South Carolina, Public Records Directory

South Carolina Public Records

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Official South Carolina sources for criminal, court, vital, business and property records.

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South Carolina record topics

Open a topic page for the official South Carolina offices that keep that kind of record.

State overview

About South Carolina public records

The South Carolina Judicial Branch includes magistrate, municipal, probate, family and circuit courts, with appeals to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Agency records are requested under the Freedom of Information Act, explained below.

For South Carolina telephone or email leads, use the Reverse Phone Lookup and Email Search guide to identify research sources and removal routes. Check an operating name against the relevant entity, local business-license or professional-license record, including its location and date.

State snapshot

Quick tip: anyone can buy a $25 SLED CATCH report on another person; it lists South Carolina arrests and convictions but not sex offender status.

Bonus tip: expungement applications go to the solicitor's office in the circuit where the charge was brought, not to SLED (Section 17-22-910).

Open the dedicated background page for a deeper history, civic overview, and statewide public records context beyond the agency directory. Open the about page.

Find your county

South Carolina counties, click yours

Every county on the map opens its own records page, with the courts, clerk, sheriff and offices for that county.

The South Carolina State House in Columbia, photographed by Carol M. Highsmith in 2017
The South Carolina State House in Columbia, photographed by Carol M. Highsmith in 2017. Begun in 1855 and finished in 1907, it still shows the marks of Union shells from 1865 on its walls.Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. No known restrictions on publication. See the catalog record.
Abbeville CountyAbbevilleAiken CountyAikenAllendale CountyAllendaleAnderson CountyAndersonBamberg CountyBambergBarnwell CountyBarnwellBeaufort CountyBeaufortBerkeley CountyBerkeleyCalhoun CountyCalhounCharleston CountyCharlestonCherokee CountyCherokeeChester CountyChesterChesterfield CountyChesterfieldClarendon CountyClarendonColleton CountyColletonDarlington CountyDarlingtonDillon CountyDillonDorchester CountyDorchesterEdgefield CountyEdgefieldFairfield CountyFairfieldFlorence CountyFlorenceGeorgetown CountyGeorgetownGreenville CountyGreenvilleGreenwood CountyGreenwoodHampton CountyHamptonHorry CountyHorryJasper CountyKershaw CountyKershawLancaster CountyLancasterLaurens CountyLaurensLee CountyLeeLexington CountyMarion CountyMarlboro CountyMcCormick CountyMcCormickNewberry CountyNewberryOconee CountyOconeeOrangeburg CountyOrangeburgPickens CountyRichland CountyRichlandSaluda CountySaludaSpartanburg CountySpartanburgSumter CountySumterUnion CountyUnionWilliamsburg CountyWilliamsburgYork CountyYork

The names are written where they fit. Hover or tap any county for its name, and click it to open its page.

Official source group

General Records

Government sites for South Carolina records, licenses and public services.

Research guide

Find South Carolina court portals, agency changes and record collections

South Carolina's records services include separate trial, family and appellate court searches, environmental systems with different coverage periods, and local offices for business and property records. Recent changes also affect what appears on public websites. Use the relevant service's coverage and document identifiers to decide where to continue.

Choose trial, family or appellate records before entering the name

The South Carolina Judicial Branch provides separate links for trial-court records, family-court records and C-Track appellate access. Start with the court that handled the matter. Our South Carolina court-records directory provides additional court and county routes.

For trial searches, the judiciary's Public Index guide explains the official route from its Resources area to trial-court records. Use that current route if an older bookmark or county link no longer reaches the expected application.

Greenwood County's family-court guidance explains that the Family Court Public Portal provides public case information and county dockets, while confidential cases do not appear. It distinguishes the public portal from the attorney portal. A result absent from public searching cannot establish that no confidential proceeding exists.

Check the appellate coverage date before concluding that a case is missing

The judiciary's C-Track access terms describe coverage generally beginning with cases pending or filed on or after May 1, 2012. Earlier events and associated documents generally are not included. The terms also warn that a recent filing can take time to appear.

The appellate search page provides court, case-title, appellate-number and date fields. It cautions that some lower-court materials, including records and appendices, may not be viewable. Preserve the appellate case number and the original trial-court reference when both appear.

If the goal is an official copy or an older filing, contact the appropriate appellate clerk with the case and document details. Keep a published opinion separate from the broader case file: finding the opinion does not mean that every brief, appendix or lower-court exhibit was available in the same search.

Account for the January 2026 removal of home addresses

The Judicial Branch's privacy-protection notice says home addresses stopped appearing on the public index on January 1, 2026, for both existing and new cases. A missing address is therefore an expected change in the display and does not invalidate an otherwise identified case.

The notice also describes the separate process by which qualifying judges and law-enforcement officers may request removal of specified personal information from publicly available government websites. Do not assume that a field missing from one public page will be present in another application.

Use the case number, court, party role and relevant filing dates to check a potential match. Preserve uncertainty where the available public information does not distinguish two similarly named people. A record-search page should explain the display limit without suggesting ways to bypass protected information.

Route former DHEC records by program

The Department of Environmental Services' agency history explains the July 1, 2024 restructuring: public-health responsibilities moved to DPH, environmental responsibilities to SCDES, and the retail-food program and milk-and-dairy laboratory to the Department of Agriculture. Some water-related programs also transferred from Natural Resources to SCDES.

The restructuring guidance explains that earlier DHEC environmental permits remained valid after the change, with updated agency names appearing on later renewals or modifications. An older document bearing DHEC's name should be identified by its program, permit number and date rather than dismissed as unusable because the agency name changed.

When requesting a historical file, include both the former agency name shown on the document and the current program that appears responsible. Ask for the specific record series or permit history. This is particularly useful when the same property had a food-service operation, a healthcare use and an environmental permit at different times.

Separate a recent application tracker from the full permit file

The Environmental Application Tracker's accessible search describes a two-year window for applications received or completed. It distinguishes received-only, completed-only and combined results, with filters for county, applicant, project and permit type.

Its instructions permit a percentage sign as a wildcard in applicant and project names. Try a distinctive portion of the name and the correct county before adding more restrictive conditions. If the activity predates the stated window, switch to the program's records route rather than expecting the recent-application tracker to supply a complete history.

SCDES's ePermitting page describes a broader platform covering applications, permits, compliance reporting, evaluations and enforcement, and links its Site Explorer. Retain the facility or site identifier together with the individual permit number. Several activities at one location can belong to different programs.

Distinguish a submitted application, a draft permit and an issued permit when saving results. For a question about approved operating conditions, request the issued permit and relevant modifications. For a question about an inspection, specify the report and inspection date instead of assuming that a permit summary contains it.

Connect the entity record with the appropriate licensing office

The Secretary of State's Business Entities Online search leads from a business name to its official profile. Save the entity identifier and filing information. A similar name is a lead to inspect, rather than sufficient evidence that two businesses are the same operator.

The office's business-entity FAQ states that it does not register DBA or trade names. It also distinguishes retail licenses issued by Revenue, professional licenses issued through LLR, and business licenses at the county or city level. An entity search alone cannot answer all those licensing questions.

Identify the business's location and activity before choosing the next office. For example, a professional's individual license, a company's formation filing and a local business license should be retained as separate documents with their own dates and identifiers.

Distinguish a public licensing order from a confidential investigation

LLR's complaint FAQ explains that most license investigations are confidential, while public orders sanctioning a license holder are available. A missing public complaint entry is not evidence that no complaint was received.

Search the relevant board's license lookup, confirm the credential and obtain any public order. If the record sought is older than the portal's stated coverage, contact the board. For example, the Social Work Examiners lookup warns that records or disciplinary actions before 1994 may not be displayed.

Use the order number and date in a follow-up request and read what the order actually decided. An allegation, a consent agreement and a current license status each describe a different part of the regulatory history.

Keep the solicitation, award and contract distinct

The statewide term-contract search supports category filters and text searches. The SCEIS contract-search notice explains that its coverage includes statewide term contracts and Procurement Services awards for individual agencies, while some agency procurement is outside that database.

An absent vendor name therefore needs a coverage check. Identify the purchasing agency and any solicitation or contract number from the original notice. Ask that agency for the award or executed contract when the central database does not cover the transaction.

As of the October 31, 2026 review, the SCBO notices page announces a November 9, 2026 launch for SCPro, the state's new procurement portal. Follow the notice for the current service during that transition. Treat the announced launch as a scheduled change until the service is available.

Search historical plats by people and places

The Archives' online-research guide distinguishes its Online Records Index from the South Carolina Electronic Records Archive and historic-property resources. Select the collection whose record types and dates fit the inquiry.

Its State Plats guide describes the digitized 1784 to 1868 Charleston and Columbia series. Names, adjoining owners, waterways and other places are the useful ways in; spellings vary, and a topic search does not work for this series.

Plats in the series can overlap or leave gaps. Cite the historical image and its reference for what it shows, and do not expect it to fit a modern parcel map exactly. For current recorded instruments, continue through the South Carolina county records directory.

Keep the reason for each follow-up visible

Result or limitationFollow-upReference to keep
Public-index address omittedCheck case identifiers and rolesCourt and complete case number
Permit application outside the tracker windowAsk the environmental program for its fileSite, permit and approximate dates
DBA absent from entity searchIdentify the relevant local or program recordBusiness location and operating name
Older plat found by a waterwayInspect the image and related indexed entriesSeries, volume, page and place name

The law

The South Carolina public records law

Five short notes on the statute, each with the code sections it rests on.

How the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act works

South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act is Title 30, Chapter 4 of the Code of Laws (text of the Act). A person has the right to inspect, copy or receive an electronic copy of any public record of a public body, except as Section 30-4-40 or other law provides. The right does not extend to people serving a prison sentence (Section 30-4-30(A)).

Deadline: within 10 days, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, of a written request, the public body must say whether it will release the record and why; 20 days when the record is more than 24 months old. Granted records must be furnished within 30 calendar days of that answer, or 35 days for records more than 24 months old (Section 30-4-30(C)).

Fees: no more than the actual cost of search, retrieval and redaction, charged at the hourly salary of the lowest paid employee able to do the work. Each public body must post its fee schedule online, and copy charges do not apply to records sent electronically (Section 30-4-30(B)).

Appeals: there is no administrative appeal. A citizen can ask the circuit court for a declaratory judgment or an injunction within one year of the violation; the court must hold a first hearing within 10 days of service, and a requester who prevails may be awarded attorney's fees (Section 30-4-100). A court that finds an arbitrary and capricious refusal or delay can add a civil fine of $500 (Section 30-4-110(F)).

What you cannot get in South Carolina

  • Law enforcement records can be withheld only to the extent release would interfere with a prospective proceeding, deny a fair trial, invade privacy, reveal a confidential source or current techniques, or endanger someone (Section 30-4-40(a)(3)). Reports of the nature, substance and location of a reported crime are public (Section 30-4-50(A)(8)).
  • Body camera recordings are not public records under the Freedom of Information Act (Section 23-1-240(G)(1)).
  • Juvenile records kept by the family court and the Department of Juvenile Justice are confidential unless the court orders release (Section 63-19-2020).
  • Expunged records: arrest and booking records, mug shots and fingerprints for dismissed charges are destroyed, and what agencies keep is held under seal and is not a public document (Section 17-1-40).
  • Certified birth certificates go only to the registrant of legal age, a parent or guardian, or another legal representative (Section 44-63-80).

Expungement in South Carolina

South Carolina calls record clearing expungement. Applications are handled by the solicitor's office in the judicial circuit where the charge was brought, on the solicitor's mandatory form, for the offenses listed in Section 17-22-910. The solicitor's administrative fee is $250 per order and is not refunded; there is no fee for charges that were dismissed, unless dismissed as part of a plea deal (Section 17-22-940).

Minor convictions (Section 22-5-910): a conviction carrying not more than 30 days or a $1,000 fine can be expunged 3 years after the conviction, and domestic violence in the third degree after 5 years, if there was no other conviction in that period. Motor vehicle offenses are excluded, and this relief is allowed only once.

Dismissed charges in summary court: when charges in a magistrate or municipal court end in not guilty or dismissal and the person was fingerprinted, the court issues the expungement order at no cost, no later than 30 days after the appeal period ends (Section 17-22-950).

SLED removes a charge only after it receives the court's Order for Destruction of Arrest Records and asks for four weeks to process it (SLED CJIS).

How to get your own South Carolina criminal record

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is the central state criminal justice information repository. Its CATCH service (Citizens Access to Criminal Histories) is a name-based search of South Carolina arrests and convictions, open to anyone.

  1. Online: open SLED CATCH, accept the terms and search by last name, first name and date of birth. The report costs $25, plus the online service fee SLED lists on the page.
  2. By mail: send the Criminal Records Check Form with a business, certified or cashier's check or money order and a self-addressed stamped envelope to SLED Records Department, PO Box 21398, Columbia, SC 29221-1398. Personal checks and cash are not accepted. Say so if the result must be notarized or certified.
  3. CATCH covers South Carolina only and does not show sex offender registration or wanted persons. SLED runs fingerprint checks only when a statute requires one.
  4. Questions about results: SLED Public Dissemination Unit, 803.896.1443, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4:30 pm.

South Carolina record laws to know

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Answers to common questions about South Carolina public records.

What is included in a South Carolina background check?
The state record is a SLED CATCH report: a $25 name-based search of arrests and convictions reported by South Carolina agencies, backed by fingerprints taken at arrest. It covers South Carolina only and does not include wanted persons or sex offender status, which is free on the Public Sex Offender Registry. National checks are allowed only where a law authorizes them. Court cases are searched county by county through the SC Judicial Branch Public Index.
Where can I find police reports in South Carolina?
Ask the police department or sheriff's office that took the report. Under the Freedom of Information Act, reports that disclose the nature, substance and location of a reported crime are public, and the agency may remove information other law makes exempt (Section 30-4-50(A)(8)). Reports from the last 14 days must be open for inspection in person without a written request (Section 30-4-30(D)). Investigation files can be withheld under Section 30-4-40(a)(3).
What are the procedures to obtain South Carolina vital records, and what information is included?
The SC Department of Public Health Vital Records offices issue birth certificates for births since 1915, death certificates to immediate family and their representatives, and marriage certificates from July 1950. By mail the search fee is $12 and includes one certified copy, with $3 for each extra copy; expedited service is $17. A photo ID is required. Other marriage records come from the county Probate Court that issued the license.
Where is South Carolina school performance data published?
The South Carolina Department of Education posts School and District Report Cards each year, with test performance, teacher qualifications and other measures for every school and district. The SC School Report Cards website lets you search a school, compare schools and districts and download the data for each year.
Where are South Carolina crime statistics published?
SLED collects incident reports from law enforcement agencies through the South Carolina Incident-Based Reporting System (SCIBRS), which follows the FBI's NIBRS guidelines, and publishes them each year in the Crime in South Carolina report. The SC Crime Data page links the reports and the Theme Oriented Public Site (TOPS), which searches crime data by jurisdiction, year and category.
Where is a person taken after an arrest in South Carolina?
A person who is not released is held in the county jail; Section 24-5-10 gives the sheriff custody of the jail in each county. A person charged with a bailable offense must have a bond hearing within 24 hours of arrest and be released within four hours after the bond is delivered (Section 22-5-510). Lists of people confined in a jail or detention center for the last three months are open for inspection under Section 30-4-30(D). Sentenced state inmates appear in the SCDC inmate search.
Can I find public records at a South Carolina library?
The South Carolina State Library runs the State Documents Depository Program, which gives access to publications of state agencies and state-supported colleges. Original government records are at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, whose Research Room has indexes to state and local records and microfilm of federal, state and local documents, with an Online Records Index. Current records are requested from the agency that keeps them.
Where is the South Carolina State Library located?
The South Carolina State Library is at 1500 Senate Street, Columbia, SC 29201. It is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and closed on state holidays. Phone (803) 734-8666, toll free (888) 221-4643. The Department of Archives and History Research Room is at 8301 Parklane Road, Columbia, open Tuesday to Friday 8:30 am to 5 pm.
Where can I get fingerprinted in South Carolina?
SLED says fingerprints can be taken by a local law enforcement agency or a commercial business such as IdentoGO, phone 866-254-2366 (SLED CJIS). SLED runs fingerprint-based background checks only when a statute requires one, such as for certain jobs and licenses; the employer or licensing agency tells you which process to use. Call your police department or sheriff's office first to ask about hours and fees.
Why is a home address missing from South Carolina's Public Index?

The Judicial Branch's 2026 notice says home addresses no longer display for new or existing cases beginning January 1, 2026. Use the court and case identifiers to assess the result.

Which South Carolina agency should receive a request for former DHEC environmental records?

Start with the relevant program at SCDES. The agency's restructuring history distinguishes environmental responsibilities from public-health and retail-food responsibilities transferred to other departments.

Does South Carolina's Environmental Application Tracker cover the full history of a permit?

No. The tracker shows applications from the last two years. For an older permit, or the rest of its file, ask the environmental program that issued it.

Does the South Carolina Secretary of State register DBA names?

No. Its business FAQ says it does not register DBA or trade names. Identify the relevant local business-license or program record for the operating name being researched.

Where does South Carolina C-Track's general historical coverage begin?

The access terms generally cover cases pending or filed on or after May 1, 2012. Earlier events and associated documents generally are outside that online coverage.

Can a place name help find a South Carolina historical state plat?

Yes. The Archives' State Plats guide describes indexed waterways and other locations, as well as names. Try spelling variants and retain the series and image reference.

City pages

1 South Carolina city with a standalone page

This South Carolina city has its own record page. Each county page also links to city and town pages in that county.

Irmo
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