Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: South Carolina’s elective share is not the one-third-of-everything, marriage-length figure most national pages describe. a flat one-third (1/3) of the decedent’s probate estate, regardless of length of marriage
What South Carolina actually sets out
| What the statute sets out | What it says |
|---|---|
| S.C. Code Ann. Sec. 62-2-201 (elective share) | “If a married person domiciled in this State dies, the surviving spouse has a right of election to take an elective share of one-third of the decedent’s probate estate, as computed under Section 62-2-202” |
| The share and what it is measured against | a flat one-third (1/3) of the decedent’s probate estate, regardless of length of marriage; measured against probate estate only; no augmented-estate/non-probate reach-in, despite otherwise adopting UPC numbering. |
| Regime type | flat fraction, not tied to marriage length |
| Can it be waived | waivable wholly or partially, before or after marriage, by a written contract signed after fair and reasonable written disclosure |
| Time limit to file | the later of 8 months after death, 6 months after probate of the will, or 30 days after being served with a summons to set aside probate |
How it works in practice
- The share is measured against probate estate only; no augmented-estate/non-probate reach-in, despite otherwise adopting UPC numbering.
- Partially. This state’s formula is limited to the property described above, which does not reach a properly funded revocable trust the same way an augmented-estate state’s formula does, so trust planning can change the outcome here specifically, though it does not change the analysis in a state with an augmented-estate formula.
- Waiver: Waivable wholly or partially, before or after marriage, by a written contract signed after fair and reasonable written disclosure.
- The election has to be affirmatively filed on a deadline: the later of 8 months after death, 6 months after probate of the will, or 30 days after being served with a summons to set aside probate.
The national picture, including the Uniform Probate Code sliding-scale schedule that a minority of states actually use, is on the elective share calculator page; this page is the record for South Carolina specifically, and its own numbers above should be used instead of the calculator’s national default for a South Carolina estate. The one thing that reliably defeats an elective share in every state that has one is explained on whether a prenup can waive the elective share. A newly widowed reader working through the fuller list of irreversible decisions, of which this is one, can start from the surviving spouse checklist.
What this page does not settle
- This citation and figure were fetched directly from the state’s own official code site and read against the current text this session.
- A state can amend or repeal this section without the page around it changing, and a detail specific to a reader’s own situation, such as a pending divorce, a premarital agreement, or property held jointly with right of survivorship, can change which part of the statute actually applies.
- Whether a revocable trust changes the outcome in South Carolina is explained above; that answer is specific to this state and does not generalize to any other one.
- Every quotation here was read against the source on September 5, 2026. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and the exact dollar or percentage amount a court awards depends on facts this page cannot know.
Whether this statute reaches a given family’s actual facts is decided by a court, not by this page. Nothing here is legal advice, and no one should sign a waiver or forgo an election on the strength of a web page.
Sources
The sources above were retrieved and read against the state text on September 5, 2026. Every quotation on this page was checked against those bytes.