Attorney breaks down Margaret Murdaugh’s estate appraisal

COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Newly released documents are giving us a clearer picture into the financial situation of Maggie Murdaugh, the late wife of suspended attorney Alex Murdaugh who faces a number of state grand jury charges. Maggie Murdaugh’s total estate was appraised at more than $4 million but one of her bank accounts painted a different picture.

Estate proceedings for Maggie Murdaugh make clear that most of her money is in her assets. Her real estate holdings make up the bulk of the over $4.2 million total evaluation. She was a holder on four bank accounts but the only one that belonged to her exclusively had just under $58 in it.

In addition to the bank account, Maggie had a little over $4,000 in joint bank accounts with Alex and her son Buster. The estate lists $111,500 in assets mainly made up of vehicles. The four cars include a 2021 Mercedes SUV valued at $85,000 that Alex was driving during his botched suicide attempt last Labor Day weekend.

Maggie was the sole owner of all of the family’s Moselle property and a joint owner of the family’s Edisto beach house. At the time of her death, Maggie had three mortgage encumbrances totaling more than two million dollars.

Former State Attorney General Charlie Condon says the documents provide an interesting perspective into Alex’s potential financial situation.

“Yeah you might have some liquidity problems here maybe outside the real estate but you’ve got listed as an asset an $85,000 car driving around that she has so to be able to purchase that it requires assets, it requires income, it requires money,” says Condon. “So, what you’re seeing is sort of assets that she has, one would think that Alex would have comparable or more assets.”

Condon says it’s hard to say if additional assets belonging to Maggie have been collected or depending if they’ve previously been held up in pending investigations.

“And I’m assuming what’s happened since he’s had these accusations against them that have sort of unraveled that everything is being frozen so that maybe possible so again I think it’s likely that did in fact happen that there’s a liquidity freeze so to speak with the liquidity problem,” says Condon. “But he’s not going to qualify for a public defender let’s put it that way.”

It’s unclear if the assets will be inherited by Alex or their son Buster. Alex has filed a motion to have his interests turned over to Buster but the receivership overseeing Alex’s assets is fighting it to be able to pay more money to his alleged victims.