South Carolina Warrant Search: How to Check If You Have a Warrant (2026)

South Carolina doesn't have one statewide box where you type your name and see every warrant in the state. Its free court search runs county by county, and a well-known paid tool that a lot of people assume covers warrants explicitly does not. Here's how to search correctly, and what SLED's CATCH system actually is.

Information last verified on 2026-07-15. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Arrest Warrants vs. Bench Warrants in South Carolina

An arrest warrant is issued when police bring a judge evidence establishing probable cause that you committed a crime, and it authorizes officers to take you into custody wherever you're found. A bench warrant, which covers most everyday situations, is issued directly by a judge instead, usually because someone missed a court date, failed to pay a court-ordered fine, or violated a condition like probation. Bench warrants typically do not trigger an active manhunt. They sit on file until you're encountered another way, such as during a traffic stop.

Both are different from a search warrant, which authorizes police to search a specific place, like a home or vehicle, for evidence, and has nothing to do with whether a warrant exists for you personally. If you're asking "do I have a warrant," you're asking about an arrest or bench warrant, not a search warrant.

How to Check for a Warrant in South Carolina

The County-by-County Case Records Search

The South Carolina Judicial Branch's Case Records Search, at sccourts.org/case-records-search, is the state's free public index covering Circuit, Family, Magistrate, and, to a limited extent, Municipal Court records. Unlike a single statewide name box, you first have to identify and select the specific county where a case might exist, using the site's county-lookup map if you're not sure, then search by party name, case number, filing-date range, or case type within that county's system. Charleston County and Greenville County operate their own separate portals outside the main statewide search entirely, each covering that county's Circuit and Magistrate Courts, plus a separate municipal-court system for a city within that county.

Watch out: If you don't know which county a case might be in, guessing wrong and searching only one county can produce a false "all clear." South Carolina warrants are issued at the county level, so search every county with a real connection to you, where you live, where you've lived before, and where you were cited or arrested, before assuming nothing turned up.

South Carolina has 46 counties, and the statewide search interface handles most of them through one shared system, with a dropdown or map to select the right one. The search itself doesn't cost anything as far as the Judicial Branch's own materials describe, though the site notes that results show party names, case numbers, filing dates, case status, disposition dates, case types and subtypes, and the agency handling the matter, not a plainly labeled "warrant" flag. A pending general sessions (felony-level) or magistrate-court case with no disposition date can be a sign worth following up on directly with the court, even if the word "warrant" never appears on screen.

The CATCH Trap: Why SLED's $25 Tool Won't Show You a Warrant

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division runs CATCH (Central Records Assessment Terminal for Criminal History), a name-and-date-of-birth statewide criminal-history search at catch.sled.sc.gov. It's easy to assume this doubles as a warrant search, since it's SLED's flagship public records tool, but it does not. SLED's own CATCH materials state directly that information on wanted persons is not included in a CATCH report. CATCH returns conviction and arrest history, not outstanding warrant status.

CATCH costs $25 for a standard search, plus a $1 online convenience fee, with an $8 reduced rate for approved charitable organizations and bona fide mentors under S.C. Code § 23-3-115(B). An additional online service fee applies to online requests starting July 1, 2026. School districts are not charged that $8 rate: § 23-3-115(C) waives the fee entirely for a check run on a substitute teacher on behalf of a school district, § 23-3-130 requires SLED to provide conviction records to local school districts for prospective teachers without charge, and SLED's own CATCH page confirms that checks for prospective and substitute teachers go to local school districts at no cost. If your goal is specifically to find out whether you have an active warrant, paying for a CATCH report is not the right tool for that question, even though it's the state's most heavily marketed public-records search.

It's an easy mistake to make. CATCH is prominently advertised as South Carolina's official criminal-records check, and $25 for a definitive-sounding statewide report feels like it should cover a warrant, too. But a criminal-history record and an outstanding-warrant record are two different categories of information in South Carolina's system, kept by two different processes, and CATCH was built to answer the first question, not the second.

Free Fallback: County Clerk of Court and Sheriff's Office

If the county-level Case Records Search doesn't resolve the question, or you're not sure which county to check, contact the Clerk of Court or the Sheriff's Office in the county where a warrant might have been issued, by phone or in person. Have your full legal name and date of birth ready. Some county sheriff's offices, such as Horry County's, publish their own guidance on how local warrant information works and how to follow up directly.

Scam Warning: Fake Warrant Calls

The Federal Trade Commission and multiple U.S. District Courts have issued active warnings about a phone scam in which a caller poses as a sheriff's deputy, court officer, or U.S. Marshal, claims you missed jury duty or have an active warrant, and demands immediate payment by gift card, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or a payment app to avoid arrest. Scammers can spoof caller ID so the number looks like a real South Carolina courthouse or sheriff's office, and they sometimes already have your name and address to sound convincing.

Real South Carolina law enforcement does not call demanding immediate payment to cancel a warrant, and does not text or email you an arrest warrant. If a warrant is genuinely active, contact typically comes in person or by mail, not through a payment-demanding phone call. If you get a call like this, hang up, do not call the number back, and independently look up the phone number for the county Sheriff's Office or Clerk of Court yourself to verify.

Paid commercial background-check and "people search" websites are generally legal, but you don't need one to check your own warrant status, and neither does CATCH answer that question for $25. The official free sources, the county Case Records Search or a Clerk of Court's office, are the same underlying records these paid tools draw from. Separately, in 2023 the FTC took enforcement action against two major national background-check companies, resulting in a $5.8 million penalty, for marketing reports as highly accurate while doing little to verify the underlying data.

What to Do If You Have a Warrant

If you learn you have a bench or arrest warrant in South Carolina, get a free consultation with a criminal defense attorney about asking the solicitor's office to lift it first (attorney advertising). Walking into a courthouse or sheriff's office unrepresented is rarely the best first move.

Once you retain an attorney, they will often reach out to the solicitor's (prosecutor's) office directly to see whether the office will simply agree to lift the bench warrant, sometimes through a consent order, which is generally the fastest resolution when it's available. If the solicitor doesn't agree, the next step is usually a formal motion asking the court to recall, or "quash," the warrant and reschedule the missed appearance, with a hearing where your attorney can explain the circumstances, such as a documented medical emergency or being held in another county at the time.

South Carolina bench warrants have no statute of limitations and generally do not expire. Whether a warrant was issued last week or many years ago, it remains active until a judge formally recalls it. Waiting rarely improves the situation and often makes it worse, since the warrant can surface unexpectedly during a traffic stop, an employment background check, or another routine encounter with police.

Because South Carolina's court system operates county by county, it also matters which county's solicitor and which court, general sessions, magistrate, or municipal, actually has your case. An attorney can confirm the right court and the right point of contact quickly, which is often the hardest part for someone searching on their own without a case number in hand.

Related articles

• Warrant Search by State
• South Carolina DUI Laws
• South Carolina Expungement Laws

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws, fees, and court procedures change, and warrant-search tools and their coverage can change without notice. If you believe you have an active warrant in South Carolina, consult a licensed South Carolina criminal defense attorney about your specific situation before taking any action.

---

Last updated: 2026-07-15.

More South Carolina Laws

• South Carolina DUI Laws
• South Carolina Expungement Laws

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there one statewide South Carolina warrant search I can use?

Not exactly. The free Case Records Search at sccourts.org requires selecting a specific county before you search, rather than one statewide name box. Charleston and Greenville Counties also run their own separate portals outside that system.

Why do I have to pick a county to search for a warrant in South Carolina?

South Carolina's court records system is organized around each judicial circuit and county rather than one merged statewide database. To be thorough, search every county with a real connection to you, not just your current county of residence.

Is SLED's CATCH system a warrant search?

No. CATCH is South Carolina's statewide criminal-history check. SLED's own materials state that information on wanted persons is not included in a CATCH report, so a clean CATCH result does not mean you have no warrant.

How much does a CATCH search cost?

A standard CATCH search costs $25, plus a $1 online convenience fee, with an $8 reduced rate available for approved charitable organizations and bona fide mentors. An additional online service fee applies to online requests starting July 1, 2026. School districts are not charged the $8 rate: SLED provides criminal record checks on prospective teachers and substitute teachers to local school districts without charge.

What if my county's Case Records Search doesn't show anything?

Search every county with a real connection to you, then contact the Clerk of Court or Sheriff's Office directly by phone in the county where a warrant might have been issued. That direct contact is typically free.

Do South Carolina warrants expire?

No. South Carolina bench warrants have no statute of limitations and generally remain active until a judge formally recalls, or quashes, them, regardless of how much time has passed.

Someone called saying I have a warrant and demanded payment to cancel it. Is that real?

Almost certainly not. This matches a scam pattern the FTC and federal courts have repeatedly warned about. Real South Carolina courts and law enforcement don't call demanding immediate payment. Hang up and verify independently by calling the Sheriff's Office or Clerk of Court using a number you look up yourself.

What should I do first if I find out I have a warrant in South Carolina?

Contact a criminal defense attorney before contacting the solicitor's office, court, or sheriff yourself. An attorney can often negotiate directly with the prosecutor to lift the warrant, or file a motion to recall it, and can help arrange a scheduled surrender instead of risking an unplanned arrest.