Probate

2025-2026 Bill 5246: Probate - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 5246
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Moss, Pope, Jordan, Martin, C. Mitchell and W. Newton
Document Path: LC-0207PH26.docx
Introduced in the House on February 24, 2026
Currently residing in the House Committee on
Judiciary
Summary: Probate
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

2/24/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 58
)

2/24/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary
(
House Journal-page 58
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
02/24/2026

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.

B
e it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

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

S
ection
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.

S
ECTION
2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on February 24, 2026 at 1:35 PM