Bill 2537

                    Current Status

BillNumber:                2537
Ratification Number:       619
Act Number:                508
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   To provide for self-proving wills and codicils

(A508, R619, S2537)

AN ACT TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 21-7-615, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR SELF-PROVING WILLS AND CODICILS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Self-proving wills and codicils

SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 21-7-615. (a) Any will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state where execution occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, in substantially the following form:

'I , the testator, sign my name to this instrument this day of , 19 , and being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my last will and that I sign it willingly (or willingly direct another to sign for me), that I execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that I am eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.

,

Testator

We, , , the witnesses, sign our names to this instrument, being first duly sworn, and do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and executes this instrument as his last will and that he signs it willingly (or willingly directs another to sign for him), and that each of us, in the presence and hearing of the testator, hereby signs this will as witness to the testator's signing, and that to the best of our knowledge the testator is eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.

,

Witness

,

Witness

The State of .

County of .

Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by , the testator and subscribed and sworn to before me by , and , witnesses, this

, day of 19 .

(SEAL)

(Signed)

.

.

(Official capacity of officer)'

(b) An attested will may at any time subsequent to its execution be made self-proved by the acknowledgment thereof by the testator and the affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state where the acknowledgment occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under the official seal, attached, or annexed to the will in substantially the following form:

'The State of .

County of .

We, ,and , and , the testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing instrument, being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signed and executed the instrument as his last will and that he had signed willingly (or willingly directed another to sign for him), and that he executed it as his free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that each of the witnesses, in the presence and hearing of the testator, signed the will as witness and to the best of his knowledge the testator was at that time eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.

,

Testator

,

Witness

,

Witness

Subscribed, sworn to, and acknowledged before me by , the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before me by , and , witnesses, this day of , 19 .

(SEAL)

(Signed)

,

,

(Official capacity of officer)"

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor.

Approved the 28th day of June, 1984.