Access McCormick County Clerk Records

McCormick County Clerk Office

McCormick County Clerk of Court lists Gwendolyn Dorn Chiles as department head. The office is at 133 South Mine Street, Room 102, McCormick, SC 29835. Public hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The county lists phone (864) 852-2195, fax (864) 852-0071, and email gchiles@mccormickcountysc.org. Staff listed locally includes Deputy Clerk Buffey F. Hodges, Family Court Assistant Amanda L. Self, and Clerk's Assistant Rhonda M. Cunningham.

The South Carolina Judicial Branch county page identifies The Hon. Gwendolyn D. Chiles as McCormick County Clerk of Court and Register of Deeds. The research notes that her county career began in 1989, with work first in the Sheriff's Department and then in the Clerk of Court and Register of Deeds Office. She was appointed by the Governor in 2011 and elected in the 2012 general election.

McCormick Clerk Record Duties

The Clerk of Court is a public elected office with duties set by local, state, and federal law. The county page describes an office that answers public questions about court operations and real-estate recordings, maintains Court of Common Pleas civil records, keeps General Sessions criminal records, schedules civil jury and non-jury trials, and maintains Family Court records. The Clerk also prepares and mails juror summonses and processes jury payments.

• Maintains civil case records for Court of Common Pleas disputes.
• Keeps criminal case records from General Sessions Court and collects related fines and fees.
• Maintains Family Court records for domestic relations, child support, custody, abuse and neglect, adoptions, and protection orders.
• Receives and records deeds, plats, mortgages, liens, judgments, and powers of attorney as Register of Deeds.
• Screens, collects fees, and appoints public defenders for people who qualify.

The county forms landing page is one source for Clerk-related local forms.

Those forms should be used with the Clerk's current instructions because court filings, recording documents, and support forms have different routing rules.

Request Certified Clerk Copies

Certified copies are used when a plain printout is not enough. A McCormick County Clerk of Court certified copy request should identify the court division, case number if known, party names, document type, and whether the copy must be certified for legal use. The research did not locate a specific local copy fee schedule in accessible county text, so payment amounts should be confirmed before mailing a request.

1. Search the online court channel first when a case number or filing date may be available.
2. Identify whether the record is Common Pleas, General Sessions, Family Court, or a real-estate recording.
3. Contact the Clerk of Court by phone, email, or in person to confirm availability, fee, and certification method.
4. Submit the request with names, case number if known, document type, number of copies, and return instructions.
5. Use the Clerk's office for the decree or case document, and use Probate Court or DPH only when the record type belongs there.

Family Court access may be limited. Juvenile, adoption, abuse and neglect, termination of parental rights, and sensitive domestic materials are not ordinary public records.

Clerk Records Request Fields

Full Clerk request form field inspection was not completed because linked documents were not text-extractable in the research pass. A usable request still needs enough detail for staff to locate the file and determine whether it can be released. The table below uses fields supported by the research and by the record types the Clerk maintains.

McCormick Clerk Fees

Specific local Clerk copy and certification fees were not located in accessible county text. The research did find that recording requirements are governed by Title 30 of the South Carolina Code and recording fees by S.C. Code Section 8-21-310, as amended effective August 1, 2019. The county Clerk page directs users to the South Carolina Judicial Department, Court Officials, Clerks of Court, Clerk of Court and ROD Manual, Register of Deeds, and section 8.2 for recording fees and requirements.

The South Carolina FOIA statutes are a public-record access source, but court files also follow court rules and confidentiality laws.

For court records, use FOIA as a fallback only after checking the court-specific channel and the office that owns the file.

McCormick Clerk Forms

The county Clerk page links the county forms landing page. Research identified two Department Forms connected to the Clerk page: Child Support Change of Address and Affidavit For Taxable or Exempt Transfers. The first belongs to support-related address updates. The second supports recording and transfer-tax questions tied to real-property documents.

• County forms landing page for local department forms.
• Child Support Change of Address for support-related address updates.
• Affidavit For Taxable or Exempt Transfers for real-estate transfer recording work.

The Clerk does not accept child support payments. The county page states that child support payments must be mailed to the SDU effective February 4, 2019.

McCormick Family Court Records

The Clerk maintains Family Court records locally. These include domestic relations, child support, interstate custody, abuse and neglect, termination of parental rights, orders of protection, adoption, and Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act matters. Divorce decrees from a McCormick County final hearing route to the Clerk, while DPH provides divorce reports rather than decrees.

South Carolina divorce rules are in Title 20 Chapter 3.

That statute source helps explain divorce grounds and timing, but the Clerk is the local record holder for the case file and decree.

Juvenile confidentiality statutes are separate from ordinary adult case access.

Restricted Family Court records should be requested directly from the Clerk or court, with proof of authority when required.

Marriage and Probate Routing

Marriage license statutes are useful for understanding license issuance, but McCormick marriage license records are a Probate Court function, not a Clerk of Court function. The Clerk page should not be used to request a new marriage license or Probate Court estate record. For those records, use McCormick County Probate Court.

South Carolina marriage law is available from the state code.

That routing keeps marriage license copies with the probate office while court decrees and Family Court files stay with the Clerk.

Probate judge record statutes also sit outside the Clerk's main case-file role.

Use those statutes when a probate copy or estate index question belongs to the Probate Court instead of the Clerk.

Online and Office Access

McCormick County Clerk records can start with the South Carolina Judicial Branch Case Records Search and the McCormick Public Index for available trial and summary case data. Court rosters are available through the state roster search and direct McCormick rosters. Family Court public information may require the FCCMS route. Older, restricted, or non-digitized files fall back to Clerk contact by office visit, phone, or email.

The Clerk page also links the SC e-filing portal for attorney and clerk filing use. E-filing is not the same as a public certified-copy order. A person who only needs a stamped or certified copy should contact the Clerk's office before trying to use a filing portal.

Note: The Clerk does not provide legal advice, research real property for a legal claim, or accept county property tax payments.