South Carolina General Assembly
106th Session, 1985-1986

Bill 342

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               342
Ratification Number:       238
Act Number:                155
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                        Inheritance by or from
                           illegitimates
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(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A155, R238, S342)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 21-3-30, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO INHERITANCE BY OR FROM ILLEGITIMATES, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH ILLEGITIMATES MAY INHERIT FROM THEIR FATHERS AND WHEN FATHERS MAY INHERIT FROM THEIR ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN.

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

Inheritance by illegitimates

SECTION 1. Section 21-3-30 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 21-3-30. Any illegitimate child or children whose mother dies intestate possessed of any real or personal property is, so far as this property is concerned, an heir or heirs at law as to the property, notwithstanding any law or usage to the contrary. Whenever any illegitimate child dies in this State leaving property, real or personal, the mother of the child shall have the same right to inherit from the child as she would have if the child had been legitimate. Illegitimate children of the same mother shall have the same right to inherit from each other that they would have had had they been legitimate and all children of the same mother, whether legitimate or illegitimate shall likewise inherit from each other, as to any property, real or personal.

Any illegitimate child whose father dies intestate possessed of any real or personal property is an heir at law if paternity has been established by order or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction during the lifetime of the father or the father has signed an instrument acknowledging the child as his. Whenever any illegitimate child dies intestate in this State leaving property, real or personal, the father of the child shall have the right to inherit from the child if paternity is established by order or decree of the family court or by a court of competent jurisdiction during the life of the child and if the child had been reasonably supported by the father within the last three years of the child's life as a minor.

In the event of the death of any illegitimate intestate, leaving no one to take under the statutory law of this State regulating the descent of property of intestates as it would exist had this section not been enacted, the property of this illegitimate shall descend to and be distributed among the next of kin of the illegitimate on the mother's side as if the illegitimate had been born in lawful wedlock. In the event that the next of kin of the illegitimate child on the mother's side dies intestate and without leaving anyone to take his property under the statutory law of this State regulating the descent of property of intestates as it would exist had this section not been enacted then before this property escheats to the State it shall descend to the child or children of the mother through whom the kinship exists, both legitimate and illegitimate."

Time effective

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