A trust, creditors’ claims, Satterfield money? What’s in Murdaugh III’s estate file
Almost one year before he died in June, Randolph Murdaugh III, the 81-year-old former South Carolina solicitor and patriarch of the prominent Hampton family, created a will that detailed how his assets should be distributed.
Now, as Murdaugh III’s estate heads through the little-understood legal process known as probate, the documents — more than 80 pages of court filings reviewed by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette — offer a glimpse into the family’s finances on the heels of a litany of criminal charges against his son Alex Murdaugh.
Among the documents:
- A will that that gives all of Murdaugh III’s estate — except for any property Murdaugh III has power of appointment over — to a trust in his name
- Two creditors’ claims from a Hampton-based bank totaling more than $935,000
- An email that indicates Murdaugh III may have received about $600,000 from the estate of Gloria Satterfield, his son Alex’s deceased former housekeeper. However, reports conflict on how much money was allegedly transferred to Murdaugh III.
Murdaugh III’s death June 10 after an illness came three days after his grandson Paul Murdaugh and daughter-in-law Maggie were found shot to death outside the family’s home. The murders remain unsolved.
The family name has dominated the news as Alex Murdaugh, in jail on fraud charges, faces a trail of lawsuits and dozens of criminal charges.
Here are details from the estate records of Randolph Murdaugh III, who was the top elected prosecutor over the five-county 14th Judicial Circuit from 1986 to 2005:
Murdaugh III’s will and trust
On June 23, 2020, Murdaugh III created a will that gave all of his estate to a trust under his name. The Randolph Murdaugh III Trust is listed as the only beneficiary of his estate.
The Murdaugh family patriarch’s wife and four children are named as heirs in the will but not direct beneficiaries, according to the records.
It’s unclear how Murdaugh III’s trust, which is not a public record, will be distributed.
His eldest son, Randolph Murdaugh IV, is named as the personal representative of the estate. If Murdaugh IV were unwilling or unable to serve, Alex Murdaugh would take his place, the will said.
On Aug. 31, more than two months after his father’s death, Murdaugh IV was officially appointed as the personal representative of the estate, the records show.
Murdaugh III’s will gave his eldest son the power to handle nearly all aspects of the estate, including to sell property, distribute assets, lend money, sign contracts and hire attorneys and accountants.
Murdaugh IV was also appointed as the personal representative of Paul Murdaugh’s estate after Alex Murdaugh, Paul’s father, waived his right. That was just days before Alex Murdaugh was allegedly shot in the head in a botched murder-for-hire scheme, The Island Packet previously reported.
Murdaugh IV, Alex Murdaugh’s older brother, later resigned from handling Paul Murdaugh’s estate due to a conflict. That conflict, mentioned in an October letter to the Colleton County probate judge, is still unknown.
Typically, estate lawyers have said, people create trusts to keep their finances away from public scrutiny and to bypass the bureaucracy of probate court.
Brian T. Treacy, a lawyer unaffiliated with the Murdaugh estate, suggested “Mr. Murdaugh was looking to keep his financial affairs private during his lifetime or, more particularly, after his death.”
Treacy, owner of Bluffton-based Elder Law & Estate Planning, added, “using a trust to achieve that goal will probably succeed.”
However, because Murdaugh III’s “pour-over” will, which automatically transfers assets to a trust, was filed in probate, a complete inventory of his personal property — everything not already in his trust — must be filed by Nov. 29 unless his family asks for an extension.
As of Friday, the family had not filed the inventory and had not requested an extension.
$935K in creditors’ claims
On Sept. 13, three months after Murdaugh III’s death, Palmetto State Bank, headquartered in Hampton, filed two separate creditor claims against Murdaugh III’s estate totaling more than $935,000.
A creditor claim is a legal filing that says a person or entity owes another person or entity a debt.
One claim, for $617,246.51, is for an unsecured commercial line of credit that Murdaugh III took out in 2017 with his son Alex Murdaugh.
The application for the credit line, signed by Alex Murdaugh on Dec. 19, 2017, said the money would be used for real estate.
The statement of creditor’s claim said the claim will be due on March 5, 2022, and that the interest on the claim accrues at a daily rate of $94.42.
A timeline of the transfers of money attached to the creditor’s claim shows that the last entry was a $19,074.58 interest payment on April 16. The document does not say who made the payment.
The other claim, $318,075.89, is for money Murdaugh III guaranteed when his son John Marvin Murdaugh took out a mortgage in 2014.
The collateral on the loan, according to the creditor’s claim, lists the address of John Marvin Murdaugh’s Murdaugh Rental Center along Argent Boulevard. The business is a Kubota dealership with locations in Hampton and near Okatie.
A timeline from Palmetto State Bank shows regular payments on this loan. The most recent before the claim was filed in probate was $2,935.52 on Aug. 12.
The statement of creditor’s claim said the claim will be due on May 14, 2024, and that the interest on the claim accrues at a daily rate of $49.81.
The newspapers are still pursuing records related to both of these creditors’ claims and the loans they are tied to.
$600K to the Satterfield estate?
Murdaugh III’s son Alex Murdaugh was charged Friday with 27 counts of financial crimes, including charges that he funneled millions of dollars away from the estate of his deceased former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.
In open court during Alex Murdaugh’s Oct. 19 bond hearing, Creighton Waters, chief attorney in the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, accused Murdaugh of illegally diverting the money to his own accounts.
Waters said Murdaugh then paid off a $100,000 credit card bill, gave approximately $300,000 to his father, Murdaugh III, and $735,000 to himself.
A day after Murdaugh’s bond hearing, on Oct. 20, an attorney from the Bland Richter law firm, which represents the Satterfield estate, emailed Hampton County Associate Probate Judge April Shaffer and said the firm planned to file a creditor’s claim against Murdaugh III’s estate.
The attorney, Scott Mongillo, referenced Waters’ accusation that Murdaugh had transferred money to his father. Mongillo said Murdaugh gave his father approximately $600,000.
It’s unclear why there is a discrepancy in the amount of money Murdaugh is accused of transferring to his father.
Mongillo’s email, which is now filed in Murdaugh III’s estate records, asked Shaffer to send his firm the case number for Murdaugh III’s estate and the forms necessary to file a creditor’s claim.
As of Friday, that claim had not been filed.
Who was Randolph Murdaugh III?
Serving as elected prosecutor over five counties, Murdaugh III ran unopposed in every election. After his retirement in 2005, he remained a part-time assistant solicitor and prosecuted cases with his son, Alex.
Murdaugh III’s courtroom prowess — both as a private attorney and prosecutor — was well-documented in newspaper clippings and stories from his peers. In 2005, he returned to private practice at Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick — the storied Hampton law firm founded by his grandfather.
In 2018, Gov. Henry McMaster awarded Murdaugh III with the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor, for his work as an attorney and his 19 years as solicitor.
The legendary lawyer was even mentioned in author Pat Conroy’s 2013 memoir.
On June 10 — three days after his grandson and daughter-in-law were murdered — Murdaugh III died of natural causes at his home in Varnville, according to his obituary. Those close to the family say he was battling an illness at the time of his death.
This story was originally published November 22, 2021 at 4:30 AM.
