Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: South Carolina’s petition filing fee is a formula rather than a flat number, and the periodic accounting is annually. Everything on this page is quoted from the jurisdiction’s own statute or an official court schedule, and where South Carolina publishes no figure this page says so rather than printing an estimate. What drives the rest of the bill — lawyers, an investigation, a capacity evaluation — is on what guardianship costs.
What South Carolina fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | Graduated on the estate for a conservatorship: property valuation under $5,000, $25.00; $5,000 to under $20,000, $45.00; $20,000 to under $60,000, $67.50; $60,000 to under $100,000, $95.00; $100,000 to under $600,000, $95.00 plus 0.15% of the valuation between $100,000 and $600,000; $600,000 or higher, that amount plus 0.25% of the valuation above $600,000. For a proceeding that is not an estate or conservatorship – i.e. A guardianship of the person – the fee for the initial petition is ‘the same fee as charged for filing civil actions in circuit court’. Fees are payable on filing, deferrable in the probate judge’s discretion to the inventory deadline. | S.C. Code s.8-21-770(A), (B), (C)(11) |
| Bond | ‘Except upon a finding of good cause, the court SHALL require a conservator to furnish a bond’ and must approve all sureties. When bond is required the conservator files a sworn statement of their best estimate of the personal estate’s value and of the income expected during the next calendar year, and the bond must be in an amount not less than that estimate. The amount may be reduced by the value of assets deposited with a domestic financial institution in a manner preventing unauthorized disposition. | S.C. Code s.62-5-409 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | In a formal proceeding the court, as justice and equity may require, may award costs and expenses including reasonable attorney’s fees to any party, payable by another party or from the assets of the ward or protected person. If not otherwise compensated, the court-appointed guardian ad litem, counsel for the alleged incapacitated individual, counsel for a minor, and the designated examiner are entitled to reasonable compensation as determined by the court. ‘Unless the court issues an order stating otherwise, petitioners are responsible for their own attorney’s fees and costs, as well as the other costs and expenses of the action.’ | S.C. Code s.62-5-105(A)-(C) |
| Periodic accounting or report | ‘A conservator shall report to the court regarding his administration of the estate ANNUALLY’ and on resignation, removal, termination of minority or disability, death, and as the court directs; the report must contain an accounting of receipts and disbursements, an asset list with locations, recommended financial-plan changes, and the conservator’s opinion on continued need and scope. Filing A conservatorship accounting costs $10.00 each time. | S.C. Code ss.62-5-416(A)-(B), 8-21-770(C)(5) |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardian (person) and conservator (estate) under S.C. Code Title 62, art. 5, recodified by 2017 Act No. 87 effective 2019-01-01.
The filing fee
Graduated on the estate for a conservatorship: property valuation under $5,000, $25.00; $5,000 to under $20,000, $45.00; $20,000 to under $60,000, $67.50; $60,000 to under $100,000, $95.00; $100,000 to under $600,000, $95.00 plus 0.15% of the valuation between $100,000 and $600,000; $600,000 or higher, that amount plus 0.25% of the valuation above $600,000. For a proceeding that is not an estate or conservatorship – i.e. A guardianship of the person – the fee for the initial petition is ‘the same fee as charged for filing civil actions in circuit court’. Fees are payable on filing, deferrable in the probate judge’s discretion to the inventory deadline.
It is not one number. The statute states it as: Graduated on estate value, ad valorem above $100,000 (0.15%) and above $600,000 (0.25%)
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: S.C. Code s.8-21-770(A), (B), (C)(11).
The bond
‘Except upon a finding of good cause, the court SHALL require a conservator to furnish a bond’ and must approve all sureties. When bond is required the conservator files a sworn statement of their best estimate of the personal estate’s value and of the income expected during the next calendar year, and the bond must be in an amount not less than that estimate. The amount may be reduced by the value of assets deposited with a domestic financial institution in a manner preventing unauthorized disposition.
The conservator may be allowed reimbursement from the estate of the protected person for reasonable PREMIUMS paid to a corporate surety upon the bond furnished by the conservator.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: S.C. Code s.62-5-409.
Who pays the premium is answered only for one kind of estate. The single premium-allocation rule in South Carolina’s guardianship chapter sits in the article governing estates funded by veterans’ benefits, and it does not reach an ordinary guardianship.
Do not read that across to a general guardianship. For every other estate South Carolina states no rule on who bears the premium, and no figure for what one costs is published anywhere this project could verify.
Guardian ad litem and attorney fees
In a formal proceeding the court, as justice and equity may require, may award costs and expenses including reasonable attorney’s fees to any party, payable by another party or from the assets of the ward or protected person. If not otherwise compensated, the court-appointed guardian ad litem, counsel for the alleged incapacitated individual, counsel for a minor, and the designated examiner are entitled to reasonable compensation as determined by the court. ‘Unless the court issues an order stating otherwise, petitioners are responsible for their own attorney’s fees and costs, as well as the other costs and expenses of the action.’
(A) In a formal proceeding, the court, as justice and equity may require, may award costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, to any party, to be paid by another party or from the assets of a ward or protected person who is the subject of a formal proceeding. (B) If not otherwise compensated for services rendered, the court-appointed guardian ad litem, counsel for the alleged incapacitated individual, counsel for the minor, and designated examiner are entitled to reasonable compensation, as determined by the court. (C) Unless the court issues an order stating otherwise, petitioners are responsible for their own attorney’s fees and costs, as well as the other costs and expenses of the action.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: S.C. Code s.62-5-105(A)-(C).
How often you have to account
Annually. Do not carry that assumption across a state line: the interval is set by each state separately, several are biennial or triennial, and your own appointing court can order more often than the statutory minimum. The document that governs you is your order.
‘A conservator shall report to the court regarding his administration of the estate ANNUALLY’ and on resignation, removal, termination of minority or disability, death, and as the court directs; the report must contain an accounting of receipts and disbursements, an asset list with locations, recommended financial-plan changes, and the conservator’s opinion on continued need and scope. Filing A conservatorship accounting costs $10.00 each time.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: S.C. Code ss.62-5-416(A)-(B), 8-21-770(C)(5).
What an accounting has to contain, and the duties that come with it, are on the guardian accounting duties page.
What this page does not tell you
All four items this page set out to establish were read at primary and are stated above with their cites. What is missing everywhere, in every state, is a price: what an attorney charges to bring an uncontested petition, what a court-ordered capacity evaluation or investigation costs, and what a surety charges for the bond. None of it is published by any authority, and this page does not estimate it.
Where this fits
The filing fee is the smallest part of what a guardianship costs, and the national page sets out the costs that are larger and are not published anywhere. If nobody has been appointed yet, the comparison that actually matters is against the document that avoids this proceeding entirely — guardianship against a power of attorney.
Sources
| Item | Citation | Tier | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | S.C. Code s.8-21-770(A), (B), (C)(11) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Bond | S.C. Code s.62-5-409 | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | S.C. Code s.62-5-105(A)-(C) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | S.C. Code ss.62-5-416(A)-(B), 8-21-770(C)(5) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
General consumer information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Guardianship and conservatorship are governed by STATE law and differ materially between states; every figure here is quoted from the cited source as read on the date shown and changes without notice. Read as of August 14, 2026.