Small Business Collecting a Judgment in South Carolina Magistrate Court

Your LLC won a judgment in South Carolina magistrate court for an unpaid invoice. Now you need to collect, and the first question is whether you have to hire a lawyer just to enforce what a judge already awarded you.

For magistrate court enforcement, the answer is no — but there are rules about who from your business can handle it, and a sharp boundary where self-representation ends.

Form SCCA/762: Non-Lawyer Representation in Magistrate Court

South Carolina allows corporations and LLCs to appear in magistrate court through a non-lawyer representative. Under rules authorized by the South Carolina Supreme Court, a company officer, member, agent, or designated employee can represent the business by filing Form SCCA/762 (Authorization for Non-Lawyer Representative for Multiple Cases) or Form SCCA/761 (for a single case).

The form requires the business to identify the representative and authorize them to act on the entity's behalf.

This authorization lets the named representative appear for the business in covered civil actions in Magistrate Court, including requesting a writ of execution, attending hearings on installment payment motions, and handling related procedural filings. If you are the owner of a single-member LLC, you file the form designating yourself and proceed as an individual creditor would.

Enforcement Steps a Business Can Handle Alone

With Form SCCA/762 on file, the non-lawyer representative can:

Request a writ of execution from the magistrate court. This authorizes a constable to seize the debtor's non-exempt personal property in the county. The fees are $10 to issue the writ plus $10 for the constable — the same as for individual creditors.

Send written payment demands on company letterhead. Include the case number, judgment date, amount owed, and a specific deadline. Businesses collecting their own judgments are original creditors, not debt collectors, so the FDCPA's strict notice requirements do not apply — but the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act still prohibits deceptive tactics.

Negotiate payment plans. If the debtor offers to pay in installments, you can ask the magistrate court to formalize the arrangement as an installment payment order with enforceable terms.

The Circuit Court Boundary

Here is where it gets complicated. When enforcement moves beyond the magistrate court into the Court of Common Pleas — for supplementary proceedings, bank levies, or contested execution matters — a business entity cannot represent itself through a non-lawyer.

Under South Carolina rules, corporations, LLCs, and other business entities must be represented by a licensed attorney in courts of record. The Court of Common Pleas is a court of record. Form SCCA/762 does not extend beyond magistrate court, including to filing a Transcript of Judgment (Form SCCA/740) there to docket a lien under S.C. Code § 15-35-810. The filing fee is $35, with a separate $5 e-filing technology fee.

This matters because the most powerful collection tools — compelling the debtor to disclose assets under oath (S.C. Code § 15-39-310), ordering a bank to pay non-exempt funds (S.C. Code § 15-39-430), and enforcing a circuit-level execution — all happen in Common Pleas.

Practical strategy: Exhaust the magistrate-level enforcement tools first. A $20 writ of execution is inexpensive enough to consider before escalating. If you need to docket a transcript in Common Pleas to create a lien, include the attorney cost as well as the $35 filing fee ($40 if e-filed) in your decision. If the debtor owns real estate, the lien may prompt payment when they try to sell or refinance. Only escalate to circuit court — and the attorney fees that come with it — when the judgment is large enough to justify the cost.

The $7,500 Ceiling

South Carolina magistrate court jurisdiction caps at $7,500 under S.C. Code § 22-3-10. If your unpaid invoice exceeds that amount, you cannot bring the full claim in magistrate court. You would need to either reduce the claim to $7,500 (waiving the excess) or file in the Court of Common Pleas from the start, which requires attorney representation for business entities.

For claims at or below $7,500, magistrate court remains the most cost-effective forum for small businesses. The filing fee is $80, service runs $40, and post-judgment enforcement through a constable costs $20. Compare that to a circuit court filing fee of $150 or more, plus mandatory attorney representation.

Protecting Your Judgment Long-Term

Business debts in South Carolina often involve repeat customers or vendors in the same industry. A few steps protect the judgment and your business relationship with other parties in the market:

Consider docketing the judgment in each county where the debtor owns real estate. The 10-year lien can affect a sale or refinance, but a business entity should account for the attorney cost of filing in Common Pleas.

Track post-judgment interest. The rate is set annually under S.C. Code § 34-31-20 and is 10.75% from January 15, 2026, through January 14, 2027. Interest compounds annually; on a $5,000 judgment, the first year's interest is $537.50.

After full payment, file Form SCCA/710 (Satisfaction of Judgment) with the Magistrate Court. If the judgment was also docketed in Common Pleas, file a certified satisfaction with the Clerk of Court to cancel the lien of record under S.C. Code § 15-35-810.

The South Carolina Judgment Collection Guide covers the complete enforcement workflow for both individual and business creditors, including the Form SCCA/762 process, fee worksheets, and exemption calculations.

See more South Carolina guides →