Every such action shall be for the benefit of the wife or husband and child or children of the person whose death shall have been so caused, and, if there be no such wife, husband, child or children, then for the benefit of the parent or parents, and if there be none such, then for the benefit of the heirs of the person whose death shall have been so caused. Every such action shall be brought by or in the name of the executor or administrator of such person.
S.C. Code Ann. § 15-51-20
Beneficiaries of action for wrongful death; by whom brought
Applied in 15 court decisions — leading case Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran (2007)
Most recently applied in Fisher Ex Rel. Estate of Shaw-Baker v. Huckabee (February 2018)
1962 Code SECTION 10-1952; 1952 Code SECTION 10-1952; 1942 Code SECTION 412; 1932 Code SECTION 412; Civ
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Carolina Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.