This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for estate planning / probate in South Carolina, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a estate planning / probate in South Carolina costs on average $1,500, typically $750-$2,300 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $140 to $280 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 2-6 weeks to resolve. Common related costs include notarization fees ($10-$25) and trust registration fee ($50-$200).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $250 | $450 | $800 | 1-2 weeks |
| Moderate | $750 | $1,500 | $2,300 | 2-6 weeks |
| Complex | $2,250 | $4,550 | $7,500 | 1-3 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$140 – $280/ hour
Median: $220/hr
2-6 weeks
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>Estate planning and probate cost formation depends on which side of death the work happens on. Planning documents drafted while someone is alive — a will, a revocable living trust, powers of attorney — are usually flat-fee, priced by document complexity and whether a trust (which avoids probate but requires more drafting) is involved rather than a simple will alone. Probate, which happens after death when an estate moves through court, is billed differently: often hourly or as a percentage of the estate's value, and its cost tracks estate size and how many beneficiaries or disputes are involved.
The biggest cost driver in probate specifically is whether the estate is contested. An estate with a clear will, cooperative beneficiaries, and no significant debts moves through simple probate with predictable court filing fees, executor fees, and appraisal costs. A contested estate — disputed will validity, disagreements among heirs, or complex assets like a business — adds litigation-style hourly billing on top of the base probate costs, which is why complex-case figures on this page run substantially above the simple-case median.
Take a moderate-complexity estate planning / probate matter in South Carolina. The recorded median total is $1,500, with reported quotes clustering between $750 and $2,300. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $310–$925, which leaves roughly $575–$1,190 of the South Carolina median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes.
At $1,500, the median estate planning / probate cost in South Carolina runs 23% below the $1,954 national average across all 50 states and DC.
South Carolina carries 3 rows — simple, $250–$800 at $120–$220/hr over 1-2 weeks; moderate, $750–$2,300 at $140–$280/hr over 2-6 weeks; complex, $2,250–$7,500 at $200–$380/hr over 1-3 months — on 4 shared citations. Those figures place it in the lower quarter of the table.
$1,500 is a median, not the middle of the band — $750 above the $750 floor, $800 under the $2,300 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 46.
Sorted by median cost, South Carolina is 44th of 46 for a estate planning / probate, placing it in the lowest-cost quarter of the table: $575 and 28% below the $2,075 midpoint, with 2 states recording a lower median still.
Oklahoma is only $0 above South Carolina at $1,500, but the drop to Arkansas at $1,400 is $100 — the state sits at the bottom edge of its group, with clear air beneath it.
North Carolina, Oklahoma record medians within three percent of South Carolina's $1,500. A estate planning / probate quote anywhere in that group is describing effectively the same market.
South Carolina ranks 40th of 46 on hourly rate at $220 an hour and 44th on total cost — 4 places apart, enough that the rate is a slightly optimistic guide to the total.
| Rank | State | Median | Against South Carolina |
|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | Kentucky | $1,600 | +$100 |
| 39 | Louisiana | $1,600 | +$100 |
| 40 | North Dakota | $1,600 | +$100 |
| 41 | South Dakota | $1,550 | +$50 |
| 42 | North Carolina | $1,500 | −$0 |
| 43 | Oklahoma | $1,500 | −$0 |
| 44 | South Carolina | $1,500 | — |
| 45 | Arkansas | $1,400 | −$100 |
| 46 | Alabama | $1,350 | −$150 |
Within ten percent of the South Carolina figure there are 6 states above and only 2 below. $0 up or $100 down moves South Carolina a row, which means the ranking has far more room to improve than to slip: the estate planning / probate field is dense overhead and sparse underneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, North Carolina, Oklahoma and adding $100 to the $1,500 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Arkansas, Alabama: $150.
$1,100 short of Hawaii ($2,600), $150 clear of Alabama ($1,350).
The $1,500 median covers only about 7 hours at the $220 median rate, which is short enough that flat-fee and limited-scope arrangements, rather than an hourly meter, tend to describe how the work is actually billed. That rounds to the same 7 hours as the peer median, so on workload South Carolina is indistinguishable from the middle of the table at this precision.
Moving from a simple to a complex estate planning / probate multiplies the South Carolina total by 10.1, and almost all of that is hours rather than price: 3 hours at $160 becomes 16 hours at $280, so the workload grows 5.3x while the rate grows only 1.75x. Complexity here buys attorney time, not a premium hourly rate.
The South Carolina moderate band spans $750 to $2,300 — $1,550 — which is $500 narrower than the peer-median band of $2,050, so quoted estate planning / probate figures cluster more tightly here than in most tracked states. End to end that is 7 hours at $220.
A third ordering: by implied hours South Carolina is 38th of 46 at 7 hours, 6 places above its cost rank of 44th on cost — more work behind the same estate planning / probate money.
85% up the $750–$2,300 band sits the $2,075 table midpoint, buying 9 hours at $220 against the 7 the local estate planning / probate median implies — 2 hours apart.
| Measure | South Carolina | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $1,500 | 44th |
| Hourly median | $220 | 40th |
| Implied hours | 7 | 38th |
| Simple median | $450 | 46th |
| Complex median | $4,550 | 42nd |
$220 an hour puts South Carolina between New Mexico ($220) and South Dakota ($220) — not the estate planning / probate cost pairing.
New Mexico, South Dakota record the same $220: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$1,500 buys 9 hours at $160, 7 at $220, 5 at $280.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 38 | North Dakota | $230 |
| 39 | New Mexico | $220 |
| 40 | South Carolina | $220 |
| 41 | South Dakota | $220 |
| 42 | Louisiana | $215 |
South Carolina moves up the table as complexity rises: 46th at the simple tier, 44th at moderate, 42nd at complex, a 4-place climb. The state's position on the headline moderate figure understates where it sits once a matter is contested.
At the simple tier South Carolina records $450 and ranks 46th of 46, against a tier midpoint of $625.
$4,550 is 42nd of 46 once contested, between New Mexico ($4,550) and Alabama ($4,500), $1,350 off the $5,900 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in South Carolina: the simple tier reaches $800 where the moderate tier starts at $750, and the moderate tier reaches $2,300 where the complex tier starts at $2,250. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | South Carolina | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $450 | 46th | $625 | 3 |
| moderate | $1,500 | 44th | $2,075 | 7 |
| complex | $4,550 | 42nd | $5,900 | 16 |
$450 drops South Carolina to 46th of 46 on straightforward matters, 2 below its moderate position and $175 (28%) under the $625 tier midpoint.
3 implied hours at $160: 43% of the moderate tier's 7, over 1-2 weeks.
7 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $450, denser than the 2 around the moderate row.
$4,550 puts South Carolina 42nd of 46 on contested matters, 2 up on its moderate position, and $1,350 (23%) under the $5,900 tier midpoint.
16 implied hours at $280: 229% of the moderate tier's 7, over 1-3 months.
New Mexico ($4,550) and Alabama ($4,500) bracket it — a $50 window.
2 states sit within three percent of the $4,550 here, against 2 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 44 | New Mexico | $450 |
| 45 | Oklahoma | $450 |
| 46 | South Carolina | $450 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | Louisiana | $4,700 |
| 41 | New Mexico | $4,550 |
| 42 | South Carolina | $4,550 |
| 43 | Alabama | $4,500 |
| 44 | Arkansas | $4,350 |
Among the 8 matter types tracked in South Carolina, a estate planning / probate records the smallest median at $1,500, below Real Estate Closing on the line above.
The state does not rank uniformly. South Carolina is 35th of 46 for Criminal Defense but 51st for DUI / DWI, a 16-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 44th on estate planning / probate says little about what the other lines cost.
South Carolina is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Criminal Defense runs 15% below its own midpoint while Estate Planning / Probate runs 28% below its own midpoint — a 13-point spread between the extremes.
South Carolina's practice areas fan out more than most: its largest tracked median is 5.8x its smallest, against 5.1x for the typical state. Prices here are set matter by matter rather than by one statewide level.
All 7 tracked matter types place South Carolina in the lower third of their tables, the estate planning / probate figure included.
In percentile terms it sits at the 4th percentile of the 46 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,000 | $8,700 | $23,100 | 36 | 35th | −15% | Missouri |
| Divorce | $2,500 | $6,450 | $18,600 | 27 | 50th | −25% | Arkansas |
| DUI / DWI | $2,550 | $5,550 | $13,050 | 25 | 51st | −26% | Oklahoma |
| Immigration | $1,500 | $4,000 | $8,250 | 18 | 41st | −16% | Arkansas |
| Personal Injury | $1,200 | $3,850 | $12,200 | — | — | −26% | — |
| Bankruptcy | $1,100 | $3,050 | $4,250 | 15 | 36th | −15% | North Dakota |
| Real Estate Closing | $850 | $1,800 | $3,900 | 9 | 37th | −19% | North Carolina |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $450 | $1,500 | $4,550 | 7 | 44th | −28% | Oklahoma |
Simple tier. $450 ÷ $160 = about 3 hours — 4 fewer than the moderate tier's 7, and $1,050 less.
Work against price. $1,500 to $4,550 is a $3,050 step, mostly work: 9 more hours at $220 is $1,980, while moving to $280 across 16 hours adds $960. Work carries 67%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Arkansas ($1,400) is $100 light, Oklahoma ($1,500) is $0 heavy — but the $2,075 table midpoint is out by $575, 6x the neighbour error.
Contested against simple. At South Carolina's own recorded figures, $4,550 buys 10.1 matters at the $450 simple median — or, counted in time, 16 implied hours against 3, a factor of 5.3 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the South Carolinacourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.