Download South Carolina Real Estate Deed Forms

Real estate deeds in South Carolina will pass the grantor's entire interest in the real property described in the deed to the grantee, unless the instrument contains language to the contrary. The statutory form for a conveyance of fee simple is provided in Section 27-7-10 of the South Carolina Code of Laws. The statutory form should not be construed so as to force any person to insert a warranty clause or to prohibit someone from inserting any other clause that may pertain to the purchaser and seller. Commonly used forms of conveyance in this state are warranty deeds and quitclaim deeds.

The power to own and convey property in South Carolina is given to those who are able to enter into a legal contract. The grantee to a real estate deed must be legally able to take title to property. The South Carolina Code of Laws states that real and personal property of every type may be taken, acquired, held, and disposed of by an alien in the same manner in all respects as by a natural born citizen and is subject to the provisions of Sections 27-13-30 and 27-13-40, which includes some limitations on the allowable number of acres. Foreign corporations have and can exercise all rights granted to aliens in section 27-13-10. The manner in which property is held, as well as the intentions of the parties involved, will determine the type of conveyance suitable for the real estate transaction.


Real estate deeds in South Carolina are valid and effectual if they are signed by the grantor, executed in the presence of two credible witnesses, and subscribed by two or more credible witnesses. A real estate deed can be recorded if it has been acknowledged or proved in a method described in 30-5-30 of the South Carolina Code of Laws. The execution of a deed must first be proved by the affidavit of a subscribing witness to the instrument, taken before an officer in the State of South Carolina who is authorized to administer oaths. Additionally, the Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act must be complied with, or the person executing the deed must submit an affidavit subscribed to before a person authorized to perform notarial acts (30-5-30). By statute, deeds are also required to contain a derivation clause which recites the grantor's source of title.

The proper recording of real estate deeds in South Carolina in the county where the real property is located establishes a priority of claims against the property in question. All deeds of conveyance of land and generally all instruments in writing conveying an interest in real estate required by law to be recorded in the register of deeds office are valid so as to affect the rights of subsequent creditors, or purchasers for valuable consideration without notice, only from the time of recording in the register of deeds office in the county where the property is located (30-7-10). In the case of a subsequent purchaser of real estate, or in the case of a subsequent lien creditor of real estate for valuable consideration without notice, the instrument evidencing the subsequent conveyance or lien must be filed for record in order for its holder to claim as a subsequent creditor or purchaser for value without notice. The priority of instruments is determined by the time of filing for record (30-7-10). Possession of real property described in any instrument of writing required to be recorded will not operate as notice of the instrument. Actual notice is deemed and held to be sufficient only when such notice is of the instrument itself or of its nature and purport (30-7-90).