In South Carolina the summons comes from the plaintiff’s side: SCRCP 4(a)–(b) has the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney issue and sign it, and Rule 4(c) lets any person 18 or older who is neither a party nor an attorney in the action serve it, with no court order. Served 123 LLC arranges that service in all 46 South Carolina counties, in hand or at the usual place of abode, with up to three attempts per address and the server’s Rule 4(g) affidavit of service. Mind the clock: when the limitation period would run first, Rule 3(a) needs actual service no later than 120 days after filing.
Upload the summons you or your attorney signed, the complaint, and the defendant’s home address, plus an office address or registered agent for a company.
Before any work starts, a written quote for that South Carolina county sets out the cost and the turnaround.
You receive the server’s affidavit of service, the sworn proof Rule 4(g) requires, giving the date, time, place and person served, or the diligent efforts made when service could not be completed.
Request a free written quote. Each address starts in South Carolina. Serving someone in another state? Change the first address’s State and we take you to that state’s page with your entries kept.
South Carolina proof: a server other than the sheriff or a deputy makes an affidavit giving the date, time and place of service and who was served (SCRCP 4(g)); Court Administration publishes form SCCA 402, Affidavit of Service.
When the summons and complaint are not served within the statute of limitations, SCRCP 3(a)(2) and S.C. Code § 15-3-20(B) count the action as commenced on filing only if actual service follows no later than 120 days after filing. Rule 6(a) leaves out the filing day and carries a last day that lands on a Saturday, Sunday or State or Federal holiday to the next day that is none of those.
The South Carolina Supreme Court writes the Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 4 holds the summons, who may serve it and how, Rule 4.1 covers defendants abroad, and Title 15 of the Code of Laws adds Sunday service, the corporate mail and Secretary of State routes, and publication.
Service of summons may be made by the sheriff, his deputy, or by any other person not less than eighteen (18) years of age, not an attorney in or a party to the action.
Rules verified October 2026 against the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure 3, 4, 4.1, 6, 12, 28, 45 and 81, with their notes, and Court Administration form SCCA 402, as published by the South Carolina Judicial Branch; South Carolina Code of Laws sections 15-3-20, 15-9-17, 15-9-210, 15-9-240, 15-9-245, 15-9-330, 15-9-510, 15-9-710, 15-9-740, 15-9-750, 15-47-100 through 15-47-150, 33-5-101, 33-5-104, 33-42-50, 33-42-1670, 33-44-108, 33-44-111, 36-2-803 through 36-2-807, 53-5-10, 53-5-30 and 53-5-60 as published on scstatehouse.gov; and 5 U.S.C. 6103. General information, not legal advice. The rule controls.
Served 123 takes every South Carolina route on one order: hand delivery, the defendant’s home, companies and their agents, the Secretary of State for an LLC, publication, restricted certified mail, defendants in another state or abroad, and witness subpoenas. What stays outside it is the sheriff’s own service and a written acceptance the defendant signs.
Every route above, one order.
Get a Free Quote Online →The sheriff or a deputy proves service by certificate; anyone else makes an affidavit, a sworn statement (form SCCA 402 is sworn to and subscribed before an officer). Rule 4(g) has the server make that proof promptly and deliver it to the officer or person who issued the process, and the clerk files it with the pleadings. A missing proof does not undo the service, and the court may allow an amendment unless material prejudice clearly results (Rule 4(i)).
Service made outside South Carolina but within the United States may be proved by an affidavit before a person in South Carolina authorized to make an affidavit, a commissioner of deeds, a notary public or a clerk of a court of record (Rule 4(h)). A subpoena is proved by the server’s certified statement filed with the issuing court (Rule 45(b)(3)).
For attorneys, lenders, property managers and self-represented parties with a defendant anywhere from Oconee and Greenville counties to Charleston and Horry counties.
Upload the summons you or your attorney signed, the complaint, and the defendant’s home address, plus an office address or registered agent for a company.
Before any work starts, a written quote for that South Carolina county sets out the cost and the turnaround.
A Rule 4(c) server, 18 or older and outside the case, delivers the papers in hand or at the usual place of abode, making up to three attempts and recording when and where each one happened.
You receive the server’s affidavit of service, the sworn proof Rule 4(g) requires, giving the date, time, place and person served, or the diligent efforts made when service could not be completed.
Rule 4(g) has the server make proof of service promptly and deliver it to whoever issued the process, and Rule 3(a)(2) needs actual service within 120 days of filing when the limitation period would otherwise run out. Our turnaround sets when the first attempt is made; a first attempt is not service. For process other than a summons or subpoena, the clock starts once the issuing court has named the server.
What You Get Back
From Greenville and Spartanburg to Richland, Charleston and Beaufort, find your county on the map or in the list to start a quote.
Each answer cites the South Carolina rule or Code section it rests on. General information, not legal advice.
Filing commences the action only if service follows in time. Served within the statute of limitations, it dates from filing; if not, actual service has to happen no later than 120 days after filing (SCRCP 3(a); S.C. Code § 15-3-20(B)). The defendant then has 30 days from service to answer, unless the court directs otherwise when service is made under Rule 4(e) (Rule 12(a)). Insufficient process and insufficient service are Rule 12(b) defenses; Rule 12(h)(1) treats them as waived if left out of a Rule 12 motion in the circumstances Rule 12(g) describes, or if neither made by motion nor included in a responsive pleading or an amendment Rule 15(a) allows as a matter of course. When a limitation period is near, ask counsel.
Copy LinkNot for a summons: Rule 4(c) lets any person 18 or older who is not a party or an attorney in the action serve it, and Rule 45(b)(1) lets any non-party 18 or older serve a subpoena. Other process is different: it goes to the sheriff, a deputy, another law enforcement officer or a person the court designates, though orders not needed for jurisdiction need not go through the sheriff unless the court orders it. If your papers need a designation, we tell you at intake and give you the steps.
Copy LinkYes. Rule 4(d)(1) allows leaving copies at the dwelling house or usual place of abode with a person of suitable age and discretion then residing there. Form SCCA 402 records that delivery with the person’s relationship to the party and a statement that they are a person of discretion residing at the residence of the party served. When a subpoena is served on an individual under Rule 4(d)(1) and the individual did not receive or acknowledge it, Rule 45(e) counts that as an adequate excuse for not obeying.
Copy LinkYes, on an individual other than a minor under 14 or an incompetent person, and on a corporation, partnership or association: by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested and restricted to the addressee, effective on the delivery date on the receipt (Rule 4(d)(8)). A default needs a receipt showing the defendant accepted it, and the default is set aside if the defendant shows the court an unauthorized person signed the receipt; refused or returned mail means serving another way. The proof states where and when it was mailed and attaches the receipt or envelope (Rule 4(g)). A qualifying commercial carrier may be used under Rule 4(d)(9), proved instead by the sender’s affidavit identifying the papers, with the carrier’s delivery record (date, time, place, name and signature of the person served) attached (Rule 4(g)).
Copy LinkYes. S.C. Code § 15-9-17 lets a process server serve a summons, complaint or other judicial documents on Sunday, except on a person going to, coming from or attending a scheduled church or other religious service.
Copy LinkRule 4(g) has a server other than the sheriff or a deputy make an affidavit giving the date, time and place of service and the name and address of the person served, or a description when the name is unknown. Court Administration form SCCA 402 is an Affidavit of Service sworn before an officer, in which the server states they are not a party, are at least 18 and have no interest in the case; it also carries a non-service box for process returned unexecuted after diligent efforts. A missing proof does not undo the service, and the court can allow an amendment (Rule 4(g), (i)).
Copy LinkFor a corporation with no registered agent, or one that cannot be served with reasonable diligence, an affidavit supports an order for registered or certified mail to the corporate secretary at the principal office; the summons states the date it was mailed and the date service is effective (S.C. Code § 15-9-210(c)). For an LLC, the Secretary of State becomes its agent: duplicate copies are left with the Secretary of State or a clerk in its limited liability company department, and one is forwarded to the company by registered or certified mail (§ 33-44-111(b)–(c)). An out-of-state corporation doing business here without authority is treated as having named the Secretary of State for any action arising out of or in connection with that business (§ 15-9-245(a)). When a paper is served on a person designated by statute to accept service, Rule 6(e) adds five days to a period that runs from that service.
Copy LinkUnder South Carolina’s Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, a party submits the subpoena from the other state to the clerk of court of the county where discovery will happen; the clerk issues a South Carolina subpoena carrying the same terms and the names, addresses and phone numbers of all counsel of record and of any party not represented by counsel (S.C. Code § 15-47-120). It is served under South Carolina’s subpoena rules, and motions about it go to the court in that county (§§ 15-47-130, -150). Rule 28(d) also lets a South Carolina attorney or the clerk issue the subpoena once a certified copy of the out-of-state mandate, writ or commission, or of a notice or written agreement filed in that court, is filed with the clerk of court and the filing fee paid; and the witness can be compelled to attend a deposition only in the county where they live, work or do business in person (Rule 28(d)(2)).
Copy LinkIt must show that the defendant cannot be found in the State after due diligence, and in like manner that a cause of action exists against the defendant or that the defendant is a proper party to an action relating to real property in South Carolina. The court, the clerk of common pleas, the master or the probate judge of the county where the case is pending may then order publication in a case S.C. Code § 15-9-710 lists, among them a resident who after a diligent search cannot be found, or who has left the State or keeps concealed to defraud creditors or avoid service. The order names one newspaper, runs at least once a week for three weeks, and has a copy of the summons mailed to the residence when it is known or can be found with reasonable diligence; the complaint is filed first, and the summons as published states the time and place of filing (§ 15-9-740). The printer or publisher proves publication by affidavit, and the party or the party’s attorney makes an affidavit of any mailing the law permits or requires (Rule 4(g)).
Copy LinkRule 4.1(a) covers an individual other than a minor or an incompetent person. It allows any internationally agreed means such as the Hague Service Convention; where there is none, or an international agreement allows but does not specify other means, the foreign country’s own method, a letter rogatory, delivery in hand or clerk-sent mail needing a signed receipt (unless that country’s law forbids it); or other means not prohibited by international agreement, as the court orders. A company abroad may be served the same ways except in-hand delivery. Service by the non-treaty routes is proved by a receipt signed by the addressee or other evidence satisfying the court that the papers were delivered.
Copy LinkUpload the signed summons and complaint with the address. You see a written quote before any work begins.
