2019 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 62 - South Carolina Probate Code
Article 3 - Probate Of Wills And Administration
Section 62-3-1001. Required filings with court; petition for order compelling personal representative to perform duties; court orders.

(a) Within the later of: (i) the expiration of the applicable time limitation for any creditor to commence a proceeding contesting a disallowance of a claim pursuant to Section 62-3-806 (a); (ii) the time when all legal proceedings commenced for allowance of a claim have ended in accordance with Sections 62-3-804 and 62-3-806; and (iii) if a state or federal estate tax return was filed, within ninety days after the receipt or a state or federal estate tax closing letter, whichever is later, a personal representative shall file with the court:

(1) a full accounting in writing of his administration, unless the accounting is waived pursuant to subsection (e);

(2) a proposal for distribution of assets not yet distributed, unless the proposal for distribution of assets is waived pursuant to subsection (e);

(3) an application for settlement of the estate to consider the final accounting or approve an accounting and distribution and adjudicate the final settlement and distribution of the estate; and

(4) proof that a notice of right to demand hearing and copies of the accounting, the proposal for distribution, and the application for settlement of the estate have been sent to all interested persons including all creditors or other claimants of whom the personal representative is aware whose claims are neither paid nor barred, unless the notice of right to demand hearing is waived pursuant to subsection (e).

(b) If the personal representative does not timely perform his duties pursuant to subsection (a), and all interested persons have not waived the requirement pursuant to subsection (e), an interested person may petition for an order compelling the personal representative to perform his duties pursuant to subsection (a). After notice and hearing in accordance with Section 62-1-401, the court may issue an order requiring the personal representative to perform his duties pursuant to subsection (a).

(c) After thirty days from the filing by the personal representative of proof that a notice of right to demand hearing has been sent to all persons entitled to the notice pursuant to subsection (a), or at any time after the filing of the application of settlement if notice of right to demand hearing has been waived pursuant to subsection (e), the court may enter an order or orders approving settlement and directing or approving distribution of the estate, terminating the appointment of the personal representative, and discharging the personal representative from further claim or demand of any interested person. However, if an interested person files with the court a written demand for hearing within thirty days after the personal representative files proof that a notice of right to demand hearing has been sent to all persons entitled to the notice pursuant to subsection (a), the court may enter its order or orders only after notice to all interested persons in accordance with Section 62-1-401 and hearing.

(d) If one or more heirs or devisees were omitted as parties in, or were not given notice of, a previous formal testacy proceeding, the court, on proper petition for an order of complete settlement of the estate pursuant to this section, and after notice of hearing to the omitted or unnotified persons and other interested parties determined to be interested on the assumption that the previous order concerning testacy is conclusive as to those given notice of the earlier proceeding, may determine testacy as it affects the omitted persons and confirm or alter the previous order of testacy as it affects all interested persons as appropriate in the light of the new proofs. In the absence of objection by an omitted or unnotified person, evidence received in the original testacy proceeding constitutes prima facie proof of due execution of a will previously admitted to probate, or of the fact that the decedent left no valid will if the prior proceedings determined this fact.

(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, a personal representative shall not be required to file an accounting in writing of his administration, a proposal for distribution of assets not yet distributed, or a notice of right to demand hearing if and to the extent these filings are waived by all interested persons.

HISTORY: 1986 Act No. 539, Section 1; 1987 Act No. 171, Section 46; 1990 Act No. 521, Section 61; 1991 Act No. 143, Section 1; 1997 Act No. 152, Section 18; 2010 Act No. 244, Section 19, eff June 7, 2010; 2013 Act No. 100, Section 1, eff January 1, 2014.