South Carolina estate tax, inheritance tax & probate costs

What the South Carolina Estate Data Reveals

South Carolina imposes no state estate tax, so federal law under IRC § 2001 is the only estate-level levy that applies. With a permanent federal exemption of $15M per decedent from 2026, after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 2025) repealed the scheduled TCJA sunset, the vast majority of South Carolina estates clear probate without owing estate tax at any level. South Carolina's common-law property rules keep each spouse's individually titled assets separate, so how property is titled still determines what passes through probate here. There is no separate inheritance tax, so beneficiaries receive their share without a second state-level deduction at distribution.

IRS Statistics of Income data show 87 federal estate tax returns filed by South Carolina residents in the most recent available year (filing year 2023), reporting $1.99 billion in combined gross estate value. Net federal estate tax paid totaled $0.12 billion that year. Across the multi-year IRS SOI series above, South Carolina averages roughly 77 taxable filings per year, with an effective federal rate on reported gross estates of about 5.1%.

Probate itself typically runs 9–18 months in South Carolina (roughly 14 months on average), with court filing fees of $25–$500. Attorney compensation is set by statute at approximately 5% of the estate, which is a material fixed cost even for uncontested estates. South Carolina does offer a simplified small-estate track for estates under $25,000, which most families use to bypass full formal probate. Because South Carolina has adopted the Uniform Probate Code (since 1987), procedures are broadly standardized across counties. As a common-law (separate property) state, South Carolina treats each spouse's holdings individually unless jointly titled, so titling choices drive what actually enters the probate estate.