Prepare for Trial & Go to Court – South Carolina
Before Court
If the tenant makes a request for a hearing, our Team will update the online system to reflect the court date and time, and you will receive an automated notification email. You will also be contacted by your attorney a day or two before court to prepare and discuss any issues.
We encourage you to email your processor and/or attorney with any questions and all pertinent information well before court, so that they may prepare your case thoroughly. This is especially important if you know that the tenant has issues that they intend to bring up in court.
In order to ensure that all of your cases are handled properly and to reduce the risk of errors, please direct all correspondence regarding your cases to our office. Please do not contact the Court, or our eviction software partner regarding your cases. The only exception to this is when you are contacting the Sheriff to schedule the lockout, but that is only after the Writ has been filed with the Clerk and properly served.
Likewise, the Court should not contact you since you are represented by counsel. If the Clerk of Court or the Magistrate contacts you, however, please respectfully redirect them to our Firm.
We are here for you and will do everything needed to help you successfully file and process your evictions. Please be sure to communicate with us so that we can do our job most effectively for you.
Day of Court
On the day of court, your attorney will meet you at the Courthouse. You will need to be on time and you will need to bring the tenant’s entire file containing a current lease, most up-to-date ledger, and all correspondence between your company and the resident. You’ll want to dress professionally and remember that the attorney will take care of everything and guide you through the process.
Please remember that you need to appear in court for each case that is heard. In most jurisdictions, the attorney will not be able to present the case without you present, and will therefore have to continue the case or it could be dismissed. Failure to appear in court could result in your case being continued or dismissed and will also result in additional charges on a supplemental invoice from our firm.
After court, you are often granted the opportunity to go ahead and file for a Writ of Possession immediately. This is certainly a valid option for you and we would never discourage you from doing this if you choose, but remember that you will need to bring cash with you if you want to do this.