South Carolina Jury Duty Exemption: Age, Caregivers, and Hardship

The only automatic South Carolina jury duty exemption is for people 65 or older. Everyone else who receives a summons is expected to serve unless a judge excuses them, and getting excused means filing the right paperwork with the clerk of court for a reason the statute recognizes: caregiving, essential business responsibilities, a documented hardship, or one of a few narrower categories. The distinction matters. An exemption applies because of who you are; an excusal is something you have to ask for.

The Age 65 Exemption

South Carolina Code 14-7-840 is the state’s only statutory exemption from jury duty: men and women 65 years of age or older. If you qualify, you can be excused by calling the clerk of court or chief magistrate and confirming your date of birth. No affidavit, no doctor’s note, no written application.¹

The exemption is optional. If you are over 65 and want to serve, you can. There is no separate tier at 70 and no permanent exemption in South Carolina law, so if you don’t want to serve, you invoke the exemption each time a summons arrives.

Excusals a Judge Must Grant for Caregivers

South Carolina Code 14-7-860 gives judges authority to excuse jurors for specific reasons, and for three caregiver categories the statute directs that the judge must excuse you once you submit a proper affidavit:

Parent or guardian of a child under seven, with legal custody and the duty of care, whose affidavit states they cannot provide adequate care while serving.
Primary caretaker of a person 65 or older, whose affidavit explains that the person cannot be left unattended during the caretaker’s absence.
Primary caretaker of a severely disabled person who is unable to care for themselves.

The mechanism is the same in every case: a notarized affidavit filed with the clerk of court in the county where you were summoned, stating that you cannot provide adequate care while performing jury duty.²

Essential Business Personnel

Section 14-7-860(D) provides a separate path for someone whose absence would shut down a business, commercial, or agricultural enterprise. You submit an affidavit to the clerk of court, and the judge has discretion to excuse you outright or to transfer you to a different term of court.²

The threshold is that the enterprise cannot operate without you, not simply that your absence would be inconvenient. A solo practitioner or the only person running a small operation has a stronger case than someone on a larger team with coverage available.

General Hardship and Other Excusals

Section 14-7-860(A) is the catch-all. It allows the presiding judge to excuse a juror “for cause shown” whenever the judge considers it advisable, provided your application and the stated cause are filed with the clerk of court and kept on record.²

This is where a temporary medical condition, financial hardship, prepaid travel, or another personal circumstance gets evaluated. Courts handle these case by case, and you should expect to provide documentation.

The South Carolina Judicial Branch adds two more categories worth knowing. Students and school employees can request a transfer to a date that does not conflict with a school term rather than being excused. And anyone who has served on a circuit court jury within the previous two calendar years, or on a grand jury within the previous four, can be excused on that basis.³

Active-Duty Military

Federal law protects service members separately. Under 10 U.S.C. § 982, an active-duty member of the armed forces cannot be required to serve on a state or local jury if the Secretary of their branch determines that jury service would unreasonably interfere with military duties or adversely affect unit readiness.⁴

If a summons arrives while you are on active duty, contact your unit’s legal office rather than dealing with the court yourself. Your command can request the exemption on your behalf.

Conditions That Disqualify You Entirely

Some people are not eligible to serve at all, which means no excusal request is needed. Under South Carolina Code 14-7-810, you are disqualified from jury duty in any court if:

You have been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison and your civil rights have not been restored through pardon or amnesty.
You cannot read, write, speak, or understand English.
A mental or physical condition makes you incapable of serving effectively, supported by a doctor’s statement. Legal blindness alone does not disqualify you.
You have less than a sixth-grade education or its equivalent.

You don’t request a disqualification. You inform the court, with documentation where required.⁵

The Judicial Branch also lists non-U.S. citizens, non-residents of the summoning county, courthouse employees and officers (including clerks, sheriffs, magistrates, and commissioned law enforcement officers), and anyone already served on a circuit court jury within the same calendar year as disqualified.³

How to File Your Request

The paperwork depends on which category applies:

Age 65 or older: call the clerk of court or chief magistrate and confirm your date of birth. Nothing in writing.¹
Caregivers and essential business personnel: submit a notarized affidavit to the clerk of court in the summoning county, explaining why you cannot serve.²
General hardship: file a written application with the clerk stating your cause, plus any documentation the court requests.
Disqualification: notify the clerk in response to the summons; include a doctor’s statement for medical disqualification.³

Act as soon as you receive the summons. The statute requires the application and stated cause to be filed with the clerk, and waiting narrows your options. If your excusal is denied, you can ask to be moved to a different term of court instead.

What Happens If You Skip or Lie

Ignoring a summons carries a civil penalty. Under South Carolina Code 14-7-1390, a person properly drawn and summoned who fails to attend without a sufficient excuse can be fined up to $100, with the money paid into the county treasury.⁶

Falsifying your way out is far worse. Under Section 14-7-860(E), making a false statement or providing false documentation to be excused from jury duty is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to 30 days in jail, or both.²

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 14-7-840 – Exemption From Jury Service
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 14-7-860 – Authority of Judge to Excuse Jurors for Good Cause
3
South Carolina Judicial Branch. Exemptions and Disqualifications
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 982 – Members: Service on State and Local Juries
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 14-7-810 – Enumeration of Disqualifications in Any Court
6
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 14 Chapter 7 – Juries and Jurors in Circuit Courts