2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 34 - Banking, Financial Institutions and Money › Chapter 19 - Safe-deposit Boxes › Section 34-19-120. Access by person appointed as attorney-in-fact under durable power of attorney to obtain original durable power of attorney; statement of authorization.

(A)(1) The person who has been appointed as attorney- in-fact under a durable power of attorney by a lessee of a safe deposit box may open, or direct the lessor to open, the safe deposit box of the lessee and obtain the original copy of the durable power of attorney, if a statement in the form of item (3), or in a similar form showing the same intent, is:
(a) incorporated in the body of the original durable power of attorney contained in the safe deposit box; or
(b) contained in a separate statement in the form provided in subsection (B), or in a similar form showing the same intent as that attached or annexed to the original durable power of attorney contained in the safe deposit box.
(2) If the statement is contained in a separate writing, the execution of the separate statement is not an amendment, modification, or revision of the original power of attorney.
(3) The statement must be substantially in the following form:
"I,__________________, the Principal, do hereby authorize and direct my appointee or appointees as my Attorney-in-Fact in my durable power of attorney, to have access at any time or times to any safe deposit box rented by me, wherever located, in order to remove my original durable power of attorney; and any institution in which any such safe deposit box may be located is not required to make any inquiry, and shall not incur any liability to me or my estate as a result of permitting my appointee or appointees in my original durable power of attorney to exercise this power. This power is exercisable without: (i) any contact with or notice to me, my spouse, and/or any interested persons to my estate; (ii) any prior court order or authorization; (iii) any knowledge of or any prior determination as to my mental or physical capacity or incapacity; (iv) any knowledge as to my whereabouts regardless whether my whereabouts are known or unknown; or (v) any inquiry."
(B) The lessee, at any time after the execution of his durable power of attorney, may execute a separate statement authorizing the removal of his original durable power of attorney from his safe deposit box pursuant to subsection (A), if the separate statement is executed by the Principal with the same formalities as the execution and recording of a deed in the State of South Carolina pursuant to Section 30-5-30, and the separate statement is attached or annexed to the original durable power of attorney in the following form, or in a similar form showing the same intent, with the acknowledgement for recorded deeds pursuant to Section 30-5-30(B) or (C).
"STATE OF _____________
COUNTY OF ____________________
I, _______, the Principal, do hereby authorize and direct my appointee or appointees as my Attorney-in-Fact in my durable power of attorney dated the __day of __, in the year __, to have access at any time or times to any safe deposit box rented by me, wherever located, in order to remove my original durable power of attorney; and any institution in which any such safe deposit box may be located is not required to make any inquiry, and shall not incur any liability to me or my estate as a result of permitting my appointee or appointees in my original durable power of attorney to exercise this power. This power is exercisable without: (i) any contact with or notice to me, my spouse, and/or any interested persons to my estate; (ii) any prior court order or authorization; (iii) any knowledge of or any prior determination as to my mental or physical capacity or incapacity; (iv) any knowledge as to my whereabouts regardless whether my whereabouts are known or unknown; or (v) any inquiry."
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have executed this statement on the ______ day of _________, in the year, ___________.
_____________________________
(Witness) (Principal)
_______________________(Witness)"
(C) If the original durable power of attorney does not contain a statement in the form provided in subsection (A) or in a similar form showing the same intent, or a separate statement in the form provided in subsection (B) or in a similar form showing the same intent is not attached or annexed to the original durable power of attorney, in order to allow removal of the lessee's durable power of attorney from the lessee's safe deposit box the financial institution must have:
(1) contact with or notice to the lessee, the lessee's spouse, or an interested person in the lessee's estate;
(2) a prior court order or court authorization;
(3) knowledge of or a prior determination as to the mental or physical capacity or incapacity of the lessee;
(4) knowledge as to the lessee's whereabouts, whether the lessee's whereabouts are known or unknown; or
(5) other inquiry.
(D) A witness to a statement provided for in subsection (B), who also is an officer authorized to administer oaths pursuant to the laws of this State may notarize the signature of the other witness of the statement in the manner provided by this section.
(E) A financial institution that authorizes a person who has been given a durable power of attorney by a lessee of a safe deposit box to remove the original durable power of attorney from the safe deposit box of the lessee, pursuant to subsection (A) or (B), or a financial institution that removes the original durable power of attorney from the safe deposit box of the lessee pursuant to the direction of the person who has been given a durable power of attorney by the lessee, is not required to make further inquiry and is not liable to the lessee or the lessee's estate as a result of permitting removal of the original power of attorney. The financial institution may request the person purporting to have been given the durable power of attorney to produce a certified copy of the power or an affidavit declaring that he has been given the power before opening the box. No other contents may be removed from the box pursuant to this section.
(F) The provisions of this section enable the person who has been appointed as attorney-in-fact under a durable power of attorney by a lessee of a safe deposit box to remove or obtain the original durable power of attorney from the safe deposit box of the lessee and enable the financial institution to allow the removal of the durable power of attorney from the safe deposit box without court action or findings of incapacity of the lessee. This section supplements and does not supplant the current procedures for obtaining the power of attorney of the lessee from the safe deposit box and is not the exclusive method.
HISTORY: 1988 Act No. 499, eff May 9, 1988; 2002 Act No. 362, Section 8, eff August 2, 2002, applicable to instruments executed thereafter.
Effect of Amendment
The 2002 amendment rewrote this section.