Estate plan requirements

South Carolina

Everything your estate plan needs to be valid in South Carolina: execution requirements, the documents we generate, statutory citations, and the exact wording our generators insert.

Requirements at a glance

Document	Witnesses	Notary
Will	2 required	Recommended
Living trust	None required	Recommended
Power of attorney	2 required	Required
Healthcare directive	2 required	Not required

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South Carolina content last reviewed August 17, 2026.

Will

S.C. Code §62-2-501 et seq.

Witnesses: 2 required

Signed by at least two individuals each of whom witnessed either the signing or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature or of the will (S.C. Code §62-2-502(3))

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required, but recommended for self-proving affidavit

Holographic will: Not valid

South Carolina does not recognize handwritten wills without witnesses

Self-proving affidavit: Available

South Carolina prints its own self-proving form at S.C. Code §62-2-503(a), and it is a one-step certificate: a will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved. The self-proof is effective upon the testator's acknowledgment and the affidavit of at least one witness, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the law of the state where execution occurs, and evidenced by that officer's certificate under official seal. Two things in the statutory recitals are not in the generic form: the witnesses swear that each of them signed "in the presence and hearing of the testator", and the age recital carries the parenthetical for a testator under eighteen who is married or emancipated by family court decree. Section 62-2-503(c) lets a witness who is also an officer authorized to administer oaths notarize the other witness's signature.

State-specific notes

•Interested-witness purging is effectively automatic in South Carolina. A devise to a witness is saved only if two disinterested witnesses signed in addition to the interested one, which a two-witness will can never satisfy (S.C. Code §62-2-504(a)). If a beneficiary may sign as a witness, have two disinterested witnesses sign as well.

•A proxy signature must be made in the testator's presence. A will may be signed in the testator's name by some other individual in the testator's presence and by the testator's direction (S.C. Code §62-2-502(2)).

•Record the financial power of attorney. After the principal's incapacity an agent may exercise authority only if the power of attorney has been recorded in the same manner as a deed in the county where the principal resides; recording may happen before or after incapacity, but before recordation the agent's authority cannot be exercised at all (S.C. Code §62-8-109(c)).

•Age to make a will. A South Carolina testator must be of sound mind and not a minor (S.C. Code §62-2-501). The statutory self-proving forms recite the standard three times as eighteen years of age or older, or if under the age of eighteen, married or emancipated as decreed by a family court (S.C. Code §62-2-503).

ViewSelf-proving affidavit wording

State of South Carolina County of _______________ I, {testatorName}, the testator, sign my name to this instrument this _____ day of ______________, 20____, and being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my last will and that I sign it willingly (or willingly direct another to sign for me), that I execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that I am eighteen years of age or older (or if under the age of eighteen, am married or emancipated as decreed by a family court), of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence. ___________________________________ {testatorName}, Testator We, _______________ and _______________, the witnesses, sign our names to this instrument, and at least one of us, being first duly sworn, does hereby declare, generally and to the undersigned authority, that the testator signs and executes this instrument as his last will and that he signs it willingly (or willingly directs another to sign for him), and that each of us, in the presence and hearing of the testator, hereby signs this will as witness to the testator's signing, and that to the best of our knowledge the testator is eighteen years of age or older (or if under the age of eighteen, was married or emancipated as decreed by a family court), of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence. ___________________________________ Witness ___________________________________ Witness Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by {testatorName}, the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before me by _______________ and _______________, the witnesses, this _____ day of ______________, 20____. ___________________________________ Notary Public / Officer signature My commission expires: ___________________________________ Official capacity of officer: ___________________________________ (Affix official seal)

ViewWitness disqualification / interested-witness rule

S.C. Code §62-2-504(a): a subscribing witness is not incompetent to attest or prove a will by reason of a devise to the witness, the witness's spouse, or the witness's issue. Purging turns on witness COUNT, not on whether the interested witness's testimony is needed to prove the will: if there are two disinterested witnesses in addition to the interested witness, the devise is valid; if there are not, the devise is void to the extent its value exceeds what the witness, the witness's spouse, or the witness's issue would have taken had the will not been established. The voided portion passes by intestacy under §62-2-101 et seq., and the interested witness's share may not increase as a result. The will itself remains valid. Practical effect on a two-witness South Carolina will: there are never two disinterested witnesses in addition to an interested one, so a devise to a witness is purged.

Living Trust

Witnesses: None required

No formal execution requirements beyond settlor signature; notarization strongly recommended when funding real property

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required for the trust document, but needed to transfer real property

Certification of trust: S.C. Code §62-7-1013

South Carolina lets your trustee prove the trust to a bank, brokerage, title company, insurer, or transfer agent with a short certification instead of the trust itself. It states that the trust exists, who the trustee is, and what the trustee may do, and it leaves out who inherits and what each person receives. Will.com generates the South Carolina Certification of Trust with your trust, built to the contents that section requires. Sign it in front of the same notary, at the same sitting as the trust. The same section also says what happens if someone demands the trust itself anyway. S.C. Code §62-7-1013(h) provides that a person making a demand for the trust instrument in addition to a certification of trust or excerpts is liable for damages if the court determines that the person did not act in good faith in demanding the trust instrument.

Durable Power of Attorney

Witnesses: 2 required

South Carolina requires 2 witnesses for power of attorney execution

Notarization: Required

Notarization is required for a valid durable power of attorney

State-specific notes

•The POA must be attested with the same formality and witness requirements as a South Carolina will, meaning two witnesses (S.C. Code §62-8-105(2), will formalities at §62-2-502(3))

•Acknowledgment (or proof) is also required (S.C. Code §62-8-105(3), pursuant to §30-5-30)

•The Financial POA must be RECORDED with the Register of Deeds (or Clerk of Court in counties without a Register of Deeds) in the county where the principal resides BEFORE the agent may exercise authority after the principal becomes incapacitated (S.C. Code §62-8-109(c)). Recording before incapacity is permitted and is best practice; recording is mandatory once incapacity is reached for the agent's authority to be effective post-incapacity.

•Durability is presumed unless the instrument states otherwise

Health Care Power of Attorney

S.C. Code §62-5-501 et seq.

Witnesses: 2 required

South Carolina requires 2 witnesses

Notarization: Not required

Notarization is not required but may be accepted

Document sections

Separate living will

State-specific notes

•HCPOA (S.C. Code §62-5-503): two witnesses required; notarization is OPTIONAL. The statutory form expressly labels the notary acknowledgment as 'optional and is not required to create a valid health care power of attorney' (S.C. Code §62-5-504).

•HCPOA witness disqualifications (S.C. Code §62-5-503(a)(3) and §62-5-504): a witness must not be (a) related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption as spouse, lineal ancestor, descendant of the parents of the principal, or spouse of any of them; (b) directly financially responsible for the principal's medical care; (c) entitled to a portion of the principal's estate under any will of the principal or as an heir by intestate succession; (d) a life-insurance beneficiary on the principal's life; (e) the agent or successor agent named in the HCPOA; (f) the attending physician or an employee of the attending physician; or (g) a person with a claim against the principal's estate. No more than one witness may be an employee of a health-care facility in which the principal is a patient.

•The companion Living Will, called the Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death, is a separate document with stricter formalities than the Health Care Power of Attorney. The declarant must date and sign it in the presence of an officer authorized to administer oaths and in the presence of two witnesses, one of whom may be that officer (S.C. Code §44-77-40(2)). The accompanying affidavit must be subscribed by both witnesses and sworn to by at least one of them, in the declarant's presence, in each other's presence, and before that officer (S.C. Code §44-77-40(4)). Signing at home and notarizing later does not satisfy those requirements. If the declarant is a patient in a hospital or a resident in a nursing care facility when the declaration is executed, an ombudsman designated by the State Ombudsman, Office of the Governor, must act as one of the two witnesses rather than as an additional third witness (S.C. Code §44-77-40(3)).

•Who may not serve as your health care agent: a health care provider, or an employee of a provider, with whom you have a provider-patient relationship when the Health Care Power of Attorney is executed; an employee of a nursing care facility in which you reside; or the spouse of any of them, unless that person is a relative of yours (S.C. Code §62-5-503(a)(4)). That rule sits inside the list of requirements a health care power of attorney must meet, so naming a disqualified agent goes to the validity of the document.

•Artificial nutrition and hydration under the Health Care Power of Attorney: where the tube-feeding paragraph of the statutory form is left uninitialed, the agent does not have authority to direct that nutrition and hydration necessary for comfort care or alleviation of pain be withheld or withdrawn (S.C. Code §62-5-503(b); the election is Paragraph 8 of the form set out in S.C. Code §62-5-504). The Health Care Power of Attorney generated here carries no tube-feeding election, so that limit applies to your agent. Your terminal-condition and permanent-unconsciousness elections are recorded in the companion Declaration, which is a separate instrument under a separate act.

ViewWitness disqualification recital

I am not related to the Principal by blood, marriage, or adoption, either as a spouse, lineal ancestor, descendant of the parents of the Principal, or spouse of any of them. I am not directly financially responsible for the Principal's medical care. I am not entitled to any portion of the Principal's estate, whether under any will of the Principal or as an heir by intestate succession, nor am I the beneficiary of an insurance policy on the Principal's life, nor do I have a claim against the Principal's estate. I am not the Principal's attending physician, nor an employee of the attending physician. I am not appointed as Health Care Agent or Successor Health Care Agent in this document. No more than one of the witnesses to this Health Care Power of Attorney is an employee of a health care facility in which the Principal is a patient. (S.C. Code §62-5-503(a)(3); §62-5-504)

Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death

S.C. Code §44-77-40 (validity); §44-77-50 (form)

The Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death records your wishes about life-sustaining procedures if you have a terminal condition or are in a state of permanent unconsciousness. Its validity conditions are in S.C. Code §44-77-40 and its form is set out in §44-77-50. That form asks you to initial one artificial-nutrition-and-hydration election for a terminal condition and a second one for permanent unconsciousness, and it lets you optionally name an agent with power to revoke the Declaration and an agent with power to enforce it. The companion Health Care Power of Attorney appoints your health care agent.

Both this document and the Health Care Power of Attorney are generated for you. You can sign both in the same session.

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6 more documents with a subscription

$29/year unlocks the documents below alongside the four free ones above. Your answers and documents are saved privately to your account, encrypted in your browser, so you can revise them any time life changes.

Disposition of Remains Authorization

Names the agent who controls funeral, burial, or cremation decisions, with optional preferences.

HIPAA Authorization

Stand-alone PHI release that survives death for the period you specify, separate from the in-life authorization in your healthcare directive.

In this state: Gives the consent S.C. Code §44-22-100 requires before mental health or alcohol and drug abuse records may be disclosed, and the consent S.C. Code §44-29-135 requires before sexually transmitted disease information may be released, noting that the second section asks for the consent of every person identified in the record.

Designation of Guardian and Conservator

Pre-nominates the person you want a court to appoint if a conservator (or guardian of the estate) is ever needed.

Business Succession Declaration

Identifies your interests in any closely-held businesses and how they should be transferred or wound down.

Real-Estate Retitling Checklist

Step-by-step instructions for transferring real-property deeds into your trust so the trust actually controls those assets.

Letter of Instruction

Non-binding personal note to your executor and family: where to find documents, account access, funeral wishes, and other practical guidance.

Free vs. paid

	Free	Paid
All 4 state-specific documents	Included in free	Included in paid tier
State-specific signing guide	Included in free	Included in paid tier
Download as PDF, print forever	Included in free	Included in paid tier
Secure online storage	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Covers real estate, business, digital, and funeral wishes	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Disposition of remains authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Standalone HIPAA authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Nomination of conservator	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Business succession declaration	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Real-estate retitling checklist	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Special needs trust provisions	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Letter of instruction, pre-filled and editable	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Edit anytime	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Annual review reminder	Not in free	Included in paid tier

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Electronic will status

South Carolina has not adopted electronic will legislation. A traditional paper will with physical signatures is required.

Digital assets access

South Carolina has adopted RUFADAA (2016). This is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which lets your executor, trustee, or agent access your email, social media, cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage, and other digital accounts after death or incapacity.

To take advantage of RUFADAA, your will, trust, or power of attorney must explicitly grant authority to access digital assets. Without explicit authorization, service providers can deny access even to a court-appointed executor.

Remote online notarization (RON)

South Carolina has not authorized remote online notarization for estate planning documents.

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Not allowed

POA

Not allowed

Remote online witnessing (ROW)

South Carolina does not allow remote online witnessing for estate planning documents. Witnesses must be physically present when you sign.

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Not allowed

POA

Not allowed

HC Directive

Not allowed

This information is general in nature and not legal advice. Laws change. Consult a licensed estate planning attorney in South Carolina for guidance specific to your situation.

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