Horry County Register of Deeds

About the Horry County Register of Deeds

The Register of Deeds is the county's official recorder of real property documents. The current Register is Marion Dargan Foxworth. The office takes in documents tied to land and gives each one a recording stamp, a date, and a book and page reference. That stamp puts the document on the public record. Once recorded, it serves as public notice that the document exists. The office sits in Conway, the county seat, near the other Horry County offices.

This office is not a court. It does not rule on disputes. It does not decide who is right when two people claim the same land. It records what is brought to it, as long as the document meets state recording rules. The job is to keep an accurate, lasting record of land transactions across the county. Recording is how the public learns that a deed changed hands or that a lender holds a mortgage on a home.

Specific recording fees and the office's search portal are best confirmed straight from the source. The contact card below gives the mailing address and phone line. For fees, accepted document formats, or whether a particular record can be pulled online, call the office at 843-915-5430. Do not rely on guesswork for a recording fee or a copy charge, since those can change.

How Horry County Splits Court and Property Records

Horry County uses a split structure. Different offices keep different kinds of records, and they do not overlap much. The Register of Deeds records land and property documents. The Clerk of Court keeps Circuit Court and Family Court case files. Probate Court keeps estates, wills, and marriage records. That split trips up a lot of searchers, who assume one office holds everything. It does not.

The reason for the split is simple. A property record and a court record answer different questions. A property record tells you who owns a parcel and what is recorded against it. A court record tells you what was filed, charged, or decided in a case. The same person can show up in both systems for unrelated reasons. A landowner may have a clean court history and still have a mortgage on file at the Register of Deeds. Or a person may have a court case and own no land at all.

The table below lays out the difference between the two offices. Use it to decide where to look before you make a call or a trip.

Note: a court judgment can become a property lien once it is recorded with the Register of Deeds, so the two systems do touch at that point.

Horry County Property Records the Register Records

The Register of Deeds records a wide range of land documents. Each one is a written instrument that affects real estate in some way. Some transfer ownership. Some create a debt secured by land. Some put the public on notice of a claim. The list reaches well past a simple sale deed. Condo and HOA papers, tax liens, and powers of attorney all get recorded here when they touch real property.

The two-column table below shows the most common recorded document types and what each one covers. It is not the full list, but it covers what most searchers run into.

Each recorded document gets a book and page reference, plus a date and time. That stamp is how the next searcher finds it later. Records are usually indexed by the name of the grantor, the name of the grantee, and by tax map number.

Register of Deeds Records Are Not FOIA Records

This is a key point that saves people a step. Register of Deeds records are not handled as FOIA records. You do not need to file a Freedom of Information Act request to look at a deed, a mortgage, or a lien. Horry County's own Public Information Office states this plainly. Recorded land documents are open and already public by the act of recording. They sit outside the FOIA request process.

That sets property records apart from many county records. A request for police media files or internal county documents may go through FOIA under the state Freedom of Information Act, found in Title 30, Chapter 4 of the state code. Recorded deeds and mortgages skip that path. The Public Information Office specifically lists deeds, mortgages, plats, condo liens, state and federal tax liens, mechanics liens, powers of attorney, easements, and HOA restrictions and amendments as records that do not require a FOIA request.

So the route is shorter than people expect. To view a recorded land document, you go to the Register of Deeds, not through a formal records request. For broader county records that do fall under FOIA, the Horry County public records page covers that process and the fee schedule.

Why People Search Horry County Property Records

Most property record searches start with one of a few needs. The biggest is title. Before a home or lot changes hands, a buyer or a title company traces the chain of deeds to confirm clear ownership. That chain shows who held the land before and whether the seller has the right to sell. A break in the chain can stall a sale.

Liens are the next big reason. A lien is a legal claim against a property for a debt. It can come from a tax bill, a contractor's unpaid work, an HOA, or a court judgment. A lien stays with the land, not just the owner, so a buyer wants to know about it first. The Register of Deeds is where many of these liens get recorded and where searchers find them.

Ownership questions round out the list. Neighbors check plats and easements to settle boundary or access questions. Heirs trace a deed after a death. Lenders confirm a mortgage was paid off and released. Each of these runs through recorded property documents, which is why the Register of Deeds gets steady foot traffic and phone calls.

A few common terms come up over and over in property records. The short glossary below explains the ones searchers ask about most.

Deed

A signed document that transfers ownership of land from one party to another.

Mortgage

A loan secured by real property; the lender can foreclose if the loan is not paid.

Lien

A legal claim against a property for an unpaid debt or obligation.

Plat

A surveyed map that shows lot lines, dimensions, and parcel boundaries.

Easement

A right to use part of someone else's land for a set purpose, such as access.

How Property Records Differ From Court Records

Property records and court records live in separate systems, and the difference matters when you start a search. A property record is created by recording a document. No dispute is needed. A deed gets recorded simply because land changed hands. A court record, by contrast, is created when a case is filed. It tracks a lawsuit, a charge, or a family matter from start to finish.

The way you search them differs too. Land records are indexed by the grantor, the grantee, the book and page, and the tax map number for a parcel. Court records are indexed by party name and case number. A name search in one system will not pull results from the other. That is why a single name can look clean in one place and busy in the other.

There is one overlap worth knowing. A court can enter a money judgment, and that judgment can be recorded as a lien against the loser's property. At that moment the court outcome shows up in the land records too. To trace a judgment as a court case, use the state Public Index through the Horry County court records page. To see whether it became a recorded lien on a parcel, that ends up with the Register of Deeds.

How to Request a Recorded Copy

Getting a copy of a recorded document is fairly direct. The more detail you bring, the faster the office can find the record. A book and page number is the surest way. A name or a tax map number works too. The steps below walk through a typical request to the Register of Deeds.

1. Gather what you know: the names on the document, the book and page if you have it, or the property's tax map number.
2. Decide what you need, such as a plain copy for reference or a certified copy for a legal purpose.
3. Contact the Register of Deeds at 843-915-5430 to confirm the current fee and how the office accepts copy requests.
4. Provide the document details so staff can locate the right book and page in the index.
5. Pay any copy or certification fee, then receive the copy by the method the office offers.

Fees for copies and certification are set by the office and can change, so confirm them by phone before you send payment. The office cannot give legal advice about a title or a lien. For that, a real estate attorney or a title company is the right resource. For court foreclosures, which run through a different office, see below.

Related Horry County Property and Court Searches

Property questions often spill into related offices, so it helps to know where each one points. Foreclosures are a good example. A foreclosure is a court action, not a recording matter, even though it ends with a property sale. Horry County refers many foreclosures to a special division. The Horry County Master-In-Equity page covers that court and how to search those cases. The broader civil case framework sits with the Horry County Circuit Court.

For tax and assessed value, the county assessor and tax offices handle that, separate from the Register of Deeds. They set value and bill property taxes; the Register of Deeds records the documents. If a property is sold for unpaid taxes, the deed from that sale gets recorded here, but the tax process itself runs through the tax offices. Call 843-915-5430 if you are unsure which Horry County office holds the record you need.

For full case files, the Horry County court records page explains the state Public Index. To request administrative county records under the open-records law, the Horry County public records page covers FOIA. And for Circuit and Family Court certified copies, the Clerk of Court page is the right stop.