(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b), venue for a judicial proceeding involving a trust is in the county of this State in which the trust's principal place of administration is or will be located and, if the trust is created by will and the estate is not yet closed, in the county in which the decedent's estate is being administered.

(b) If a trust has no trustee, venue for a judicial proceeding for the appointment of a trustee is in a county in which any trust property is located or the county where the last trustee had its principal place of administration, and if the trust is created by will, in the county in which the decedent's estate was or is being administered.

(c) If proceedings concerning the same trust could be maintained in more than one place in South Carolina, the court in which the proceeding is first commenced has the exclusive right to proceed.

(d) If proceedings concerning the same trust are commenced in more than one court of South Carolina, the court in which the proceeding was first commenced shall continue to hear the matter, and the other courts shall hold the matter in abeyance until the question of venue is decided, and, if the ruling court determines that venue is properly in another court, it shall transfer the proceeding to the other court.

(e) If a court transfers venue of a proceeding concerning a trust to a court in another county, venue for that proceeding, and any subsequent matters concerning that proceeding, including appeals, shall be retained by the county to which the venue has been transferred.

(f) If a probate court judge is disqualified from matters concerning a trust proceeding, and venue has not been transferred to another county, a special probate court judge appointed for that proceeding has all of the powers and duties appertaining to the probate court judge of the county where the proceeding commenced, and venue for any subsequent matters concerning that proceeding, including appeals, remains with the county where that proceeding or file commenced.

HISTORY: 2005 Act No. 66, Section 1; 2013 Act No. 100, Section 2, eff January 1, 2014.