Public Access to South Carolina State Court Records

The State of South Carolina is home to over 5.1 million people and has an area of 32,020 square miles. The state capital is Columbia and the most populous single city in the state is Charleston. However, the Greenville metropolitan area is the most populated area in South Carolina, containing over 880,000 residents.

The South Carolina Courts are made up of three levels: Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Trial Courts.

The South Carolina Supreme Court is the state's highest court and is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, who are elected by the S.C. General Assembly to ten year terms. Terms are staggered and a justice may be reelected to any number of terms. The Supreme Court has original and appellate jurisdiction, but generally only uses its appellate capacity.

The Court can hear cases on certiorari from the Court of Appeals and these seven classes of appeals directly from the Circuit and Family Courts: the death penalty, public utility rates, significant constitutional issues, public bond issues, election laws, an order limiting the investigation by a state grand jury, and an order of a family court relating to an abortion of a minor. Other appeals are divided between the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. The Court also has rulemaking authority for the unified judicial system, including ethics regulations for judges and controlling admissions to and disciplining of the South Carolina Bar.

The number of matters brought before the South Carolina Appellate Courts each year averages around 1,700. The South Carolina Supreme Court has been involved with many important cases in U.S. jurisprudence, including Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, State v. Shaw, and American Heart Ass’n v. County of Greenville.

Established in 1983, the South Carolina Court of Appeals hears the majority of appeals from the Circuit Court and the Family Court. The State Supreme Court may also certify for determination a case for the Court of Appeals.

The South Carolina Court of Appeals currently has a Chief Judge and eight Associate Judges who are elected by the state legislature for staggered six-year terms. The Court may sit as three panels of three judges each or as a whole. The Court of Appeals may hear oral arguments and motions in any county in South Carolina.

South Carolina has six different trial courts: Circuit Court, Masters-in-Equity, Family Courts, Magistrates’ Courts, Municipal Courts, and Probate Courts.

The South Carolina Circuit Courts are the State's courts of general jurisdiction. The Circuit Courts include a civil court, called the Court of Common Pleas, and a criminal court, known as the Court of General Sessions. Those two courts are courts of limited jurisdiction that can hear traffic, minor criminal, civil, and small claims matters. Additionally, the Circuit Court has limited appellate jurisdiction over appeals from the Probate Court, Magistrate's Court, the Municipal Court, and appeals from the Administrative Law Judge Division over matters relating to state administrative and regulatory agencies.

South Carolina has 16 judicial districts that each has at least one resident judge at any given time. Court terms and assignments determined by the Chief Justice through Court Administration. Circuit Court Judges are appointed to staggered six year terms by the South Carolina Legislature.

The South Carolina Masters-in-Equity Courts have jurisdiction in equity matters referred to them by the Circuit Court. The Equity Courts have the power and authority of the Circuit Court sitting without a jury, and the ability to regulate all proceedings in every hearing before them and perform all acts and take all measures necessary to perform their duties. Appeals from decisions of Master-in-Equity Courts must go to the South Carolina Supreme Court or Court of Appeals.

Masters-in-Equity are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the S.C. General Assembly to six year terms. They may serve in full or part-time capacity and are compensated by the county governing body. Currently, there are 21 Masters-in-Equity across the state.

Established by statute in 1976, the Family Courts have exclusive jurisdiction over all cases involving domestic or family relationships, including matters concerning marriage, divorce, legal separation, custody, visitation rights, termination of parental rights, adoption, support, alimony, division of marital property, and change of name. The Family Courts also have exclusive jurisdiction over juveniles under the age of 17.

Each of the 16 judicial circuits in South Carolina has at least two Family Court judges who are elected to staggered six year terms. Judges rotate throughout the counties in their judicial circuit. Currently, there are 58 Family Court judges.

The South Carolina Magistrates’ Courts have both criminal and civil limited jurisdiction. Magistrates have criminal trial jurisdiction over all offenses that are subject to a fine of at most $500 or imprisonment not exceeding 30 days, or both. They have civil jurisdiction over issues where the amount in controversy does not exceed $7,500 and can also set bail, conduct preliminary hearings, and issue arrest and search warrants. However, these courts are not courts of record, but are summary courts.

Magistrates are appointed by the Governor upon the advice and consent of the South Carolina Senate for four year terms and until their successors are appointed and qualified. To be eligible to be a Magistrate, a person must pass an eligibility examination before they can be recommended to the Governor.

After appointment, a Magistrate must attend an orientation program, pass a certification examination within one year of appointment, and attend a specified number of trials prior to conducting a trial. Currently, there are 311 Magistrates serving across the state.

Each municipality in South Carolina has the option to establish, by ordinance, a Municipal Court to hear and determine all cases within its jurisdiction. A municipality may, upon prior agreement with the county governing body, prosecute its cases in Magistrate Court instead of establishing its own Municipal Court.

These courts have jurisdiction over cases arising under ordinances of the municipality, and over all offenses which are subject to a fine of $500 or less, imprisonment not exceeding 30 days, or both, and which occur within the municipality. Some traffic and criminal statutes may grant the Municipal Courts greater jurisdiction.

Municipal Court judges are appointed by the municipality to terms set by the council of the municipality, but that cannot exceed four years. These judges are required to complete a training program or pass certification or recertification examinations, or both, within one year of taking office. However, members of the South Carolina Bar are exempt from the examination requirement. Currently, 200 municipalities have decided to establish a Municipal Court.

The South Carolina Probate Courts have jurisdiction over marriage licenses, estates of deceased persons, minor settlements under $25,000, guardianships of minors and incompetents, and involuntary commitments to mental institutions. These courts also have exclusive jurisdiction over trusts and concurrent jurisdiction with Circuit Courts over powers of attorney.

Each county in the state elects a Probate Court Judge through popular election to a term of four years.

Created by Rule 502 of the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules, the South Carolina Commission on Judicial Conduct investigates complaints of judicial misconduct and incapacity made against judges who are a part of the South Carolina unified court system.

The Commission is made up of the following 26 members: 14 judges, 4 attorneys, and 8 members of the general public.

• In 2017, over 80,000 family law cases were filed in South Carolina.
• The South Carolina Supreme Court issued around 57 opinions in 2022.
• In 2022, over 125,000 criminal cases were filed in South Carolina.
• The South Carolina Magistrates’ Courts hear over 800,000 cases each year.

UniCourt is your single source for state and federal court records, offering comprehensive court coverage and the most complete and accurate dataset available.

Each day, UniCourt collects all of the newly filed civil and criminal cases in the South Carolina Courts we cover and lets you search through those new case filings in our CrowdSourced Library™. You can also use UniCourt to track state court litigation and get real-time case alerts sent directly to your inbox. Additionally, UniCourt empowers you to download court documents on-demand without ever having to login to a government court database, and gives you unlimited access to download millions of free state and federal court documents in our CrowdSourced Library™.

UniCourt provides you with access to several South Carolina State Courts, including many of the largest counties across the state, such as the Greenville County Courts, the Richland County Courts, the Charleston County Courts, the Horry County Courts, and the Spartanburg County Courts.

Additionally, UniCourt gives you access to court records for federal courts across the state of South Carolina, including the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

UniCourt’s industry-leading Legal Data APIs provide Enterprise users with on-demand, bulk access to structured data from South Carolina state and federal courts. Our Legal Data as a Service (LDaaS) collects, organizes, standardizes, and normalizes court data from South Carolina state courts and all federal courts, and makes it readily available via our UniCourt Enterprise API for business development, competitive intelligence, litigation strategy, and docket management.