Highlight In Legal South Carolina Wills Forms For Free

Yes. You can create your own will in South Carolina. The state does not require that you use an attorney to draft your will. You can make your own will if you have a simple estate and know your wishes.

Therefore, the simplest answer to the question about whether an out-of-state Will is valid in SC is that if you have an out-of-state Will and it was executed in compliance with the law of the state in which it was executed at the time it was executed, it will be a valid Will in SC.

Lack of formalities. Wills must be properly drafted, witnessed, and signed in ance with various requirements under state law. An estate litigation lawyer can explain more details about these formalities. Without them, the will may not be valid.

What this means in a nutshell is that South Carolina does not allow a holographic will, which is when a testator handwrites and then signs his or her own will. There must be witnesses, and those witnesses must not be anyone who would benefit from the will. Otherwise, they could be stripped of their beneficiary status.

Once a personal representative to the estate is appointed and the will is opened for probate, you have only a limited time to challenge the will. Contact an experienced estate litigation lawyer right away. Your lawyer will help you file a written objection in the form of a summons and complaint.

Wills in South Carolina don't need to be notarized to be valid, but notarization can make the probate process smoother. That's because, when a will is notarized, it means the probate court doesn't have to summon the witnesses to make sure the will is legally binding.