What Florence County Probate Covers
The Florence County Probate Court has original jurisdiction over marriage licenses, estates of deceased persons, wills, minor and incapacitated estates, trusts, guardianship matters, conservatorships, and involuntary mental or chemical-dependency commitments. The court is led by Probate Judge Jesse S. Cartrette, Jr., who was elected Florence County Probate Judge on November 6, 2018. Probate Court is separate from Circuit Court, Family Court, Magistrate Court, and Municipal Court, even though several county court functions share the downtown Florence courthouse cluster.
Florence County probate records can include wills, petitions, applications for appointment, fiduciary letters, creditor notices, inventories, accountings, receipts, releases, guardianship filings, conservatorship filings, trust matters, and marriage-license records. Some probate records are public, while others are limited by the nature of the case. Mental-health commitments, some minor or incapacitated-person files, and sealed orders should not be treated as open online records. Certified copies and court-specific filing questions should go to the Probate Court rather than to the Clerk of Court.
The county estate-administration source is represented in the manifest by an image tied to the official Florence Probate estate page.
That source anchors the local full-estate and small-estate process details used throughout Florence County probate record requests.
Florence County Probate Terms
Probate files use several terms that are easy to confuse. The definitions below are short working meanings for reading Florence County estate and fiduciary records. They do not replace legal advice, but they help identify what role a person or filing has in a probate record.
- Testator
- The person who made a will.
- Executor
- The person named in a will to carry out its terms, often called a personal representative after appointment.
- Intestate
- Dying without a valid will, which means estate distribution follows South Carolina law.
- Guardianship
- A court relationship for personal care decisions involving a minor or incapacitated person.
- Conservatorship
- A court relationship for managing another person's financial affairs or property.
Florence estate packets may also use "fiduciary letter" or "certificate of appointment" for proof that the court appointed a person to act for the estate. A "small estate" is a shorter collection process, but only when the estate meets South Carolina and Florence County limits.
The South Carolina Judicial Branch probate-forms source appears below from the official Probate Court forms search.
State probate forms are useful because Florence County packets rely on South Carolina probate form numbers such as Form 300ES and Form 420ES.
Search Florence County Probate Records
Online Florence County probate record searching is handled through South Carolina Probate Search, a statewide probate portal that includes Florence and Georgetown probate records. Probate Search is separate from the South Carolina Judicial Branch Public Index used for Circuit Court, Family Court, Magistrate Court, and some Municipal Court records. Use Probate Search for estate and probate matters, and use the Florence Probate Court directly when a certified copy, sealed-file question, appointment, or packet review is needed.
- Open South Carolina Probate Search and choose the county option for Florence when available.
- Search by party name, estate name, case number, or other available probate fields shown by the live portal.
- Review the result carefully because online data may not include every document in the court file.
- Contact Florence County Probate Court for certified copies, old files, restricted matters, or questions about a pending estate packet.
The statewide portal is shown in the image linked to the South Carolina Probate Search source.
That search channel is helpful for public lookup, but it does not replace the Florence Probate Court counter for certified documents and case-specific instructions.
Florence County Probate Court Contact
Florence County has one county Probate Court for the local probate matters identified in the research. The court address is the same public-facing suite used for estate and marriage material. For estate packets, the county says a person who cannot come in for an appointment may mail materials to Florence County Probate Court at the Suite 1300 address. Marriage license questions use the same court office but a specific marriage-license extension.
Florence County Probate Court
181 N. Irby Street, Suite 1300
Florence, SC 29501
843-665-3085
Judge: Jesse S. Cartrette, Jr.
Probate Court should not be confused with the Florence County Clerk of Court. The Clerk handles Circuit Court and Family Court records, including divorce decrees. Probate Court handles estates, wills, probate marriage-license records, and the probate categories listed by the county and the South Carolina Judicial Branch.
Florence County Probate Filing Fees
Florence County publishes probate filing fees for estate value brackets, copies, certified copies, formal proceedings, research, fiduciary letters, reopening, special administration, and notices. The table below uses the fees captured from the county Probate Court fee source. Some estate filings also include publication costs, and the Florence estate page lists newspaper combinations for Notice to Creditors publication.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Estate $0-$4,999.99 | $25 |
| Estate $5,000-$19,999.99 | $45 |
| Estate $20,000-$59,999.99 | $67.50 |
| Estate $60,000-$99,999.99 | $95 |
| Estate $100,000-$599,999.99 | $95 plus .0015 in excess of $100,000 |
| Estate $600,000 or more | $845 on first $600,000 plus .0025 in excess |
| Filing or indexing last will | $20 |
| Publication of Notice to Creditors | $46 |
| Formal proceeding summons or petition | $150 |
| Copies | $0.50 per page |
| Certified copies | $5 per document |
| Research fee | $25 |
| Certificate of Appointment or Fiduciary Letter | $2 |
The county filing-fee page is represented by the image tied to the Florence Probate Court fee source.
Confirm the current amount before filing because probate costs can depend on estate value, publication, the type of petition, and whether certified copies are requested.
What Florence Probate Records Show
A full Florence County estate file may show the decedent's name, death date, original will or codicils if available, certified death certificate, obituary or funeral program, funeral bill, renunciation or nomination forms, deeds, titles for vehicles or mobile homes, bank statements, appointment documents, creditor notices, inventories, accountings, distributions, and closing papers. The county full-estate process starts with Form 300ES, signed and notarized where required, then review by an estate clerk.
Once required documents are received for a full estate, the Florence estate page says an estate clerk reviews the materials and contacts the applicant within 48 hours to schedule an appointment. If the applicant cannot come for an appointment, the county lists a mail option to the Probate Court at 181 N. Irby St., Suite 1300, Florence, SC 29501. Publication costs may be added to the court costs, and the county page lists Community Times and Morning News options for Notice to Creditors publication.
Small estates are narrower. Florence County's small-estate packet says the process is available when the decedent did not own real property and personal property is less than $45,000. It cannot take place until 30 days after death. The packet uses Form 420ES Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property and requires documents such as the original death certificate, paid funeral bill, obituary or funeral-home printout, affidavit about funeral-bill reimbursement, picture ID, proof of assets, titles or registrations, bank proof, and renunciation forms if applicable. Faxed originals are not accepted.
Restricted Florence Probate Records
Not every Florence County probate record is suitable for public online access. Estate filings often contain death certificates, financial records, asset lists, home addresses, and identity details. Guardianship and conservatorship records may involve minors or incapacitated adults. Commitment proceedings may involve sensitive health information. When a record is sealed, restricted by statute, or limited by court order, the public portal cannot be used as a substitute for a lawful access request.
South Carolina public access also has record-specific limits. The research file cites South Carolina FOIA for public records, privacy limits on personal information used for commercial solicitation, court redaction rules, sealed-case limits, juvenile confidentiality, adoption confidentiality, expungement statutes, and the Probate Code small-estate provision. For probate work, the practical rule is simple: use Probate Search for public lookup, then ask Florence County Probate Court what proof, relationship, fee, or order is needed for a restricted or certified file.
Note: Probate Court, not the state public index, is the fallback when a Florence probate file is restricted, old, certified, or not visible online.