Filing Bankruptcy in South Carolina: Means Test, Exemptions and Courts

South Carolina has one federal bankruptcy court district: the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina (https://www.scb.uscourts.gov/).

Median family income for South Carolina: 1 person $64,808; 2 people $83,761; 3 people $95,672; 4 people $116,314; add $11,100 for each additional person beyond 4. These figures apply to bankruptcy cases filed on or after July 15, 2026.

South Carolina has opted out of the federal bankruptcy exemptions. A person filing bankruptcy cannot use the federal exemption list in 11 U.S.C. 522(d) except as expressly allowed by South Carolina law, so South Carolina filers use the state exemptions.

The statute's base amount is $50,000 in a home (real or personal property, or a cooperative) that the debtor or a dependent uses as a residence, or in a burial plot; multiple owners of a single home may not exceed $100,000 combined. A surviving spouse who meets the statute's conditions may exempt up to an additional $50,000 inherited from the deceased spouse. These amounts are adjusted for inflation every even-numbered year; under the adjustment effective July 1, 2024, the homestead amounts were $76,125 and $152,250 (multiple owners). The statute sets no acreage limit.

The debtor's interest in one motor vehicle, up to a base amount of $5,000 in the statute. Under the inflation adjustment effective July 1, 2024, the amount was $7,600.

The debtor may apply any unused amount of the exemptions in items (1) through (6) of the statute (homestead, vehicle, household goods, jewelry, cash and tools of the trade) to any property, up to a base amount of $5,000 in the statute. Under the inflation adjustment effective July 1, 2024, the amount was $7,600.

Exempt are traditional and Roth IRAs, individual retirement annuities, and accounts in trusts described in Internal Revenue Code section 408(c), whether the person is a participant, beneficiary, alternate payee or otherwise; the exemption can be reduced by the amount of any fraudulent conveyance into the account. A debtor's interest in an ERISA-qualified pension plan is exempt, as is the right to receive payments under a stock bonus, pension, profit-sharing, annuity or similar plan on account of illness, disability, death, age or length of service (with an exception for certain non-qualified plans set up by an insider employer). The statute states that the retirement plan exemption is an exception to the state's bankruptcy opt-out.

The South Carolina exemption statute has no separate wage exemption. Unpaid earnings not otherwise exempt and accrued vacation pay count as 'liquid assets,' which are exempt together with cash and other liquid assets up to a base amount of $5,000 ($7,600 under the July 1, 2024 adjustment), but only for a debtor who does not claim the homestead exemption. Separately, South Carolina's Consumer Protection Code bars creditors from garnishing a debtor's unpaid earnings for debts from consumer credit sales, consumer leases, consumer loans or rental-purchase agreements, and bars employers from firing an employee because of such a garnishment.

South Carolina has one bankruptcy district. The court's 'Filing Without an Attorney' page walks through steps before filing (learn about bankruptcy, complete credit counseling, complete the chapter 7 or chapter 13 packet, list creditors with accurate addresses, gather pay stubs), warns about bankruptcy crimes and repeat filings that violate a dismissal order, and points to free or low-cost help from South Carolina attorneys. The court offers eSR, a free online tool to prepare a chapter 7 or chapter 13 petition (up to 45 days to finish, and a working email address is required). After submitting through eSR, the filer must provide within 7 days an eSR Declaration with a handwritten signature, the Statement About Your Social Security Numbers (Official Form B121) with a handwritten signature, and a copy of a government-issued photo ID, through the Electronic Document Submission System (EDSS), by mail, or in person in Columbia; the case is not opened until these items are received. Fees can be paid online, by money order or certified check, or by applying to pay in installments or (chapter 7 only) for a fee waiver. Court employees cannot give legal advice.

District of South Carolina (the state's only bankruptcy district): the court's notice of Amendment to Local Rule 2016-1 states that amendments to SC LBR 2016-1 have been adopted setting the expedited ("no look") chapter 13 debtor's attorney fee at $5,000 for a consumer debtor and $6,000 for a debtor engaged in business, applicable to compensation or retainer agreements entered on or after July 1, 2024 in cases filed on or after that date. The initial disbursement to counsel after confirmation remains $1,500, and the debtor's attorney may apply for reimbursement of costs and expenses exceeding $50 for a matter. (The previous expedited amounts, announced May 11, 2023, were $4,300.00 for consumer cases and $4,800.00 for business cases.)