Access Horry County Circuit Court

Horry County Circuit Court Overview

South Carolina's Circuit Court is the general jurisdiction trial court. It has two main divisions: the Court of Common Pleas for civil matters and the Court of General Sessions for criminal prosecutions. Horry County is in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit with Georgetown County, so the Circuit Court, Solicitor, and Public Defender structure is regional even though the courthouse and Clerk of Court services are local to Horry County.

The Horry County courthouse for Circuit Court records is the Horry County Courthouse and Government & Justice Center at 1301 Second Avenue in Conway. The Clerk of Court is Renee N. Elvis, and the Clerk's office is the county-level record custodian for Circuit and Family Court matters. Probate, Magistrate, Municipal, and federal records use separate access channels.

The South Carolina Judicial Branch Circuit Court page describes Common Pleas, General Sessions, and lower-court appeals.

That statewide source explains why the Horry County page must use Circuit Court, even though this local file remains named district-court.html.

Horry County Circuit Court Table

Horry County does not have a set of numbered district courts. The Circuit Court record path is organized by division and by the Clerk of Court units that serve those divisions. Lower courts, including magistrate and municipal courts, are separate venues that can feed appeals, warrants, bond, traffic, or misdemeanor issues into the broader court system.

Search Horry County Circuit Cases

The official online route for many Circuit Court and Magistrate case records is the Horry County Trial Court Public Index. The state case-records page also lists Horry County under Judicial Circuit 15 and county number 26. The search requires cookies and JavaScript, and some browsers may require a pop-up exception to open case details.

The official public-index guide says users should select the county, accept the disclaimer, complete the security check, enter search criteria, click Search, and then select a case-number link from the result grid. Enabled tabs may show actions and financial information. Switch View can list all visible information on one screen. Document icons may open images when available, but not all cases have online document images.

Circuit Court vs Lower Courts

Horry County court records are easiest to route when the court level is clear. Circuit Court covers major civil and criminal matters. Magistrate Court handles small civil claims, landlord-tenant and lower-level criminal cases, warrants, bail, preliminary hearings, and many traffic matters. Municipal Court handles ordinance and qualifying traffic or criminal matters inside city limits and has no civil jurisdiction.

The Judicial Branch magistrate court directory lists Horry County magistrate locations and contacts.

The magistrate directory is important because lower-court records may not be solved by contacting the Circuit Court clerk alone.

Horry County Case Flow

Civil and criminal matters can enter the court system through different doors. A civil case may begin in Common Pleas with a complaint and move through answer, motions, discovery, mediation, trial, judgment, and appeal. A criminal matter may begin with arrest, booking, bond, magistrate review, indictment or information, arraignment, pretrial hearings, plea or trial, disposition, sentence, and appeal.

Criminal flow: Arrest › Booking or bond court › Magistrate or municipal first stage › General Sessions filing › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or trial › Sentencing › Appeal.

Civil flow: Complaint filed › Answer › Motions › Discovery › Mediation › Trial or settlement › Judgment › Appeal.

Lower-court appeal flow: Magistrate or municipal decision › Circuit Court / Common Pleas review in Conway › Court of Appeals or Supreme Court path when authorized.

Common Pleas and General Sessions

Common Pleas is the civil side of Horry County Circuit Court. It can involve complaints, answers, motions, orders, judgments, lis pendens, foreclosure-related cases, tax-map references, and financial tabs. General Sessions is the criminal side. It can involve charges, indictments, pleas, hearings, motions, dispositions, sentences, court costs, and financial data.

The Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor, Jimmy Richardson, prosecutes criminal violations in Horry and Georgetown Counties. The Public Defender, Ronald Hazzard, provides legal counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases where imprisonment is possible, subject to application requirements. Public Defender applications require a $40 fee paid to the Office of the Clerk of Court.

The U.S. Attorney source in the manifest is federal, not county Circuit Court. It helps mark the line between Horry County General Sessions and federal prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina.

Federal prosecution records are outside the Horry Public Index and should be checked through federal court systems.

Federal Courts Outside Circuit Court

Horry County is in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, but federal cases are not Horry County Circuit Court records. Federal criminal cases, federal civil rights suits, federal-question civil cases, bankruptcy, and appeals use federal systems such as PACER, the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina is the official federal district court source.

Federal district cases should not be searched only through the county public index.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina is also separate from state probate and state civil court.

Bankruptcy is a federal debtor-creditor record, while Probate Court handles estates, wills, guardianships, conservatorships, and related county probate matters.

Horry County Courthouse Access

The main Circuit Court address is 1301 Second Avenue, Conway, South Carolina 29526. The Clerk's main office phone is 843-915-5080, fax is 843-915-6081, and mailing address is P.O. Box 677, Conway, SC 29526. Clerk hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The South Strand Clerk office at 9630 Scipio Lane in Myrtle Beach has a separate phone at 843-915-5082.

Visitors coming from Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Little River, Aynor, Loris, or western Horry County should allow time for the Conway county complex and seasonal beach traffic. Official court pages did not publish courthouse parking rates or a detailed ADA entrance map, so the specific office should be contacted before arrival for access, interpreter, or hearing-assistance needs.

Horry County Circuit Record Limits

Public access does not mean every case detail is online. South Carolina FOIA supports access to nonexempt public records, but judicial rules, sealed orders, expungement, juvenile confidentiality, adoption restrictions, mental-health confidentiality, and personal-identifier redaction laws can limit display. Public Index home addresses are removed from display for new and existing cases beginning January 1, 2026.

For case-file copies, start with the Clerk division that matches the matter: Common Pleas for civil Circuit Court, General Sessions for criminal Circuit Court, and Family Court for divorce, custody, support, adoption, juvenile, and name-change matters. For county administrative records, use Horry County Public Information FOIA. For sheriff or law-enforcement records, use the Sheriff's Public Information Office. Those channels are not interchangeable.

Note: The public index is a case lookup tool, not a certified copy and not a criminal-background report.