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Searching South Carolina Dockets

This guide serves as an introduction to accessing court records and linking to dockets from various levels of South Carolina Courts.

Introduction

Locating and searching dockets can be a vital part of practice when it comes to finding information about a case.  Dockets contain information about the judge hearing the case, parties involved, attorneys involved, the events of a case, and more. Dockets can contain important information and filings all consolidated into one location for specific cases that may be dragging on for large amounts of time.  Examples of documents that can be identified and (sometimes) located by retrieving a trial court docket include: motions, testimony transcripts, jury instructions and worksheets, judge rulings, expert witness names, and more. This guide will serve to help locate South Carolina dockets and understand how to use them.  Court records can be found on each individual page separated above as Federal Court Opinions, State Appellate Courts, and State Trial Courts.

What is a Docket?

A docket is the official summary of proceedings in a court of law.  A docket typically contains information about the parties, attorneys, dates, filings, and outcome in a specific case.  Some - but not all - dockets include links to case documents, such as briefs and court opinions. 

Searching Dockets

This guide is intended to assist with finding online South Carolina state court dockets, as well as providing information on individual courts' online docket coverage and document availability.  To find a docket, first look up the individual court of interest in this guide.  This will help you find out whether the court's dockets are online and, if they are, provide a link to them.

Many South Carolina courts allow the user to search for a docket in multiple ways.  Some common ways are:

  1. Case number - Courts assign each case a unique docket number (for example, 2022CP12345678).  The format varies by court.
  2. Party name - This may be the name of an organization or an individual.
  3. Case Type and Case Sub-Type
  4. CDR Code - CDR Codes are four digit numerical codes which represent criminal offenses created by the South Carolina General Assembly and the common law.
  5. Indictment Number
  6. Tax Map Number

Some courts offer additional search fields and/or filters, such as case type and date, to help narrow the results.

Overview of South Carolina Courts

There are two types of courts in South Carolina: Trial Courts and Appellate Courts. Trial Courts consist of Circuit, Family, Probate, Magistrate, and Municipal Courts, while the Appellate Courts consist of the state’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. Any person who wishes to find court records needs to identify the particular court where the case of interest was filed and heard.

The Appellate Court Clerks of Court can be contacted using the information below:

Clerk of the Supreme Court
Supreme Court Building
1231 Gervais Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: (803) 734-1080
Hours: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Mondays to Fridays

Clerk of the Court of Appeals
1220 Senate Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: (803) 734-1890
Hours: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Mondays to Fridays

Trial Court Clerk of Court information can be obtained using the state's online directory.