- Married with no children
- The entire estate goes to the surviving spouse.
- Married with child or children
- One half of the estate goes to the surviving spouse and the other half is divided among the decedent’s children.
- Order of estate distribution if spouse survives
- The part of the estate not passing to the surviving spouse goes to the children of the decedent. If they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent they take equal shares; if they are not of the same degree of kinship then those of more remote degree take by representation.
- No spouse survives (or the deceased was not married) but there are other relatives
- 1) children
2) The parents of the deceased or their surviving children
3) Grandparents or their children
4) Stepchildren or their children - No surviving relatives
- The entire estate passes to the State of South Carolina.
- State link
- http://law.justia.com/codes/south-carolina/2014/title-62/article-2/
- Special notes
- Relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.
My sister and I were not legally adopted by my stepdad. He has been married to our mother for almost 60 years. Would we be considered stepchildren under the instestacy laws of S.C.?
Pat Martin