South Carolina's Probate Court validates wills, handles the administration of estates, the appointment of guardians for minors, and issues marriage licenses. The Court of Ordinary is its predecessor. Originally, the term probate referred only to the court procedure by which a will was proved to be valid or invalid.

At the time that South Carolina was first settled, the church courts in England handled the probating of estates. In the colony, however, except for the years of 1709-1710, the Governor and Council were responsible for probate, and the Secretary of the province acted as clerk, recording the legal documents relating to wills and the adminstration of estates.

Probate records for the Lords Proprietors' period are sparse. A 1698 fire destroyed original wills and loose papers, and although the colony had passed a records Act in 1694 requiring the Secretary of the Province to record wills and related papers in separate volumes, few probate records were recorded until South Carolina became a Royal Colony in 1729.

Except for 1709-1710, the Governor functioned as an Ordinary until the US Revolution. After the last Royal Governor, Lord William Campbell, fled Charleston in 1775, the new General Assembly elected an Ordinary. In 1782, when Charleston was in British hands, the fugitive General Assembly met in Jacksonborough, where, under the terms of the 1778 State Constitution, it appointed Ordinaries for the Upcountry court districts.

Between 1782 and 1786, these Ordinaries settled the estates in the districts to which they had been appointed. In 1787, the legislature vested the County Courts with the powers of the Ordinary. The County Courts began to function that year and they inherited the Ordinaries' records.

Legislation abolished the County Courts in 1799, and on January 1, 1800 it created twenty-four (24) circuit court districts. That year, the General Assembly elected an Ordinary for each of the circuit court districts, and four years later it directed the Clerk of Court in each district to transfer to each Ordinary the records that belonged to the Ordinary's office.

In 1842, legislation authorized the Ordinary to order sales of real estate if the sales did not exceed $1,000. Under the Constitution of 1868, the Probate Court replaced the Court of Ordinary. The new Probate Court combined the testamentary and dower functions of the Court of Ordinary with the guardian and trustee functions of the Court of Equity.

In 1839, legislation standardized the system of record-keeping. An alphabetical index showed the location of original papers for each estate, and transcripts were to be made in separate volumes for each series of wills, inventories, bonds, letters, and returns of administrators and guardians.

Like the proceedings of the civil court, the proceedings of the Probate Court were driven by petitions and summons. An individual submitted a written petition asking to be named the administrator of a given estate, the judge issued a citation to the relatives and creditors or the deceased asking them to show cause why letters of administration should not be granted to the applicant, and the applicant posted bond with two or more individuals and took an oath in open court. If there were no objections, the applicant received letters of administration if the deceased was intestate, letters of testamentary if an executor was named in the will, letters of guardianship if the heir was a minor, letters of committeeship if the affected person was non compos mentis, and letters of trusteeship if a trust was created by the will.

When a will had been probated or an application for letters of administration had been received, the executor or administrator was required to inventory the personal estate of the deceased. Three freeholders, upon oath, appraised the estate and sent the appraisal to the Ordinary. The administrator/executor then issued a notice that told creditors they could present their accounts against the estate. If the assets did not satisfy the debts, the judge sometimes dold enough of the estate to cover them. Administrators/Executors had to make an annual return of the estates receipts and expenditures.

The major types of records available to researchers include - Estate papers, Will books, Letters testamentary, Letters of administration, Administration bonds, Inventories, Appraisals and Sales, Returns.