Magistrate's court for unpaid invoices

Check the claim fits under $7,500

A South Carolina magistrate shares jurisdiction with the circuit court on claims that fit the ceiling. Actions arising on contracts for the recovery of money only belong there as long as the sum claimed does not exceed $7,500.

An unpaid invoice is exactly that: a contract claim for money. The invoice, the contract or the work order, and the delivery record are the whole of what the court needs to see.

Interest and collection costs can push a claim over the line. If your invoice plus what you claim in interest runs past $7,500, either waive the excess to stay in magistrate's court or file upstairs. The state Judicial Department describes the same $7,500 civil limit for magistrates, and it also runs the court's own pages, which list each county's contact information and the forms the court uses.

$7,500South Carolina magistrates have concurrent civil jurisdiction over actions arising on contracts for the recovery of money only when the sum claimed does not exceed $7,500. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 22, Chapter 3, retrieved 2026-09-29

$7,500The South Carolina Judicial Department states that magistrates have civil jurisdiction when the amount in controversy does not exceed $7,500. — South Carolina Judicial Department, retrieved 2026-09-29

File the summons and complaint and pay the assessment

The case starts with a summons and complaint filed with the magistrate's court in the county where the defendant lives or does business. Alongside any county filing fee, state law imposes a $25 assessment on every summons and complaint filed in magistrates court.

The assessment is collected by the court and forwarded monthly to the county treasurer. It is a cost of filing, not a fine, and it is part of what you spend before you win a dollar.

Budget the whole ladder before you file, not just the first step. What it costs to chase a payment prices the rungs together, from the demand letter through the lien recording fees and the attorney's fee a lien action can recover.

$25An assessment of $25 is imposed on all summons and complaint filings in magistrates court in South Carolina, collected by the court and forwarded to the county treasurer. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 22, Chapter 3, retrieved 2026-09-29

Watch for a counterclaim that moves the case upstairs

The defendant can answer with more than a defense. A counterclaim is a claim against you, and if it is one that would exceed the magistrate's civil jurisdictional amount, the statute moves the whole case.

When that happens, the initial claim and the counterclaim are transferred to the docket of the court of common pleas for that judicial circuit. The same $7,500 number decides it, in the other direction.

For a trades business the realistic counterclaim is alleged bad work: a repainting, a re-clean, a repair. Keep the delivery record and the photographs, because the answer to a counterclaim is the same evidence that proves the invoice.

A counterclaim that exceeds the magistrates' civil jurisdictional amount transfers the initial claim and the counterclaim to the common pleas docket for that judicial circuit. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 22, Chapter 3, retrieved 2026-09-29

Docket the judgment transcript with the circuit clerk

A magistrate's judgment is real, but it does not sit in the circuit court's records until you move it there. On the demand of the winning party, the magistrate issues a transcript of the judgment that can be filed and docketed in the office of the circuit court for the county.

From the time the clerk receives the transcript, the judgment is a judgment of the circuit court. It can also be docketed in any other county in the state with the same effect, which is how you reach a debtor who owns property or keeps bank accounts in more than one county.

The docketed transcript is what an execution is issued on, so this step comes before the next one, not after it. It also keeps the judgment alive in every county where it is docketed, so the sheriff who can reach the debtor's property is the one the transcript reaches.

On the prevailing party's demand, a magistrate issues a judgment transcript that may be docketed with the circuit court, and from then it is a judgment of the circuit court. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 22, Chapter 3, retrieved 2026-09-29

Run execution against property within three years

Execution on a magistrate's judgment may be issued at any time within three years after the judgment is rendered, and it is returnable within 60 days of its date. No sale happens under it until the appeal window has expired or an appeal has ended.

Once the transcript is docketed with the circuit clerk, the execution is issued by that clerk to the sheriff and has the same effect as any circuit court execution. There are three kinds: against the property of the judgment debtor, against the person, and for delivery of property.

Execution against property means bank accounts, vehicles and equipment. It does not mean a paycheck: a debt arising from a consumer credit sale, lease, loan or rental-purchase agreement cannot be attached by garnishment in South Carolina, so a customer who owes you as a consumer keeps their wages out of reach while their accounts and property stay in it.

3 yearsExecution may issue on a judgment rendered in a South Carolina magistrates court at any time within three years after rendition, and is returnable 60 days from its date. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 22, Chapter 3, retrieved 2026-09-29

For a debt arising from a consumer credit sale, consumer lease, consumer loan, or consumer rental-purchase agreement, the creditor may not attach the debtor's unpaid earnings by garnishment. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 37, Chapter 5, retrieved 2026-09-29

What the judgment itself is worth while you collect it

A judgment is not dead money while the sheriff works. A money decree or judgment entered in a South Carolina court draws interest by law, at a rate equal to the Wall Street Journal prime rate for the calendar year of the award plus four percentage points, compounded annually.

The clock runs from the judgment, not from the invoice, which is why the pre-judgment interest rules on the interest page matter more than people expect. The pre-judgment rate is what carries you from the due date to the hearing.

For a judgment docketed with the circuit court, the ten-year execution window is longer than the magistrate's three, so the transcript step is also a shelf-life step. If the debtor has nothing today, the docketed judgment is the thing that is still there when the truck is finally titled or the account is funded.

A South Carolina money decree or judgment draws interest at the Wall Street Journal prime rate for the year of the award plus four percentage points, compounded annually. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 31, retrieved 2026-09-29

10 yearsThe party in whose favor judgment was given may, within ten years after entry, proceed to enforce it, and the execution keeps its active energy through that period without renewal. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 15, Chapter 39, retrieved 2026-09-29

Questions