Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: South Carolina caps personal representative compensation at S.C. Code §62-3-719(a): not to exceed 5% of the appraised value of the probate estate’s personal property, plus the sale proceeds of any real property sold under a will directive or court order. A separate provision, (b), allows up to another 5% of income the estate earns during administration. A $500,000 probate estate of qualifying property pays a $25,000 ceiling; $100,000 pays $5,000; $1,000,000 pays $50,000, with a $50 minimum commission regardless of estate size (a). Real property distributed in kind, rather than sold, contributes nothing to the base.
Real property counts only if it is sold
South Carolina’s 5% cap does not run on the appraised value of real estate the way it runs on personal property. Under §62-3-719(a), real property enters the commission base only at its sale proceeds, and only when the sale was directed or authorized by the will or a court order. A house distributed directly to an heir, or sold to the personal representative as purchaser, contributes nothing to the fee base at all, a materially different mechanic than states such as California, which apply their schedule to the full appraised estate value including unsold real estate.
The fee can be waived, contracted around, or split
Subsection (c) exempts estates covered by a compensation contract or a will provision, or where the personal representative qualified before 28 June 1984; (d) lets a personal representative renounce all or part of the fee by written filing; and (e) has the court apportion one shared cap among multiple personal representatives rather than paying each of them separately. The court can also approve more than 5% for extraordinary services under the opening clause of (a).
The attorney is on a different track entirely
Unlike Missouri or Iowa, where the personal representative and the estate’s attorney share one percentage schedule, South Carolina’s attorney compensation falls under the separate §62-3-720: reasonable fees for good-faith litigation or defense of the estate, with no percentage table tying it to the §62-3-719 personal-representative cap.
What the whole process costs in this state: South Carolina probate cost. Every state’s fee model side by side: probate cost by state.
Work out the number: the executor fee calculator. How the standard is applied where no schedule exists: reasonable-compensation states. Whether to take the fee at all: when the executor is also an heir, and how the fee is taxed.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or official code publisher. General information, not legal advice; a court retains the final say on what compensation is allowed.
Related: whether South Carolina requires the executor to post a bond.