Court records to be on state system

Charleston County is spending $140,000 to convert its online court records to a state-run system.

The county's Clerk of Court's Office and its magistrate courts are joining the South Carolina Judicial Department Statewide Case Management System.

Donnie Giacomo, Charleston County's technology services director, said the change was ordered by the S.C. Supreme Court to make Charleston's online records similar to those in the state's other 45 counties.

"For a while, people might not be happy with how they search for cases because they're so used to our current website," he said. "But the same data that's there today is going to be there Feb. 28. It's just the menus and how you do the searches are going to be different."

The change will offer several advantages, said Scott Hayes, applications manager with the S.C. Judicial Department.

It eventually will let people search South Carolina court records statewide instead of having to search in each individual county. It also will help smooth the way toward lawyers being able to file lawsuits electronically.

The clerk's Common Pleas and General Sessions divisions will convert this week, so those records won't be updated online between Tuesday and Friday. They still will be searchable, but the results will be current only through Feb. 18.

The affected online records include Common Pleas images; RSS feeds; and the Bondsmen Data File. The Day Book Search and Court Rosters won't be affected.

The county's magistrate court records also will change over this month. These courts -- except for the central bond and preliminary hearing courts --will be closed today to get ready.

Online information for magistrates courts won't be updated from Feb. 19-27.

Data updates for all courts will resume Feb. 28.

Hayes said Charleston County will have the latest, most-advanced version of the online system. Only two other counties have not converted to it -- Chesterfield and Lee -- but they should be online by summer's end. Hayes said statewide searches should become possible likely sometime next year.

"No matter which county you go to, you should have the same look and feel when you do your searches for your court records," he said.

Reach Robert Behre at 937-5771.