South Carolina Marriage & Divorce Records: How to Get a Copy (2026)

South Carolina holds a state-level marriage certificate and a state-level divorce report, but only for a defined span of years, and the divorce report is not the decree. The state says plainly that it does not have the divorce decree filed in Vital Records.

Information last verified on 2026-08-04. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This page is part of our guide to marriage and divorce records by state, and it covers South Carolina's year windows, its statutory eligibility rule, and the one thing many readers get wrong about the divorce record.

What the State Holds, and For Which Years

South Carolina's Vital Records section runs a genuine statewide layer for both record types, which puts it ahead of the fully-county states. What it does not do is cover all years.

Marriage records at the state office span July 1950 to December 2023. Divorce reports span July 1962 to December 2023. If your event falls outside those spans, the state cannot help and directs you to the county: the Probate Court for marriage, the Clerk of Court for divorce.

Both windows closing at December 2023 is the detail to check before you apply. A South Carolina marriage or divorce from 2024 or 2025 sits at the county level, not in Columbia, and mailing a state application for it costs you the nonrefundable search fee for nothing.

If you do not know which county to ask, work from where the license was issued rather than where the ceremony happened for marriage, and from where the case was filed for divorce.

One inconsistency to expect on the state's own site: further down the marriage page there is a duplicated FAQ block that still gives the end of the state's marriage holdings as December 2018. The current figure on that same page is December 2023. Read the older block as a stale leftover rather than as a second, narrower window.

The Divorce Report Is Not the Divorce Decree

This is the distinction that decides whether the state copy is any use to you.

A divorce report is the summary record the state collects for statistical and vital-records purposes: who, when, where. A divorce decree is the family court's order ending the marriage, including whatever it says about property, support, and custody. South Carolina's Department of Public Health is blunt about the boundary, stating that it does not have the divorce decree filed in Vital Records.

For everyday proof that you are divorced, the state report is usually accepted: remarrying, changing a name, updating benefits or a driver license. For anything that turns on the terms, including property transfers, retirement-account division, enforcement, and most immigration filings, you need the certified decree from the Clerk of Court in the county where the divorce was granted.

The same logic applies on the marriage side in reverse. The state's marriage certificate is a record of the event; the underlying marriage license application and its file live with the county Probate Court.

For how South Carolina divorce law actually works, including its fault grounds and separation requirements, see South Carolina divorce laws.

Who Is Eligible to Order

South Carolina puts its eligibility rule in statute rather than leaving it to agency practice, which makes it unusually easy to check.

S.C. Code Section 44-63-86 provides that copies of marriage certificates and reports of divorce registered with the department must be issued to the parties married or divorced, their adult children, a present or former spouse of either party married or divorced, their respective legal representative, or upon request to the Department of Social Services or its designee for the purpose of establishing paternity or establishing, modifying, or enforcing a child support obligation.

The state's own pages track that list. For marriage, the eligible requesters are one of the married party, the married party's adult children, a present or former spouse of either married party, and the married party's legal representative. The divorce page uses the same structure for the divorced parties.

Notice who is on that list and who is not. A former spouse qualifies, which is broader than many states allow. A sibling, a parent, a fiance checking a partner's status, and a curious member of the public do not.

The Partial-Disclosure Rule Most People Miss

South Carolina does not simply refuse everyone else. The same statute continues: other applicants may be provided with a statement that the marriage or divorce occurred, the date, and county of the event.

That is a meaningful middle ground and it answers the most common non-party question. If you are not on the eligibility list, you cannot get a certified copy, but you can get official confirmation that the event happened, when, and where. For verifying that a prior marriage was in fact dissolved before a new one, or confirming a date for a research or estate question, that statement is often all that was actually needed.

Use it for personal purposes only. Running a marital-status check as part of screening someone for a job or a tenancy pulls you into Fair Credit Reporting Act territory, and consumer background-check products are unreliable for this specific data point in any event. Our guide to finding out if someone is married or divorced covers where those limits sit.

Fees and How to Order

South Carolina charges a $12 nonrefundable standard searching fee with roughly four-week processing, or a $17 nonrefundable expedited searching fee with processing in five business days or less. Each additional copy is $3.

The $12 rate is not available on every channel, which is the part that catches people. It applies to mail and drop-off requests. Orders placed online or by phone go through VitalChek, which processes them at the $17 expedited rate and adds a $12.85 charge for the vendor's services, so the cheapest online order runs about $29.85 before shipping rather than $12. With drop-off service currently suspended, mail is the only way to pay the standard rate.

The fee buys a search, not a guaranteed certificate. If the record is not in the state's holdings, whether because the event falls outside the year window or because a name or date is wrong, the fee is not refunded.

One timing note that has persisted: the Department's marriage certificates page and its divorce reports page both carry a notice, dated 6/19/2025, that in-person and drop-off services for these requests are temporarily unavailable, and that notice is still posted on both. Plan on mail or VitalChek and check the page before driving to an office.

Historical Records and Genealogy

Because the state's marriage holdings begin in July 1950 and divorce reports in July 1962, anything older is county material. County Probate Courts hold the marriage licenses, and county Clerks of Court hold the divorce case files, for the years before the state layer existed.

We were not able to confirm on an official South Carolina Department of Archives and History page which marriage or divorce series the Archives holds or for what years, so we are not repeating year ranges we could not source. If you are researching a pre-1950 South Carolina marriage, contact the Probate Court for the county and, in parallel, ask the Department of Archives and History reference staff what survives for that county and period.

One more piece of context matters for older South Carolina research: the state abolished common-law marriage prospectively in 2019, and for relationships formed before then a valid marriage could exist with no license and no certificate to look up. See South Carolina common law marriage for how those are established.

Related South Carolina Records

Death certificates run through the same Vital Records section under a different eligibility standard, covered in South Carolina death records. For the state's general records-request framework, see South Carolina public records laws.

If you are still working out which document you need, see our guide to getting a copy of a marriage certificate.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about obtaining South Carolina marriage and divorce records. It is not legal advice. Fees, service availability, and year windows change without notice, so confirm current details with the Department of Public Health, the county Probate Court, or the county Clerk of Court before relying on them. Consult a licensed South Carolina attorney for advice about your specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-08-04. Fees, year ranges, and service notices reflect their published status as of 2026-08-04.