Beaufort County SC Criminal Records

Begin with the Beaufort County Public Index

Beaufort County, South Carolina’s Clerk of Court links Case Records Search under Public Index Access. Use that route for an existing case and the separately linked Court Rosters for scheduling. Keep the full case number, court and defendant name from a plausible match before requesting a document. A roster entry is not the final disposition.

Check the court named on your citation or previous order. General Sessions is the clerk’s criminal division, but paperwork naming a Magistrate or municipal court needs that court’s record route. Compare the date and charge as well as the name; do not merge two prosecutions merely because they involve similarly named defendants.

Ask General Sessions for a specific public record

For General Sessions records, call 843-255-5050. The physical office is 102 Ribaut Road, Suite 208, Beaufort, SC 29902. The mailing address is Clerk of Court, Post Office Drawer 1128, Beaufort, SC 29901. State whether you need the disposition, sentencing order, indictment or another filing, and give its case number and approximate date.

Ask which documents are available and whether the recipient needs certification. If you already know the case number, explain that you are ordering a particular document rather than requesting a general name search. Have the office quote the applicable search, page and certification charges together; a single fee in the schedule does not establish the total for a multi-document request.

Budget the search and the copies separately

The clerk’s published payment list allows cashier’s checks, money orders, business checks and cash with exact change. Personal checks are not accepted. Confirm the payee, final amount and delivery arrangement before mailing payment; do not assume the court’s online fine-payment link can pay for a records request.

Route Magistrate and municipal matters correctly

Beaufort Magistrate’s Traffic and Criminal Department is at 104 Ribaut Road, Beaufort, SC 29902; its postal address is P.O. Box 2207, Beaufort, SC 29901. Call 843-255-5700 or use [email protected]. For Bluffton Magistrate, call 843-255-5610 or use [email protected]; the office is 4819 Bluffton Parkway, second floor.

The Magistrate offices list weekday hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and do not accept filings or payments outside those hours. If the record names a municipal court, contact that named court instead of assuming either county office holds its complete file. Preserve the distinction between the arresting agency, the detention facility and the court that entered the order.

Use SLED when the requirement is statewide history

SLED CATCH is a separate South Carolina name-based criminal-history product. It uses first name, last name and birth date; an SSN can be searched if supplied. Name variations can produce missed or mistaken matches. It does not include wanted-person information or serve as a national check, and SLED limits fingerprint checks to situations authorized by statute.

The CATCH report fee is $25 and nonrefundable. A notice effective July 1, 2026 lists a $1.43 online service fee for that report, while older text on the same page still lists a $1 convenience fee. Because the page does not clearly reconcile those amounts, verify the complete checkout charge before paying. Do not silently assume either that both apply or that the older text controls.

A Beaufort court copy answers what was filed or decided in that case. A SLED report answers a different statewide-history question. If a requester asks for both a history check and a certified disposition, obtain those two products through their respective services instead of relabeling one as the other.