South Carolina probate leads and inheritance data, by county.
If you are researching South Carolina probate leads, the public court file is only one part of the inherited-property market. USLeadList starts with death and property records, typically about five weeks after death, and generates an average of 2048 records a month across South Carolina.
South Carolina counties
Browse 46 counties.Every South Carolina county has its own page. Highlighted counties currently generate the largest monthly record volume.
How inherited property moves in South Carolina
Verified state rules behind the county data.Probate rules matter because they determine when a public court record appears and which inherited properties never appear in an ordinary probate case.
What changes for an heir
South Carolina reappraises real property to fair market value on an assessable transfer of interest, and S.C. Code 12-37-3150(A)(6) makes a conveyance by distribution under a will or by intestate succession exactly that, with only two exceptions: the distributee is the decedent's spouse, or every distributee is a child of a decedent who left no spouse and the home already carried the special four percent owner-occupied ratio. A later conveyance by those children is not exempt. The 15 percent five-year cap does not apply in the year of an assessable transfer (12-37-3140). An heir who does not occupy also falls from the four percent legal residence ratio to six percent and loses the school operating millage exemption (12-43-220(c), 12-37-220(B)(47)); renting for more than 72 days disqualifies the four percent ratio. The only relief is the 25 percent exemption at 12-37-3135, and it reaches only property at the six percent ratio under 12-43-220(e), must be claimed by notifying the county assessor before January 31 of the first tax year claimed, and cannot cut the exemption value below current fair market value.
Where probate records appear
Probate Court No statewide probate search. The judiciary's Case Records Search covers circuit and magistrate courts and some municipal courts across all 46 counties, and explicitly excludes probate court records, which are held by each county probate court
Ways property can avoid ordinary probate
South Carolina has no transfer on death deed for real property. S.49 of the 2025-2026 session would have created one by adding S.C. Code 27-1-80, but it was read a first time on January 14, 2025 and referred to the Committee on Judiciary and was never enacted, so no section 27-1-80 exists. Real property stays out of probate through a revocable living trust or joint tenancy with right of survivorship; the small estate affidavit under 62-3-1201 reaches personal property only, and real property otherwise passes by a deed of distribution from the personal representative.
Small-estate route
$45,000, raised from $25,000 by 2025 Act No. 26 (H.3472), effective May 8, 2025. Collection of personal property by affidavit is available 30 days after death where the value of the entire probate estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed that amount; the affidavit must be countersigned by the probate judge of the county of domicile and filed with that court (S.C. Code 62-3-1201). The same $45,000 figure governs summary administration and closing by sworn statement (62-3-1203, 62-3-1204) and the surviving spouse's exempt property (62-2-401). The affidavit reaches tangible personal property and instruments evidencing a debt, obligation, stock or chose in action, not real property.
Timing investors should understand
On appointment the personal representative must publish notice to creditors once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and creditors have eight months from the date of first publication or are forever barred; a creditor given written notice has the earlier of one year from the death or 60 days from the mailing (S.C. Code 62-3-801). All claims arising before death are barred at the earlier of one year after death or those notice periods (62-3-803). Notice to creditors is not required at all if no personal representative is appointed within one year of death. The small estate affidavit requires 30 days after death (62-3-1201). No South Carolina judiciary source publishes a typical duration.
South Carolina inheritance volume
Updated monthly · September 2026 edition.Newly inherited residential properties recorded in South Carolina, from the same database that builds the lists. Published nationally in the Inheritance Property Index.
Biggest South Carolina counties by volume
- Horry 2,391
- Greenville 2,171
- Spartanburg 1,553
- Charleston 1,512
- Richland 1,440
- Lexington 1,348
- York 1,195
- Anderson 1,158
Free to cite with attribution: USLeadList Inheritance Property Index, September 2026 edition. See every state and download the data.
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