S.C. Code Ann. § 62-5-104: Director of Department of Mental Health or his designee may act as conservator.

If a patient of a state mental health facility has no legally appointed conservator, the Office Director of the Office of Mental Health or his designee, may receive and accept, for the use and benefit of the patient, assets which may be due the patient by inheritance, gift, pension, or otherwise with a net aggregate amount not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars in one calendar year. The office director or his designee may act as conservator for the patient and his endorsement or receipt discharges the obligor for any assets received. Upon receipt, the office director or his designee shall apply the assets for the proper maintenance, use, and benefit of the patient. In the event the patient dies leaving an unexpended balance of assets in the hands of the office director or his designee, the office director or his designee shall apply the balance first to the funeral expenses of the patient, and any balance remaining must be held by the office director or his designee for a period of six months; if within that period, the office director or his designee is not contacted by the personal representative of the deceased patient, the balance of the assets may be applied to the maintenance and medical care account of the deceased patient. The office director or his designee must, within thirty days following the death of the patient, notify the court in the county in which the patient resided at the time of admission to the Office of Mental Health's facility of the death of the patient and provide a list of any property belonging to the patient and held by the Office of Mental Health. Upon appointment of a conservator for a patient of a state mental health facility, the office director shall deliver any assets of the protected person to the conservator and provide an accounting of the management of those assets.