Publication
Newspaper pricing is commercial rather than a statewide fee.
South Carolina court costs
South Carolina probate filing cost: $95
S.C. Code § 8-21-770 sets a statewide graduated Probate Court filing fee based on the gross value of the decedent’s probate estate: $25 under $5,000; $45 for $5,000–<$20,000; $67.50 for $20,000–<$60,000; $95 for $60,000–<$100,000; for $100,000–<$600,000, $95 plus 0.15% of the value between $100,000 and $600,000; and for $600,000+, the item-(5) amount plus one-fourth of one percent of value above $600,000.
$95 is the statutory total at a $100,000 estate. Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
What the statute charges
Every line below is computed from the statutory schedule quoted at the end of this page. These are court charges only. They are not an estimate of the total cost of settling an estate.
Probate Court filing fee (opening), by gross value of the probate estate
Published value bands
These are the fee bands stated in the source. The worked examples below apply them to sample values; they do not replace the published thresholds.
Base fee by gross probate estate value; statutory upper bounds are exclusive (§ 8-21-770(1)–(5))
| Value band | Published fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $4,999.99 | $25 |
| More than $4,999.99 to $19,999.99 | $45 |
| More than $19,999.99 to $59,999.99 | $67.50 |
| More than $59,999.99 to $99,999.99 | $95 |
| More than $99,999.99 | $95 |
0.15% of value between $100,000 and $600,000 (§ 8-21-770(5))
| Value band | Published calculation |
|---|---|
| All values | $0 plus 0.15% of the amount over $100,000 |
Maximum: $750. Assessment basis: Charged only on the portion of gross probate estate value from $100,000 to $600,000 (.15 percent = $0.15 per $100); capped at $750 (0.15% of $500,000). Added to the $95 base..
One-fourth of one percent of value above $600,000 (§ 8-21-770(6))
| Value band | Published calculation |
|---|---|
| All values | $0 plus 0.25% of the amount over $600,000 |
Assessment basis: For estates of $600,000+, add 0.25% of gross probate estate value above $600,000 to the item-(5) amount (i.e., $95 + the full $750 item-(5) marginal component)..
| Charge | $25,000 estate | $100,000 estate | $400,000 estate | $1,000,000 estate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base fee by gross probate estate value; statutory upper bounds are exclusive (§ 8-21-770(1)–(5)) | $67.50 | $95 | $95 | $95 |
| 0.15% of value between $100,000 and $600,000 (§ 8-21-770(5)) | $0 | $0 | $450 | $750 |
| One-fourth of one percent of value above $600,000 (§ 8-21-770(6)) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $1,000 |
| Total from this schedule | $67.50 | $95 | $545 | $1,845 |
Not included in this total
- certified copies
- any county-specific charges
The marginal 0.15% and 0.25% components must be computed exactly as § 8-21-770(5)–(6) states (percent of the value falling within each band, added to the $95 base) — do not apply either percentage to the whole estate value.
Source: S.C. Code § 8-21-770, South Carolina Legislature (S.C. Code Title 8). Edition/currentness: 1995 Act No. 15, SECTION 1, eff April 4, 1995. Verified September 15, 2026.
Calculate the South Carolina opening fee
Enter the gross value of the probate estate shown on the inventory and appraisement. This calculator applies S.C. Code § 8-21-770 to the opening Probate Court filing; it does not add copies, county charges, publication, bond, or professional fees.
Enter a gross estate value to see the statutory opening fee.
Estimated opening filing fee
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Base fee for the value band | |
| 0.15% of value from $100,000 to $600,000 | |
| 0.25% of value above $600,000 |
Costs no statute prices
These are the costs executors most often meet after the filing fee. None of them has a statewide statutory amount, so this site does not estimate them.
Bond
Premiums depend on the bond amount, the estate, and the applicant.
Copies and local charges
Certified copies, recording, inventory, accounting, and county surcharges are billed separately.
Professional fees
Attorney, accountant, and appraiser fees are negotiated or court-reviewed.
State-specific limits
- Filing-fee marginal components (0.15%/0.25%) must be implemented as band-limited marginal charges added to the $95 base, per the verbatim § 8-21-770 text — not as a flat percentage of the whole estate.
- Creditor deadline published as UNKNOWN because multiple notice triggers (8-month publication, actual-notice, 1-year outer) coexist.
- Small-estate routes separated: § 62-3-1201 (self-help collection affidavit, no personal representative, probate-judge countersignature) and § 62-3-1203 (summary administrative procedure inside an opened estate after inventory/appraisal, closed by § 62-3-1204 sworn statement) are distinct procedures that share the $45,000 net-of-liens cap; both now sourced.
Use this as a starting point.
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.
How to verify the amount for this case
Name the proceeding before asking for a total. A small-estate affidavit, an application for letters, formal administration, a later inventory or account, and a certified copy can each carry a different charge. Asking only “what does probate cost?” invites an answer for the wrong filing.
- Identify the county where the proceeding will be filed.
- Identify the exact route or petition you expect to use.
- State the value basis the schedule uses; it is not always the gross estate value.
- Ask the clerk to separate the opening fee, mandatory surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
- Record the schedule date or rule cited.
- Record whether payment is due at filing.
Keep that clerk quote with the estate record and compare it with the itemised statutory lines above. For the broader budget, use the probate cost-line guide; court filing is only one category.
South Carolina filing-cost map
Separate the South Carolina filing charge from the estate budget
The South Carolina filing record prices a proceeding, not every cost of settling an estate. This map connects the published amount or schedule to its value basis and identifies the local items that still need a clerk or court schedule.
| Question | Recorded South Carolina answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Collection of personal property by affidavit (S.C. Code § 62-3-1201); small-estate summary administrative procedure (S.C. Code § 62-3-1203) | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | probate property within the rule's stated scope; net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | $45,000 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 30 days after death; South Carolina runs separate, differently-triggered deadlines: a publication bar of eight months from first publication of notice (§ 62-3-801), an actual-notice bar (the earlier of one year from death or 60 days from mailing), and an outer non-claim limit of one year after death (§ 62-3-803). These cannot be reduced to one number; the operative bar depends on which notice trigger applies. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | 1 published schedule; the proceeding and value basis control the total. | Ask the Probate Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | S.C. Code § 62-3-719 caps the personal representative’s commission at five percent (5%) of the appraised value of the personal property of the probate estate PLUS the sale proceeds of real property received on court- or will-directed sales; the minimum commission is fifty dollars. Separately, the PR may receive not more than five percent of the income earned by the probate estate. The base for the 5% is appraised personalty plus realty-sale proceeds — not the value of unsold real property. The relevant base is gross probate property. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Filing record
What the South Carolina cost record can answer
Probate Court filing fee (opening), by gross value of the probate estate
Basis: estate-value. Status: operative. The marginal 0.15% and 0.25% components must be computed exactly as § 8-21-770(5)–(6) states (percent of the value falling within each band, added to the $95 base) — do not apply either percentage to the whole estate value.
- Base fee by gross probate estate value; statutory upper bounds are exclusive (§ 8-21-770(1)–(5)) 5 value bands
- 0.15% of value between $100,000 and $600,000 (§ 8-21-770(5)) 1 marginal bands
- One-fourth of one percent of value above $600,000 (§ 8-21-770(6)) 1 marginal bands
Case-file context
Keep the South Carolina answer with its neighboring conditions
A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed South Carolina descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Route context
South Carolina allows collection of personal property by affidavit when the entire probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $45,000 (S.C. Code § 62-3-1201), heard in the county Probate Court. The filing fee is a statewide graduated schedule keyed to gross estate value (§ 8-21-770), executor commission is capped at 5% of appraised personalty plus realty-sale proceeds (§ 62-3-719), and creditor deadlines turn on multiple notice triggers (§§ 62-3-801, 62-3-803).
South Carolina publishes two DISTINCT small-estate procedures, both capped at forty-five thousand dollars but reached by different mechanisms. (1) Collection of personal property by affidavit (S.C. Code § 62-3-1201): a self-help route with NO personal representative appointed. Thirty days after death, a claiming successor presents an affidavit — countersigned by the probate judge — stating that the value of the entire probate estate (property passing by will plus by intestacy), wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed forty-five thousand dollars, that 30 days have elapsed, and that no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted. (2) Summary administrative procedure (S.C. Code § 62-3-1203): used AFTER a personal representative is appointed. If the inventory and appraisal show the value of the entire probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed forty-five thousand dollars and exempt property, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses, and reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, the personal representative — after publishing notice to creditors under § 62-3-801 but without additional notice — may immediately disburse and distribute the estate and close it by sworn statement under § 62-3-1204. The affidavit route needs no appointment; the summary procedure runs inside an opened estate. The threshold reported here is net of liens and encumbrances.
Compensation context
S.C. Code § 62-3-719 caps the personal representative’s commission at five percent (5%) of the appraised value of the personal property of the probate estate PLUS the sale proceeds of real property received on court- or will-directed sales; the minimum commission is fifty dollars. Separately, the PR may receive not more than five percent of the income earned by the probate estate. The base for the 5% is appraised personalty plus realty-sale proceeds — not the value of unsold real property.
S.C. Code § 62-3-719 caps the personal representative’s commission at five percent (5%) of the appraised value of the personal property of the probate estate PLUS the sale proceeds of real property received on court- or will-directed sales; the minimum commission is fifty dollars. Separately, the PR may receive not more than five percent of the income earned by the probate estate. The base for the 5% is appraised personalty plus realty-sale proceeds — not the value of unsold real property. The relevant base is gross probate property.
Deadline context
South Carolina runs separate, differently-triggered deadlines: a publication bar of eight months from first publication of notice (§ 62-3-801), an actual-notice bar (the earlier of one year from death or 60 days from mailing), and an outer non-claim limit of one year after death (§ 62-3-803). These cannot be reduced to one number; the operative bar depends on which notice trigger applies.
- Filing-fee marginal components (0.15%/0.25%) must be implemented as band-limited marginal charges added to the $95 base, per the verbatim § 8-21-770 text — not as a flat percentage of the whole estate.
- Creditor deadline published as UNKNOWN because multiple notice triggers (8-month publication, actual-notice, 1-year outer) coexist.
- Small-estate routes separated: § 62-3-1201 (self-help collection affidavit, no personal representative, probate-judge countersignature) and § 62-3-1203 (summary administrative procedure inside an opened estate after inventory/appraisal, closed by § 62-3-1204 sworn statement) are distinct procedures that share the $45,000 net-of-liens cap; both now sourced.
Court-material note: Probate is heard in the county Probate Court. The filing fee is a statewide graduated schedule (§ 8-21-770); the small-estate affidavit threshold ($45,000) is net of liens and encumbrances.
Arithmetic illustration
See the South Carolina amount screen without mistaking it for a result
The recorded South Carolina ceiling is $45,000, and it is tested against probate property within the rule's stated scope, on a basis this site records as net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. Counted that way, $33,800 sits below the South Carolina figure and $56,300 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what South Carolina counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the South Carolina ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $33,800 | Below $45,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $56,300 | Above $45,000 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
Next evidence to collect
Name the proceeding and ask for mandatory surcharges, copies, publication, and later filings separately.
- Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
- Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
- Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
- Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.
Official material
- South Carolina Judicial Branch — Court FormsSouth Carolina Judicial Branch
- South Carolina Judicial BranchSouth Carolina Judicial Branch
Probate is heard in the county Probate Court. The filing fee is a statewide graduated schedule (§ 8-21-770); the small-estate affidavit threshold ($45,000) is net of liens and encumbrances.
Source trail
Records used by this South Carolina map
- S.C. Code § 62-3-1201S.C. Code § 62-3-1201 — Collection of personal property by affidavit; reviewed August 9, 2026
- S.C. Code § 62-3-1203S.C. Code § 62-3-1203 — Small estates; summary administrative procedure; reviewed August 9, 2026
- S.C. Code § 62-3-719S.C. Code § 62-3-719 — Compensation of personal representative; reviewed August 9, 2026
- S.C. Code § 8-21-770S.C. Code § 8-21-770 — Probate Court schedule of fees and costs; reviewed August 9, 2026
- S.C. Code §§ 62-3-801, 62-3-803S.C. Code § 62-3-801 / § 62-3-803 — Notice to creditors; limitations on presentation of claims; reviewed August 9, 2026
Filing-cost source
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
S.C. Code § 8-21-770
Reviewed source note: the fee shall be based upon the gross value of the decedent's probate estate or the protected person's estate as shown on the inventory and appraisement as follows: (1) Property valuation less than $5,000.00 $25.00 (2) Property valuation of $5,000.00 but less than $20,000.00 $45.00 (3) Property valuation of $20,000.00 but less than $60,000.00 $67.50 (4) Property valuation of $60,000.00 but less than $100,000.00 $95.00 (5) Property valuation of $100,000.00 but less than $600,000.00 $95.00 plus .15 percent of the property valuation between $100,000.00 and $600,000.00 (6) Property valuation of $600,000.00 or higher amount set forth in (5) above plus one-fourth of one percent of the property valuation above $600,000.00.
What this means: Graduated statewide schedule keyed to GROSS value of the probate estate. The marginal 0.15%/0.25% pieces apply only to value within their bands, added to the $95 base.