construe probated wills or determine heirs of an 
intestate. In proceedings commenced under subsection (A)(2)(a) or (A)(2)(b), 
the date on which a testacy or appointment proceeding is properly commenced is 
deemed to be the date of the decedent's death for purposes of other limitations 
provisions of this code which relate to the date of death.

SECTION 
2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on February 24, 2026 at 01:35 PM