Search McCormick County Court Records
Most McCormick County court records searches begin with the South Carolina Judicial Branch Case Records Search. The statewide landing page links to the McCormick Public Index for available trial and summary court case records. The same Judicial Branch system also points users to court rosters, traffic ticket search, appellate access, and county court directory details.
The Judicial Branch notes that cookies and JavaScript must be enabled, and some case-detail pages may need a pop-up exception. McCormick County Court users should treat the online index as the first access channel, not the only one. Circuit Court, Common Pleas, General Sessions, and Family Court records route through the Clerk of Court. Magistrate Court handles many traffic, warrant, bond, and lower-level criminal matters. Probate Court keeps estate, marriage, guardianship, conservatorship, and mental-health probate files.
- Open the Judicial Branch case records page and select McCormick County from the county list.
- Use the McCormick Public Index for available Circuit Court and Magistrate case records.
- Use McCormick court rosters when the goal is a court date or scheduled session.
- Use FCCMS for public Family Court access where available, and use C-Track for appellate records.
- Contact the Clerk, Magistrate, or Probate Court when the record is old, missing online, confidential, or needed as a certified copy.
The official Judicial Branch McCormick County directory identifies the county's courthouse, judicial circuit, clerk, magistrate, bond court, and probate court. That directory is a useful starting point before calling a court office.
The directory confirms the local court routing that affects McCormick County court records access: courthouse records, magistrate matters, bond court, and probate matters are not all handled by one counter.
The statewide court roster search is the official route for checking scheduled court matters when a user needs a court date instead of the full case file.
Rosters are useful for hearing schedules, but they do not replace the Clerk of Court, Magistrate Court, or Probate Court when a certified copy or full record is needed.
McCormick County Court System
McCormick County is in South Carolina Judicial Circuit 11 with Edgefield, Lexington, and Saluda counties. South Carolina's primary trial court is the Circuit Court. The Circuit Court includes Court of Common Pleas for civil cases and Court of General Sessions for criminal cases. Family Court is a separate statewide trial court for divorce, custody, support, adoption, juvenile, and related domestic matters.
Probate Court exists at the county level and handles estates, marriage licenses, guardianships, conservatorships, minor settlements, trusts, powers of attorney, and involuntary commitment matters. Magistrate Court is the local summary court for traffic, small civil cases, lower-level criminal matters, warrants, bond, and preliminary hearings. Municipal Court may exist where a municipality has created one, but the research did not locate a separate official McCormick municipal court page.
| Court or Office | Local Role | Record Types |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court | General jurisdiction trial court | Common Pleas civil and General Sessions criminal records |
| Family Court | Domestic and juvenile court | Divorce, custody, support, adoption, juvenile, and protection matters |
| Probate Court | County probate office | Estates, marriage licenses, guardianships, conservatorships, and mental-health proceedings |
| Magistrate Court | Summary court | Traffic, warrants, bond, preliminary hearings, small civil, and lower-level criminal cases |
| Appellate Courts | State appellate review | Supreme Court and Court of Appeals events and documents through C-Track |
McCormick County Courthouse Access
The main courthouse for McCormick County court records is the McCormick County Courthouse at 133 South Mine Street in McCormick. The Clerk of Court is in Room 102, and Probate Court is in Room 101. Magistrate Court is not in the courthouse; it is listed at 211 Augusta Street Extension. Bond Court is tied to the detention center location at 141 Cecil Wall Circle.
The county contact page gives courthouse hours as Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Magistrate office hours are listed separately as Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Public pages did not publish courthouse parking rates, screening rules, locker rules, or public transit routes, so visitors should confirm those details with the office that holds the record before traveling.
The county's official contact page lists courthouse rooms, office hours, and direct department numbers.
Those room numbers matter because court records, probate records, and magistrate records use different counters even when the questions sound similar.
The county staff directory adds department names and direct contacts for offices that answer record questions.
Use the directory to separate Clerk, Probate, Sheriff, Detention Center, and county administration contacts before sending a request.
McCormick County Courthouse
133 South Mine Street
McCormick, SC 29835
(864) 852-1000
Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Clerk of Court
Room 102, 133 South Mine Street
McCormick, SC 29835
(864) 852-2195
gchiles@mccormickcountysc.org
Magistrate Court
211 Augusta Street Extension
McCormick, SC 29835
(864) 852-2316
magistrate@mccormickcountysc.org
McCormick County Court Record Types
McCormick County court records include civil lawsuits in Common Pleas, criminal files in General Sessions, summary criminal and traffic matters in Magistrate Court, public Family Court material where access is allowed, probate files, marriage license records, and appellate records after a case leaves the trial court system. The Clerk of Court keeps Common Pleas, General Sessions, and Family Court records. Probate Court handles estate and marriage-license files. Magistrate Court handles many tickets, warrants, bonds, and preliminary proceedings.
The McCormick County government homepage links users to departments that hold local records.
Department routing is important in McCormick County because the state court portal does not replace direct office access for certified copies, older files, probate packets, jail records, or records withheld by court rule.
- Civil court records: Common Pleas case files, judgments, motions, liens, and civil docket events.
- Criminal court records: General Sessions cases, charges, pleas, dispositions, sentences, and solicitor actions.
- Family Court records: divorce, custody, support, domestic matters, and restricted juvenile or adoption files.
- Probate records: estates, wills, marriage licenses, guardianships, conservatorships, and mental-health proceedings.
- Traffic records: summary court ticket records, court disposition, and payment or hearing status.
What McCormick Court Records Show
A public McCormick County court record may show the case number, court division, county, filing date, party names, attorney names, judge, status, disposition, charges, statute number, CDR code, bond details, hearing dates, docket events, fines, fees, restitution, and judgment or sentence entries. The exact fields vary by court and by what the public portal displays.
The South Carolina Judicial Branch main site is the official statewide source for court records, rosters, rules, forms, and court structure.
Use the Judicial Branch site when the record path depends on state court tools, such as Public Index, court rosters, traffic ticket search, C-Track, or statewide forms.
| Field | What It Usually Means |
|---|---|
| Case number | The court's tracking number for a filing or charge. |
| Disposition | The result, such as dismissed, guilty, not guilty, disposed, or transferred. |
| CDR code | South Carolina's charge or offense code for criminal and traffic matters. |
| Docket event | A filed paper, hearing, order, plea, continuance, or other case step. |
| Bond | Release terms or security tied to a criminal or warrant matter. |
McCormick Court Public Access
South Carolina public access starts with the official court system and the office that holds the file. The South Carolina Freedom of Information Act allows a person to inspect, copy, or receive public records unless an exemption or other law applies. Court records also have their own rules, privacy limits, and confidentiality statutes.
Rule 610 governs bulk distribution and compiled judicial records. Rule 41.1 controls sealed civil filings, and Rule 41.2 requires personal identifying information to be redacted from court filings. The Judicial Branch also announced that home address information no longer displays on the Public Index for new or existing cases as of January 1, 2026.
Restricted McCormick Court Records
Not every McCormick County court record is open to the public. Juvenile records are confidential under South Carolina juvenile law. Adoption, termination of parental rights, abuse and neglect, and some Family Court matters have strict limits. Mental-health probate proceedings are sensitive and should not be treated as ordinary public probate records.
Sealed records are not available through normal public search. Expunged records are removed, sealed, or destroyed under a court order where the law allows it. For many criminal expungements in McCormick County, the official processing point is the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Solicitor. The Solicitor page also notes that eligible summary-court dismissals, not-guilty outcomes, or nolle prossed matters may route through the originating Magistrate or Municipal Court.
McCormick County Sheriff and Jail
The Sheriff's Office is led by Sheriff Chad Cox and is located at 211 W. Augusta Street Extension. Support Services includes records, victim services, criminal investigations, civil process, warrant service, courthouse security, and solicitor liaison work. The county Detention Center is at 141 Cecil Wall Circle. Research found no official McCormick County online jail roster or active-warrant list.
Use the Detention Center phone line for county custody questions, SCDC for sentenced state-prison inmates, and VINE for custody notifications. The county jail is not the same as McCormick Correctional Institution, which is a state SCDC prison at 386 Redemption Way. For detailed custody routes, use the McCormick County inmate records page.
McCormick Marriage Divorce Probate
Marriage licenses and certified marriage copies route through McCormick Probate Court when the license was issued locally and falls outside DPH's statewide certificate coverage. DPH provides certified marriage records from July 1950 through December 2023, while records before July 1950 and after December 2023 must come from the Probate Court that issued the license. Actual divorce decrees are court files held by the Clerk of Court in the county where the final hearing occurred. DPH provides divorce reports from July 1, 1962 forward, not divorce decrees.
Estate users should contact Probate Court, complete the local work packet, and call for an appointment. Probate Court handles estates, guardianships, conservatorships, marriage licenses, and mental-health probate matters. More detail is available in the marriage and divorce records and Probate Court pages.
- Executor
- A person named to manage an estate under a will.
- Intestate
- A death where no valid will controls the estate.
- Conservatorship
- A probate case for managing another person's property or finances.
McCormick County Records Fees
Published fee details are scattered by office and record type. The research did not locate a complete local Clerk copy or certification fee table in accessible county text, so certified court-copy fees should be confirmed with the Clerk before mailing payment. Some fee amounts were published in official sources and should be kept separate by record type.
| Item | Published Amount or Note |
|---|---|
| Marriage license application | $45 cash, correct change only, appointment-only application window in official indexed PDF snippet |
| Certified McCormick marriage copy | $5 each by cashier's check or money order payable to McCormick County Probate Court |
| DPH marriage or divorce search | $12 search fee, $3 additional same-record copies, $5 expedite fee where available |
| SCDMV motor vehicle record | $10 for MVR by online or MV-70 mail request |
| Jail video visitation | $0.30 per minute through NCIC, with one free visit per week |
McCormick County Court History
McCormick County was created in 1916 from parts of Edgefield, Abbeville, and Greenwood counties. The county courthouse was built in 1923 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History identifies the courthouse as a two-story brick Neo-Classical building by architect G. Lloyd Preacher, located at South Mine Street and Oak Street.
The courthouse remains the local center for Clerk of Court, Probate Court, Auditor, Treasurer, and Assessor functions, while Magistrate, Bond Court, Sheriff, and Detention Center functions are outside the main courthouse area. That physical split is one reason McCormick County court records searches often require routing by office before a visit.
McCormick Court Records FAQ
Where do McCormick County court records searches start?
Start with the South Carolina Judicial Branch Case Records Search and select McCormick County. If the record is missing, restricted, old, or needed as a certified copy, contact the Clerk of Court, Magistrate Court, or Probate Court depending on the record type.
Does McCormick County have an online inmate roster?
No official county online jail roster was found in the researched sheriff, detention, county, or Judicial Branch sources. County custody questions route to the Detention Center, while sentenced state prisoners route to SCDC and custody notifications route to VINE.
Is SLED CATCH a warrant search?
No. SLED CATCH is a South Carolina name-based criminal-history search, and SLED states that wanted-person information is not included. Active warrant questions should be confirmed with the Sheriff's Office, Magistrate Court, Bond Court, or law enforcement.