Is An Online Will Legally Valid in South Carolina?
Yes, you can make a legally valid will online in South Carolina. Here's what the state actually requires to make it stick.
FeedingBird is designed specifically to walk you through each and every step of the process..
What Makes an Online Will Legally Valid in South Carolina?
Online wills are legal in South Carolina, but electronic wills aren't part of the state's framework, so the document must be printed on paper. It must be signed by the person stating their wishes (the testator) and signed by two witnesses. Notarization is only required if you want to make the will self-proving.
South Carolina does not consider holographic, or handwritten, wills to be valid. In South Carolina, wills without two witnesses generally won't be admitted to probate, though a holographic will that is admissible in another state can be considered valid under the state's foreign-will rules.
What You Need to Know about Online Wills in South Carolina
South Carolina Property Laws
Estate laws come with a healthy serving of complexity and many are very different depending on which state you live in. Online wills must meet certain requirements if you want to avoid a potentially drawn out and overwhelming court process.
South Carolina is a common law property state, rather than a community property state. In common law property states, assets generally get distributed according to whose name is on the title, deed, or account. South Carolina also gives a surviving spouse a flat one-third elective share they can claim against a will, simpler than the sliding scales many other states use.
South Carolina Probate
All wills go through probate in South Carolina unless the entire probate estate is valued at $45,000 or less. If it is valued at a lesser amount, you may choose to apply for a small estate affidavit. Otherwise, you might consider a trust to avoid probate. There is no state estate or inheritance tax in South Carolina.
Avoiding Probate in South Carolina
- Revocable living trusts grant you more control over your estate. You name yourself as the trustee and identify a successor trustee who distributes your assets according to the trust’s terms after your death.
- Financial and retirement accounts can pass directly to a beneficiary as long as you have a payable-on-death (POD) designation or a transfer-on-death (TOD) designation for those accounts.
- Set up joint ownership with right of survivorship, which grants spouse or another co-owner automatic ownership of said property.
Want to learn more about trusts in South Carolina? Check out what you will need to put your trust together.
