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Greenville Fire Damage Rules

South Carolina rewrote its partition law in 2016 because of what was happening to families who owned land together without ever having recorded who owned what. A fire is when that history arrives all at once.

Looking for the Practical Side?This page covers the rules and the region
Article 3
Sections 15-61-310 onwardTitle 15, Chapter 61
Effective
1 January 2017South Carolina
Qualifying Threshold
20 per cent of interestsHeld by relatives
Sign Posted
Within 10 daysWhere notice by publication

What the Act Is and Why It Exists

Article 3 of Chapter 61 of Title 15 is the Clementa C. Pinckney Uniform Partition of Heirs' Property Act. It runs from section 15-61-310 through section 15-61-420 and beyond, and it took effect on 1 January 2017.

South Carolina adopted it specifically to stop predatory partition sales. That is not an interpretation; it is the stated purpose of the legislation.

What Was Happening Before It?

Any tenant in common could petition a court to partition the property, and where physical division was not practical the court ordered a sale. In practice that meant a courthouse auction attended by few bidders, at which land that had been in a family for generations sold for a fraction of its value to whoever showed up. A buyer only needed to acquire one relative's fractional share to obtain standing to start that process, and shares could be bought cheaply from people who did not know what they held.

What Counts as Heirs' Property

Section 15-61-320(5) defines it as real property held in tenancy in common that satisfies all of the stated requirements as of the filing of a partition action. In plain terms: there is no agreement in a record binding all the cotenants that governs partition, at least one cotenant acquired their interest from a relative, and at least twenty per cent of the interests are held by relatives or by people who inherited from relatives.

The Act's definitions section also defines ascendant, collateral and descendant by reference to the law of intestate succession of this state, which tells you what kind of families it was written about.

The Court Decides First Whether It Applies

Section 15-61-330 requires a preliminary determination of whether the property is heirs' property, and sets out how the article works alongside Article 1, the general partition provisions.

Section 15-61-340 governs service of the pleading and notice by publication. Where a plaintiff seeks notice by publication and the court determines the property may be heirs' property, the plaintiff must, not later than ten days after the determination, post and maintain a sign on the property.

Why Put a Sign on the Land?

Because the people most at risk are the ones nobody can find. A family holding property across three generations frequently includes members who moved away decades ago, whose addresses nobody has, and who would never see a notice published in a newspaper. A sign on the property itself reaches the relative who still drives past, and it reaches the neighbours who know where everybody went. It is a low-technology provision that addresses exactly the failure it was written about.

We publish no determinations about who owns any particular property, whether it qualifies as heirs' property, or what any share is worth, and nothing here is legal advice. Ownership questions on inherited South Carolina property belong with a South Carolina lawyer, and on a file where a partition action has been filed or threatened that is urgent rather than optional.

The Valuation

Section 15-61-360 requires the court, where it determines the property is heirs' property, to determine fair market value by ordering an appraisal. If all cotenants have agreed a value or another method of valuation, the court adopts that instead. If the court determines the evidentiary value of an appraisal is outweighed by its cost, it establishes the value by order after an evidentiary hearing.

Where an appraisal is ordered, subsection (D) requires the court to appoint a disinterested real estate appraiser licensed in this state, to determine the fair market value of the property assuming sole ownership of the fee simple estate.

Why Does That Last Phrase Matter So Much?

Because fractional interests in property nobody can sell are worth far less than the same property owned outright, and the old system let that discount do the damage. Requiring the appraiser to value the whole property as though one person owned it establishes what the land is actually worth rather than what a share of a dispute is worth. Every protection downstream, including the buyout price, runs off that number.

The Buyout Right

Section 15-61-370 addresses a cotenant requesting partition by sale, and it is where the Act does its central work: the other cotenants get the opportunity to buy out the interest of the cotenant who asked for the sale.

So a stranger who acquires one relative's share and then petitions for sale does not automatically get the property put on the block. The family gets the first chance to purchase that share, at a price grounded in the court's determination of value.

Division Before Sale

Section 15-61-380 addresses partition in kind or by allotment. Partition in kind means dividing the property into physically distinct and separately titled parcels. Partition by allotment means granting ownership of all or part of the property to one or more cotenants proportionate in value to their interests, with adjustments made to compensate the others for the value of their respective interests.

Section 15-61-390 sets out the determination of manifest prejudice or injury to the cotenants as a group, which is the test a court applies before concluding that a sale is necessary rather than a division.

And Only Then, a Sale

Section 15-61-400(A): if the court orders a sale of heirs' property, the sale must be an open-market sale unless the court finds that a sale by sealed bids or an auction would be more economically advantageous and in the best interest of the cotenants as a group.

Where an open-market sale is ordered, a licensed real estate broker is appointed and must list the property at no less than the appraised value. Section 15-61-410 requires that broker to report to the court.

Is a Courthouse Auction Still Possible?

Yes, and it is now the exception requiring a finding rather than the default. The court has to conclude that sealed bids or an auction would actually be better for the cotenants as a group, which is a different posture from the old rule. Section 15-61-350 also provides that a sale may be ordered without a writ upon testimony taken, and where commissioners are appointed under Rule 71 of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure they must be disinterested and impartial and not a party to or participant in the action.

What All of This Means After a Fire

A fire raises the stakes on ownership. Insurance, repair contracts and even boarding up all need somebody with authority, and heirs' property has no obvious somebody.

Pressure to sell a share peaks. One relative needing money after a family crisis is exactly the situation a share-buyer looks for.

The building deteriorates while the question is open. That is the cost nobody puts a number on and it is usually the largest one.

Establishing ownership is the unlock. Nothing else can proceed until somebody knows who holds what.

Your Options, Compared

Establish the ownership picture and act together. Slow, and it is the route that preserves the value.

Sell the whole property with everyone signing. Ordinary once the first step is done.

Sell your own fractional share. Lawful, and it introduces a stranger into your family's ownership and is very hard to undo.

Do nothing. The route where the building takes the loss and somebody eventually files a partition action anyway.

Across Greenville and the Upstate

Heirs' property is not confined to one part of this county, which is the thing people most often get wrong. The older city neighbourhoods are covered under the West End and Nicholtown, the north side under North Main and Augusta Road, and the western county under Berea and Parker. Further pages deal with the ring cities, the northern county and the wider Upstate.

Those outer areas include Simpsonville, Mauldin, Fountain Inn, Greer and Taylors, with Travelers Rest and Marietta to the north and Spartanburg, Anderson, Easley and Pickens beyond.

The full index is on our service area index.

Rules Questions

How Do I Find out Who Is on the Deed?

The Register of Deeds holds what was recorded and the probate court holds what was administered. A South Carolina lawyer can assemble the picture from both.

Does the Act Apply to My Property?

It turns on tenancy in common, the absence of a binding agreement, and the proportion of interests held by relatives. A lawyer settles it and a court determines it in a partition action.

Someone Has Filed Against Us.

Then speak to a South Carolina lawyer immediately. The buyout right and the valuation provisions are the protections and they operate within the action.

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