South Carolina General Assembly
115th Session, 2003-2004

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H. 3793

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Gilham, Ceips and Herbkersman
Document Path: l:\council\bills\dka\3294dw03.doc

Introduced in the House on March 13, 2003
Tabled in committee on April 13, 2004

Summary: Management of probate court operations

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
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   3/13/2003  House   Introduced and read first time HJ-14
   3/13/2003  House   Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-14
   4/13/2004  House   Tabled in committee Judiciary

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

3/13/2003

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTION 14-23-1130, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE GOVERNING BODY OF EACH COUNTY TO PROVIDE THE JUDGE OF PROBATE WITH THE NECESSARY OFFICE EQUIPMENT, BOOKS, OFFICE SPACE, AND PERSONNEL FOR THE OPERATION OF THE COURT, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THESE JUDGES HAVE ABSOLUTE CONTROL OVER THESE MATTERS, INCLUDING USE OF BUDGETED FUNDS, EMPLOYEE CLASSIFICATIONS, COMPENSATION, AND PROMOTIONS.

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

SECTION    1.    Section 14-23-1130 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 412 of 1994, is further amended to read:

"Section 14-23-1130.    (A)    The governing body of each county shall provide and the judge of probate shall keep the seal of the probate court, the necessary office equipment of the probate court, and those books as are necessary for keeping the records of the probate court and for reference to these records, including index books, appropriately labeled, referring to the records of the probate court pertaining to:

(1.)    wills;

(2.)    intestate estates;

(3.)    estates of minors and incompetents;

(4.)    bonds;

(5.)    inventories and appraisements;

(6.)    returns or accountings;

(7.)    liens;

(8.)    admissions and commitments to facilities for the care and treatment of mentally ill, mentally retarded, alcoholics, and drug addicts;

(9.)    marriage licenses and marriages;

(10.)    decrees;

(11.)    general or miscellaneous matters.

(B)(1)    In addition, the governing body of each county shall provide office space and additional support personnel necessary for the orderly conduct of the business of the probate court. The governing body shall effectuate, expeditiously, all requests and directions from the probate judge concerning the needs and operation of the judge's judicial agency. Included in the scope of these requests and directions are the following:

(a)    control over equipping and maintenance of office space;

(b)    the hiring and termination of employees; and

(c)    the compensation, classification, promotion, working hours, time off, and other personnel matters of employees.

(2)    The provisions of this subsection are subject to the availability of budgeted funds as determined annually.

(3)    Except by agreement of the probate judge, the annual budget proposed by the judge may not be reduced or changed by the governing body. Failure of the governing body and the probate judge to agree on any proposed budget reductions or changes must be resolved by an expeditious determination in the circuit court in the same county as the probate judge, and the determination is appealable directly to the State Supreme Court. The probate judge may adopt or not adopt, fully or partially, the personnel policies and procedures established by the governing body of each county, and may make adjustments to them applicable to the judge's staff at any time as the judge may determine necessary. The probate judge has control over the use of all of the judge's budgeted funds, on an annual basis and as determined annually, regardless of how they may be earmarked, and may allocate and reallocate these funds for those purposes as the judge may consider necessary. However, the judge may not allocate or re-allocate these funds to increase his own compensation.

(C)    If the probate court maintains the original of a document in the master file of a matter and a copy of that document on microfilm, a computer system, or on another similar system, it is not necessary for the probate court to maintain a second separate record with copies of those types of documents, provided a general index or an index for those types of documents is maintained."

SECTION    2.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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