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Subcommittee backs raising small-estate affidavit threshold from $25,000 to $45,000
Summary
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee voted favorably on House Bill 3472 to raise the small-estate affidavit threshold in the probate code from $25,000 to $45,000, a change supporters said would reduce family burdens and ease pressure on probate courts.
House Bill 3472, which would raise the small-estate affidavit limit from $25,000 to $45,000 and make conforming changes in the probate code, received a favorable report from the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee after testimony from the probate bar.
Paula (staff member) told the committee the bill "would amend the probate code to increase the limit for small estates in their summary procedure from 25,000 to 45,000, and then it would make conforming changes throughout that part of the probate code." Marshall Minton, chair of the legislative committee of the Probate, Estate Planning and Trust Section of the South Carolina Bar, testified in support and described practical effects for families and courts: "Oftentimes, we have a car that's left in the estate, and we have to get that car probated, because our cars are more expensive now. And so this just helps alleviate the burdens of having a full probate." She added that probate courts are "inundated" and that raising the threshold would ease administrative strain.
Committee members indicated support; the subcommittee recorded a favorable report by voice vote and moved the bill to the full Judiciary Committee. The transcript records the vote as "aye" without a roll-call tally.
