Beaufort County
Beaufort County is located along the Atlantic coast between Charleston and Savannah and is home to a Marine Corps Recruits Depot and a Marine Corp Air Station. Its county seat is Beaufort City. More than an estimated 187,000 people call the 576 square miles Beaufort, their county of residence.
Beaufort County has a court system comprising municipal, magistrates, probate, family, and circuit courts. Municipal courts in Beaufort County handle cases relating to violations of municipal ordinances, while magistrate courts in the county have criminal trial jurisdictions over offenses which are subject to the penalty of a fine not more than $500 or imprisonment of up to 30 days, or both. Beaufort County magistrates courts set bails, conduct preliminary hearings, and issue arrest and search warrants. Proceedings in magistrates courts are summary; hence, magistrate courts are not referred to as courts of record.
Family courts have exclusive jurisdiction over all matters related to domestic or family relationships, such as matters concerning divorce, marriage, legal separation, visitation rights, custody, termination of parental rights, support, adoption, alimony, division of marital property, juvenile cases, and name change.
Probate Courts in Beaufort County are courts of record with exclusive original jurisdiction over matters pertaining to decedents' estates, guardianship of adult incapacitated persons, trusts, intellectual disability, involuntary commitment of persons suffering from mental illness, chemical dependence, and tuberculosis, conservatorship of minors and adult incapacitated persons, and issuance of marriage licenses. If a matter arises over the approval of certain wrongful death settlements, the probate court also adjudicates in such a matter.
The Circuit Court is the court of general jurisdiction in Beaufort County as it has a civil court and a criminal court section. It also has limited appellate jurisdiction over appeals from the Probate Court, Magistrate courts, and Municipal Courts.
Courts of record in Beaufort County maintain documentation of proceedings of cases handled in them. In cases where state law does not close such records, they form what is known as public court records. These public records are maintained by the Beaufort County Clerk of Court. The general public can conduct Beaufort County public court record online search on the South Carolina Case Records Search resource. Case record information is available in the following categories:
- Civil cases
- Criminal cases
- Family cases
Probate court records from the Probate Courts in Beaufort County are available via the South Carolina Probate Court Search Index, while the Magistrate Court posts online court dockets one week before the scheduled court dates. Preliminary hearing dockets are updated every Wednesday. Per Family Court dockets, the public can access such on the family court dockets page of the Beaufort County government website.
Also, public portal provided by the South Carolina Judicial Branch allows people to search for family court cases and a public docket to learn about court calendars. Different fees apply for court records and these are included on the fees schedule page of the Beaufort County Clerk of Court webpage.
