South Carolina General Assembly
118th Session, 2009-2010

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A164, R194, H3720

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Rep. Clemmons
Document Path: l:\council\bills\ggs\22300ab09.docx

Introduced in the House on March 24, 2009
Introduced in the Senate on April 30, 2009
Last Amended on April 29, 2009
Passed by the General Assembly on April 21, 2010
Governor's Action: May 12, 2010, Signed

Summary: Mortgage foreclosure actions

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   3/24/2009  House   Introduced and read first time HJ-10
   3/24/2009  House   Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-10
   4/22/2009  House   Committee report: Favorable with amendment Judiciary HJ-8
   4/28/2009  House   Debate adjourned until Wednesday, April 29, 2009 HJ-29
   4/29/2009  House   Amended
   4/29/2009  House   Read second time
   4/30/2009  House   Read third time and sent to Senate HJ-14
   4/30/2009  Senate  Introduced and read first time SJ-16
   4/30/2009  Senate  Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-16
    5/5/2009  Senate  Referred to Subcommittee: L.Martin (ch), Rankin, Hutto, 
                        Bright, Davis
   3/17/2010  Senate  Committee report: Favorable with amendment Judiciary 
                        SJ-13
   3/18/2010  Senate  Committee Amendment Adopted SJ-35
   3/18/2010  Senate  Read second time SJ-35
   3/24/2010  Senate  Read third time and returned to House with amendments 
                        SJ-24
   4/20/2010  House   Debate adjourned until Wednesday, April 21, 2010 HJ-82
   4/21/2010  House   Concurred in Senate amendment and enrolled HJ-22
   4/21/2010  House   Roll call Yeas-101  Nays-0 HJ-22
    5/6/2010          Ratified R 194
   5/12/2010          Signed By Governor
   5/21/2010          Effective date 05/12/10
   5/25/2010          Act No. 164

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

3/24/2009
4/22/2009
4/29/2009
3/17/2010
3/18/2010

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A164, R194, H3720)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 15-9-720, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO SERVICE ON UNKNOWN PARTIES BY PUBLICATION IN CERTAIN ACTIONS CONCERNING REAL PROPERTY, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR SERVICE OF ALL COURT-REQUIRED DOCUMENTS BY PUBLICATION AND, FURTHER, IN AN ACTION INVOLVING MULTIPLE UNITS IN A SINGLE HORIZONTAL PROPERTY REGIME, FOR SERVICE BY PUBLICATION BY CONSOLIDATING THE SERVICES INTO A SINGLE SERVICE THAT IDENTIFIES EACH APARTMENT INCLUDED IN THE ACTION BASED ON THE APARTMENT'S DESCRIPTION IN THE MASTER DEED.

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

Service by publication on unknown parties, actions involving multiple units in single horizontal property regime

SECTION    1.    Section 15-9-720 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 15-9-720.    (A)    For the purposes of this section, 'court' means a court, judge, clerk of court, master-in-equity, special referee, or judge of probate of competent jurisdiction in the county where the action is pending.

(B)(1)    A court shall grant an order allowing a party with an interest in or lien on a parcel of real property subject to a partition action, mortgage foreclosure action, or other action affecting the property's title to serve by publication any unknown party to the action and who has an interest in or lien on the real property, any such legal notice as will accomplish the underlying purposes set forth in this section, if the:

(a)    residence of the unknown party cannot, with a reasonably diligent effort, be ascertained by the plaintiff; and

(b)    plaintiff presents an affidavit to the court stating he has been unable to ascertain the residence of the unknown party after making a reasonably diligent effort.

(2)    A court order allowing a party to serve an unknown party by publication must require the party serving by publication to publish the service once a week for three weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the property is situated. Service by publication under this section is equal to personal service on the unknown party.

(C)    A party may accomplish service by publication pursuant to this section for multiple units in a single horizontal property regime by consolidating the services into a single service that identifies each apartment included in the action based on the apartment's description in the master deed. This consolidated service must comply with the other requirements of this section and other applicable statutes, including the requirement that publication must take place once a week for three weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the property is situated."

Time effective

SECTION    2.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

Ratified the 6th day of May, 2010.

Approved the 12th day of May, 2010.

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This web page was last updated on Friday, August 16, 2013 at 1:57 P.M.