South Carolina § 62-5-104 Director of Department of Mental Health or his designee may act as conservator.

South Carolina Statutes

§ 62-5-104 — Director of Department of Mental Health or his designee may act as conservator.

South Carolina § 62-5-104

Title 62SOUTH CAROLINA PROBATE CODE

Ch.ARTICLE 5 - PROTECTION OF PERSONS UNDER DISABILITY AND THEIR PROPERTY

This text of South Carolina § 62-5-104 (Director of Department of Mental Health or his designee may act as conservator.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

S.C. Code Ann. § 62-5-104 (2026).

Text

If a patient of a state mental health facility has no legally appointed conservator, the Office Director of the Office of Mental Health or his designee, may receive and accept, for the use and benefit of the patient, assets which may be due the patient by inheritance, gift, pension, or otherwise with a net aggregate amount not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars in one calendar year. The office director or his designee may act as conservator for the patient and his endorsement or receipt discharges the obligor for any assets received. Upon receipt, the office director or his designee shall apply the assets for the proper maintenance, use, and benefit of the patient. In the event the patient dies leaving an unexpended balance of assets in the hands of the office director or his designee, the

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If a patient of a state mental health facility has no legally appointed conservator, the Office Director of the Office of Mental Health or his designee, may receive and accept, for the use and benefit of the patient, assets which may be due the patient by inheritance, gift, pension, or otherwise with a net aggregate amount not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars in one calendar year. The office director or his designee may act as conservator for the patient and his endorsement or receipt discharges the obligor for any assets received. Upon receipt, the office director or his designee shall apply the assets for the proper maintenance, use, and benefit of the patient. In the event the patient dies leaving an unexpended balance of assets in the hands of the office director or his designee, the office director or his designee shall apply the balance first to the funeral expenses of the patient, and any balance remaining must be held by the office director or his designee for a period of six months; if within that period, the office director or his designee is not contacted by the personal representative of the deceased patient, the balance of the assets may be applied to the maintenance and medical care account of the deceased patient. The office director or his designee must, within thirty days following the death of the patient, notify the court in the county in which the patient resided at the time of admission to the Office of Mental Health's facility of the death of the patient and provide a list of any property belonging to the patient and held by the Office of Mental Health. Upon appointment of a conservator for a patient of a state mental health facility, the office director shall deliver any assets of the protected person to the conservator and provide an accounting of the management of those assets.

Legislative History

HISTORY: 1986 Act No. 539, SECTION 1; 1993 Act No. 83, SECTION 1; 1993 Act No. 181, SECTION 1611. Formerly Code 1976 SECTION 62-5-105, renumbered and amended by 2017 Act No. 87 (S.415), SECTION 5.A, eff January 1, 2019. Code Commissioner's Note At the direction of the Code Commissioner, certain references in the S.C. Code to the State Department of Mental Health, South Carolina Mental Health Commission, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs Commission, Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, and other related terms were changed to reflect the restructuring of these agencies into component offices under the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, pursuant to 2025 Act No. 3, SECTION 18.