Clear Money Guide
What this state guide covers
A quick view of the questions, practical details and source notes below.
Updated August 4, 2026. Quick answer for South Carolina: nobody publishes a reliable, state-specific median for what a will costs here, and the figures you will see quoted — including ours — are national. Anyone showing you a precise South Carolina number is estimating. What is genuinely South Carolina-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed. The detail worth knowing before you sign anything: what is genuinely South Carolina-specific is how a will has to be executed, and that is what decides whether the document works at all.
Putting a loan in writing? The interest limit, the signing rules and the time limit to sue, from the state’s own statutes: South Carolina promissory note.
How to make a will in South Carolina: what the statute says
Each line is a short extract quoted from the South Carolina statute itself; the section has the exceptions.
- Signing and witnesses. S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-502: “…signed by at least two individuals each of whom witnessed either…”
- Interested witnesses. S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-504: “A subscribing witness to any will is not incompetent to attest or prove the same by reason of any devise therein in favor of the witness, the witness’s spouse, or the witness’s issue.” “If there are not two disinterested witnesses to a will in addition to an interested witness, then the devise is null and void to the extent of the value of the excess property, estate, or interest so devised…”
- Self-proving affidavit. S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-503: “Any will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved.”
The cost of settling an estate is a separate question: South Carolina Probate Cost 2026.
The honest position on South Carolina pricing
We publish a national attorney median for a simple will of $625 (middle 50% $450–$1,000) and a DIY platform range of $129–$599. Attorney figures are the national medians from the LegalTemplates 2026 survey of 909 firms, verified July 23, 2026. They are national, not state-specific. Geographic multipliers are widely republished, but the primary source for them blocks automated verification, so we will not apply one to South Carolina and present the result as a South Carolina figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.
What South Carolina law actually requires
This is the part that is genuinely state-specific, and the part that decides whether the document works at all. Every line below is read from the statute, with the citation attached:
- Witnesses: 2. S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-502
- If a beneficiary witnesses it: the will still stands. Unless two other disinterested witnesses also sign, the gift to that witness is null and void to the extent it exceeds what the witness (or spouse or issue) would take if the will failed (purging statute). S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-504(a)
- Notary required for the will to be valid: no. A notary is not what makes a will valid here — the witnesses are. S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-502
- Self-proving affidavit: available. Signing one at the same time as the will is what saves your executor from tracking witnesses down years later. S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-503
- Handwritten (holographic) wills: no holographic-will section. A will signed and witnessed by two individuals is required for execution in South Carolina (S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-502); a written will is also valid if it complies with the law of the place where it was executed or where the testator was domiciled (S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-505). S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-502
- Electronic wills: not recognised. No electronic-will provision in tit. 62 art. 2
The full 44-jurisdiction comparison is on what each state requires for a will to be valid. Whether a beneficiary may witness is covered nationally on can a beneficiary witness a will, and the notary question on does a will need to be notarised.
Does South Carolina give you a free form?
No. We found no complete statutory will form in the South Carolina code. California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin each print one in their own codes. In South Carolina your realistic routes are a DIY platform, a flat-fee attorney will, or an hourly engagement if the estate is complicated.
If a DIY will is the right route for you in South Carolina
Where the estate is straightforward and none of the complications above apply, a properly executed DIY will does the job, and how it is signed matters far more than where the document came from. LawDepot builds a state-specific last will and testament, which you then sign and witness under the South Carolina rules above.
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link — it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
What skipping it costs in South Carolina
South Carolina sets probate compensation on a mixed basis rather than a single percentage schedule. The two numbers that decide what an estate actually pays are the fee basis and the small-estate threshold.
Fee basis: Personal representative commission is statutory (S.C. Code §62-3-719): not to exceed 5% of appraised personal property plus sale proceeds of real property sold by will/court order; minimum $50; plus up to 5% of estate income. The court may review the reasonableness of an attorney’s compensation from the estate and may order refunds of excessive compensation (S.C. Code § 62-3-721(a)).
Small-estate threshold: $45,000 value of the entire probate estate, less liens and encumbrances — S.C. Code § 62-3-1201(a)(1) (2025 Act No. 26 (H.3472), eff. May 8, 2025).
A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by South Carolina’s intestacy statute instead of by you, and it lets you name the executor rather than leaving the court to appoint one. The arithmetic on the other side is on what probate costs in South Carolina.
What a will costs nationally — every route priced, and the four situations where DIY fails.
Statutory text read at the state’s own legislature or official code site. Pricing figures are national and dated above. General information, not legal advice.
Related: whether South Carolina requires the executor to post a bond.
The court’s own filing fee to open probate is a separate cost from what’s on this page, see the South Carolina probate filing fee.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in South Carolina.
Related: how long you have to contest a will in South Carolina.