Search Horry County Court Records

How Horry County Court Records Search Works

The central online case search for many Horry County court records is the Horry County Trial Court Public Index. It is part of the South Carolina Judicial Branch case records system and is reached through the SCCourts case records search landing page. Horry County appears in Judicial Circuit 15 as county number 26. The public index is most useful for Circuit Court and Magistrate Court case records, including many Common Pleas civil cases, General Sessions criminal cases, lower-court matters, case actions, financial entries, and some document images where the system provides them.

The public index is not the only official path. Family Court matters use the separate South Carolina Family Court Public Portal. Probate records are requested through Horry County Probate Court. Municipal tickets and city ordinance cases may require the specific city court, even when some municipal records also appear in state search tools. Federal cases are outside the county system and require federal court channels. Older files, certified copies, and files with missing online details should be verified through the Horry County Clerk of Court or the court that handled the case.

1. Open the public index, read the Horry County disclaimer, and accept it before searching.
2. Complete the security check by clicking Validate. The official guide notes that pressing Enter does not validate the code.
3. Search by case number, party name, court type, agency, case type, action type, or date range.
4. Open a result by clicking the case number link, then review the enabled tabs for actions, financials, and case detail.
5. Contact the Clerk of Court, Probate Court, Family Court division, municipal court, or FOIA office when the online result does not provide the record needed.

For a closer view of date-by-date case events, use the Horry County court dockets page with the public index case detail.

The official Horry County Public Index screenshot was captured from the Horry Trial Court Public Index.

That portal view is the starting point for many Circuit and Magistrate case searches, but it does not replace office requests for certified copies.

Horry County Court Records Search Fields

The public index supports broad and narrow searches. A direct case number is the cleanest route when the case number is known. Name searches are useful when only a party is known, but spelling, business names, suffixes, and partial-name behavior can change results. Filters such as court type, agency, case type, action type, and date type help separate Circuit civil cases from Magistrate cases, criminal matters, appeals, foreclosure-related filings, and judgment records.

The Acclaim official records screenshot was captured from Horry County Register of Deeds Acclaim.

Acclaim is an official county records system, but it is for Register of Deeds and recorded official documents, not criminal or civil case dockets.

Types of Horry County Court Records

Horry County court records are created by several courts. Circuit Court has two main divisions: Common Pleas for civil cases and General Sessions for criminal prosecutions. Family Court handles divorce, custody, support, adoption, name change, and juvenile matters, with restrictions on many child and adoption files. Probate Court handles estates, wills, guardianships, conservatorships, trusts, marriage licenses, minor settlements, and involuntary commitments. Magistrate Court handles small civil claims, landlord-tenant matters, bail, preliminary hearings, search warrants, arrest warrants, and lower-level criminal cases. Municipal courts handle city ordinance, traffic, and qualifying criminal matters inside city limits.

Some record groups overlap in practical use. A traffic case may begin in Central Traffic Court or a municipal court. A criminal case may first appear in booking data, bond court, Magistrate Court, or Municipal Court before it appears in General Sessions. A recorded judgment or land-related document may also be indexed in Acclaim, while the underlying case remains with the court. That split is why Horry County court records should be checked by record type and custodian, not by one database alone.

• Civil case records include complaints, answers, motions, orders, judgments, lis pendens, foreclosure actions, and financial tabs.
• Criminal court records include General Sessions charges, indictments, pleas, motions, hearings, dispositions, sentences, and court costs.
• Family Court records include divorce, custody, support, name change, adoption, and juvenile files, with privacy limits.
• Probate files include estate administration, wills, guardianship, conservatorship, trust, commitment, and marriage-license records.
• Traffic and municipal records may sit with Central Traffic Court, a Magistrate Court, or a city court such as Myrtle Beach or North Myrtle Beach.

The Acclaim disclaimer image was captured from the Horry County Acclaim search disclaimer.

The disclaimer matters because recorded-document searches and court case searches serve different public-record needs in Horry County.

What Horry County Court Records Show

A public index case result is a case summary, not always a full document file. The official user guide describes case number links, party displays, action tabs, financial tabs, document icons where images exist, and Switch View for seeing all available information on one screen. If a case has multiple plaintiffs or defendants, the double-arrow icon can expand the party display. Bold or enabled tabs show which detail areas have information for that case.

Note: A public index result is not the same as a certified court copy or a complete background check.

Horry County Court Records Access Rules

South Carolina public access starts with the Freedom of Information Act, especially the rule allowing inspection and copying of nonexempt public records. Horry County court records also depend on court rules, sealed orders, juvenile law, and redaction statutes. The personal identifying information law controls online display of Social Security numbers, driver license numbers, passport numbers, account numbers, PINs, passwords, and similar data. SCCourts states that home address information will no longer display on the public index for new and existing cases beginning January 1, 2026.

For county administrative records, Horry County Public Information accepts FOIA requests through the county public information process. That channel is not a substitute for the Clerk of Court when the request is for an actual case file. The county FOIA fee schedule includes staff time and copy charges, and full payment is required before records are produced. For sheriff and law-enforcement records, the Sheriff's Public Information Office is the better route, subject to FOIA exemptions and the office's South Carolina citizen language.

The South Carolina FOIA image was captured from the South Carolina Code public records chapter.

FOIA supports access to many public records, but sealed court files and confidential court records remain limited by specific rules.

Restricted Horry County Court Records

Not every Horry County court record is public online. Juvenile records are confidential under S.C. Code 63-19-2010 unless a court order or specific legal access applies. Adoption records are not ordinary public lookup records. Mental-health and involuntary commitment records are sensitive Probate Court matters. Expunged or sealed criminal records may be omitted, redacted, or marked in a limited way. Booking samples also showed redacted names and an "EXPUNGED" charge number, which is a reminder that public display can change after legal action.

Law-enforcement records may also be withheld when release would interfere with proceedings, invade privacy, reveal sources or techniques, endanger safety, or disclose protected communications. That limit does not mean all law-enforcement information is closed. It means the custodian must apply the correct exemption, redaction, and case-status review. When a restricted file is needed for a legal purpose, the proper path is the court or agency that holds it, not a broad internet search.

The personal-identifier privacy image was captured from South Carolina's public records privacy statute.

That statute helps explain why public case systems may show a case while still removing addresses or personal identifiers.

Horry County Court Records Requests

For Circuit and Family Court case records, the Horry County Clerk of Court is the main office. The Clerk serves the public, maintains court access for Common Pleas, General Sessions, and Family Court divisions, and provides division phone lines for record-specific questions. The Conway office is at the main county courthouse, and the South Strand office supports service from the Myrtle Beach area. For Family Court, use the Clerk Family Court number or the Family Court Public Portal. For General Sessions, use the General Sessions division and the public index.

Probate matters should go to Horry County Probate Court, not the Clerk of Court. Register of Deeds Acclaim should be used for recorded official documents and land records, not criminal cases. Municipal court cases should be checked with the city court when the public index does not show the ticket or city matter. Federal district, bankruptcy, and federal appeal records are searched through PACER, the U.S. District Court for South Carolina, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for South Carolina, or the Fourth Circuit, not through the Horry County Trial Court Public Index.

The Probate Code image was captured from South Carolina Probate Code Article 3.

Probate law is part of the records landscape because estate files and wills are handled outside the public index search flow.