South Carolina subpoenas: $25 a day, paid when the witness arrives — not when you serve

South Carolina writes the witness fee into the rule and moves the moment of payment. It also decides which court issues a subpoena by asking where the witness is, not where the case is — a reversal that catches out-of-county practitioners.

Twenty-five dollars, on arrival

Rule 45(c)(1) fixes both the amount and the timing:

If the person's attendance is commanded, then that person shall, upon his arrival in accordance with the subpoena, be tendered fees for each day's attendance of $ 25.00 and the mileage allowed by law for official travel of State officers and employees from his residence to the location commanded in the subpoena.

Three things follow. The figure is in the rule, not in a fee schedule. Payment is due on arrival, not at service — so an untendered fee is not a defect in the subpoena, it is a debt that falls due when the witness turns up. And mileage runs from the witness's residence, at the rate for official travel by State officers and employees.

The usual exception applies when the subpoena issues on behalf of the State of South Carolina or an officer or agency of it.

The issuing court follows the witness

Rule 45(a)(2) routes an ordinary subpoena by the proceeding: a trial or hearing subpoena issues from the court for the county where the hearing or trial is to be held; a deposition subpoena from the court for the county the deposition notice designates; and a standalone production subpoena from the court for the county where production or inspection is to be made.

Then the proviso that governs most records subpoenas:

Provided, however, that a subpoena to a person who is not a party or an officer, director or managing agent of a party, commanding attendance at a deposition or production or inspection shall issue from the court for the county in which the non-party resides or is employed or regularly transacts business in person.

For a true non-party, the issuing court is the non-party's county — where they live, work, or regularly transact business in person. Not the county of the lawsuit, and not the county you would prefer. Officers, directors and managing agents of a party are outside the proviso and follow the ordinary routing.

The clerk issues a blank subpoena for the party to complete, and "[a]n attorney as officer of the court may also issue and sign a subpoena on behalf of a court in which the attorney is authorized to practice."

Service is service of process

Rule 45(b)(1) borrows the summons machinery: "Service of a subpoena upon a person named therein shall be made in the same manner prescribed for service of a summons and complaint in Rule 4 (d) or (j)." Service reaches statewide, subject to the geographic limits on where a person can be made to appear.

Notice before a records subpoena

Where a subpoena commands pretrial production, ESI, tangible things or inspection of premises, notice must go to the other parties before it is served on the recipient — the same structure Nevada uses, so that a party who wants to object has the chance before the custodian is drawn in.

Fourteen days to object

Rule 45(c)(2)(B) gives the recipient of a production subpoena the standard window:

Subject to paragraph (d)(2) of this rule, a person commanded to produce and permit inspection and copying may, within 14 days after service of the subpoena or before the time specified for compliance if such time is less than 14 days after service, serve upon the party or attorney designated in the subpoena written objection to inspection or copying of any or all of the designated materials or of the premises.

Fourteen days from service, or the compliance date if that comes sooner. Once an objection is served, the issuing party needs a court order to inspect or copy.

Everyone can buy a copy

Rule 45(c) contains a sharing provision, and unlike Minnesota's and Arizona's, it is on request and at the requester's expense:

A party or an attorney responsible for the issuance and service of a subpoena for production of books, papers and documents without a deposition shall provide to another party copies of documents so produced upon written request. The party requesting copies shall pay the reasonable costs of reproduction.

Two limits worth noting. It applies to a records subpoena without a deposition, and it is triggered by a written request — nothing is circulated automatically. If you want what your opponent obtained, ask in writing and expect an invoice.

Fifty miles from the county line

Rule 45(c)(3)(A) sets the travel limit, and South Carolina measures it from a county rather than a point:

(i) fails to allow reasonable time for compliance; or (ii) requires a person who is not a party nor an officer, director or managing agent of a party, nor a general partner of a partnership that is a party, to travel more than 50 miles from the county where that person resides, is employed or regularly transacts business in person, except that, subject to the provisions of clause (c)(3)(B)(iii) of this rule, such a person may in order to attend trial be commanded to travel from any such place within the State

Fifty miles from the county, not from the person's address — a more generous measure than it first appears. The list of people outside the protection is longer than most states': parties, their officers, directors and managing agents, and a general partner of a partnership that is a party.

Trial is the exception again, with statewide reach.

The issuer's duty

Rule 45(c)(1) requires a party or attorney responsible for issuing and serving a subpoena to take reasonable steps to avoid imposing undue burden or expense, and directs the court to enforce that duty with an appropriate sanction — which sits alongside the $25 daily fee as the non-party's protection.

A short checklist

Issuing one:

1. Find the witness's county before choosing a court — for a true non-party that is where the subpoena issues.
2. Serve it like a summons, under Rule 4(d) or (j).
3. Notify the other parties before serving a pretrial records subpoena.
4. Bring $25 a day and mileage to the appearance, calculated from the witness's residence.
5. Expect to sell copies — a written request from another party has to be answered.

Receiving one:

1. Diary 14 days from service, or the compliance date if sooner.
2. Serve the written objection on the party or attorney named in the subpoena; the issuer then needs a court order.
3. Check the issuing county. A subpoena to a non-party out of the wrong county is defective.
4. Ask for your fee on arrival, not before — that is when the rule makes it payable.
5. Ask for mileage from your home, at the State-officer rate.

Where these rules live

• S.C. R. Civ. P. 4 — Process
• S.C. R. Civ. P. 26 — General Provisions Governing Discovery
• S.C. R. Civ. P. 30 — Depositions Upon Oral Examination
• S.C. R. Civ. P. 45 — Subpoena
• Subpoenaing records in another state
• South Carolina motion to compel discovery

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and the mileage rate for official travel by State officers and employees is set outside these rules.