This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for dui / dwi in South Carolina, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in South Carolina costs on average $5,550, typically $3,700-$7,400 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $160 to $300 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 3-6 months to resolve. Common related costs include court filing fee ($100-$300) and dmv hearing fee ($100-$200).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $1,450 | $2,550 | $3,600 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $3,700 | $5,550 | $7,400 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $7,700 | $13,050 | $19,200 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$160 – $300/ hour
Median: $220/hr
3-6 months
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>DUI/DWI legal cost has two layers that are easy to underestimate: the attorney fee itself, and the non-attorney costs that follow a conviction or plea. The attorney fee is driven mainly by whether the case goes to trial (far more hours billed) or resolves through a plea agreement, plus complicating factors like BAC level, prior offenses, or an accident with injuries. Many DUI attorneys charge a flat fee for a straightforward first offense and switch to hourly billing once the case becomes contested.
Beyond the attorney, a DUI case typically layers on court fines, a state-mandated alcohol education or treatment program, license reinstatement fees, and — for many drivers — an ignition interlock device with ongoing monthly costs. Insurance premium increases are not a one-time legal cost but often the largest total expense over a 3-5 year period following conviction, which is why the figures on this page reflect legal defense costs specifically, not the lifetime cost of a conviction.
Take a moderate-complexity dui / dwi matter in South Carolina. The recorded median total is $5,550, with reported quotes clustering between $3,700 and $7,400. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $2,050–$4,350 of the South Carolina median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes. 2 further recorded fees are not itemised above and are not in that total.
At $5,550, the median dui / dwi cost in South Carolina runs 25% below the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
South Carolina carries 3 rows — simple, $1,450–$3,600 at $120–$240/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $3,700–$7,400 at $160–$300/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $7,700–$19,200 at $200–$360/hr over 6-12 months — on 4 shared citations. Those figures place it in the lower quarter of the table.
$5,550 is a median, not the middle of the band — $1,850 above the $3,700 floor, $1,850 under the $7,400 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Sorted by median cost, South Carolina is 51st of 51 for a dui / dwi, placing it in the lowest-cost quarter of the table: $1,900 and 26% below the $7,450 midpoint, with 0 states recording a lower median still.
No tracked state records a lower median dui / dwi figure than South Carolina; the row immediately above is Oklahoma at $5,550, $0 higher.
4 tracked states — Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma among them — record a median within three percent of South Carolina's $5,550. The figure sits in the densest part of the dui / dwi distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
The two rankings disagree sharply. South Carolina attorneys sit 45th of 51 on hourly rate at $220 an hour, but the state is only 51st on total dui / dwi cost — the recorded matters resolve in fewer billed hours than the rate alone would produce.
| Rank | State | Median | Against South Carolina |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | North Dakota | $5,800 | +$250 |
| 46 | Kansas | $5,750 | +$200 |
| 47 | Louisiana | $5,700 | +$150 |
| 48 | Arkansas | $5,600 | +$50 |
| 49 | Kentucky | $5,600 | +$50 |
| 50 | Oklahoma | $5,550 | −$0 |
| 51 | South Carolina | $5,550 | — |
Within ten percent of the South Carolina figure there are 7 states above and only 0 below. $0 more moves South Carolina up a row, which means the ranking has far more room to improve than to slip: the dui / dwi field is dense overhead and sparse underneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and adding $200 to the $5,550 recorded here.
There is nothing below: $5,550 is the lowest dui / dwi median recorded here.
$4,250 short of Washington ($9,800), $0 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $5,550 median divided by the $220 median rate implies roughly 25 billable hours. The peer median is 27 hours: South Carolina reaches its total in 2 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex dui / dwi costs 5.1x a simple one in South Carolina, but the implied workload only rises 3.4x — 14 hours at $180 becomes 47 hours at $280 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.56x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
The South Carolina moderate band spans $3,700 to $7,400 — $3,700 — which is $1,300 narrower than the peer-median band of $5,000, so quoted dui / dwi figures cluster more tightly here than in most tracked states. End to end that is 17 hours at $220.
Spread across the 3-6 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $5,550 median works out to roughly $1,233 a month. A complex dui / dwi runs longer, at 6-12 months, but it also runs hotter — about $1,450 a month — so the extra cost is not simply the extra calendar time.
A third ordering: by implied hours South Carolina is 47th of 51 at 25 hours, 4 places above its cost rank of 51st on cost — more work behind the same dui / dwi money.
The $7,450 table midpoint sits above the $7,400 ceiling recorded for South Carolina, so the typical tracked state's figure is higher than anything in this state's moderate band.
| Measure | South Carolina | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $5,550 | 51st |
| Hourly median | $220 | 45th |
| Implied hours | 25 | 47th |
| Simple median | $2,550 | 50th |
| Complex median | $13,050 | 47th |
$220 an hour puts South Carolina between New Mexico ($220) and South Dakota ($220) — not the dui / dwi cost pairing.
New Mexico, South Dakota record the same $220: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$5,550 buys 31 hours at $180, 25 at $220, 20 at $280.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 43 | West Virginia | $230 |
| 44 | New Mexico | $220 |
| 45 | South Carolina | $220 |
| 46 | South Dakota | $220 |
| 47 | Louisiana | $215 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 50th at the simple tier, 51st at moderate, 47th at complex of 51 — so South Carolina keeps roughly the same relative position whether the dui / dwi is straightforward or contested.
$2,550 is 50th of 51 on a straightforward dui / dwi, under Oklahoma ($2,600) and over Arkansas ($2,500), $850 under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$13,050 is 47th of 51 once contested, between Louisiana ($13,150) and South Dakota ($13,050), $3,300 off the $16,350 tier midpoint.
Neither pair of adjacent bands touches: $100 of clear space between the simple and moderate tiers, and $300 between the moderate and complex tiers. Every recorded dui / dwi figure in South Carolina maps to exactly one tier, which makes the tier label unusually informative here.
| Tier | South Carolina | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $2,550 | 50th | $3,400 | 14 |
| moderate | $5,550 | 51st | $7,450 | 25 |
| complex | $13,050 | 47th | $16,350 | 47 |
$2,550 puts South Carolina 50th of 51 on straightforward matters, 1 up on its moderate position, and $850 (25%) under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
14 implied hours at $180: 56% of the moderate tier's 25, over 1-3 months.
Oklahoma ($2,600) and Arkansas ($2,500) bracket it — a $100 window.
2 states sit within three percent of the $2,550 here, against 4 at the moderate row.
$13,050 puts South Carolina 47th of 51 on contested matters, 4 up on its moderate position, and $3,300 (20%) under the $16,350 tier midpoint.
47 implied hours at $280: 188% of the moderate tier's 25, over 6-12 months.
Louisiana ($13,150) and South Dakota ($13,050) bracket it — a $100 window.
6 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $13,050, denser than the 4 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 48 | Kentucky | $2,650 |
| 49 | Oklahoma | $2,600 |
| 50 | South Carolina | $2,550 |
| 51 | Arkansas | $2,500 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 45 | Oklahoma | $13,300 |
| 46 | Louisiana | $13,150 |
| 47 | South Carolina | $13,050 |
| 48 | South Dakota | $13,050 |
| 49 | Mississippi | $12,800 |
$5,550 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in South Carolina, under Divorce, over Immigration. At 64% of Criminal Defense ($8,700).
The state does not rank uniformly. South Carolina is 35th of 51 for Criminal Defense but 51st for DUI / DWI, a 16-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 51st on dui / dwi says little about what the other lines cost.
South Carolina is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Criminal Defense runs 15% below its own midpoint while Estate Planning / Probate runs 28% below its own midpoint — a 13-point spread between the extremes.
South Carolina's practice areas fan out more than most: its largest tracked median is 5.8x its smallest, against 5.1x for the typical state. Prices here are set matter by matter rather than by one statewide level.
All 7 tracked matter types place South Carolina in the lower third of their tables, the dui / dwi figure included.
In percentile terms it sits at the 0th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,000 | $8,700 | $23,100 | 36 | 35th | −15% | Missouri |
| Divorce | $2,500 | $6,450 | $18,600 | 27 | 50th | −25% | Arkansas |
| DUI / DWI | $2,550 | $5,550 | $13,050 | 25 | 51st | −26% | Oklahoma |
| Immigration | $1,500 | $4,000 | $8,250 | 18 | 41st | −16% | Arkansas |
| Personal Injury | $1,200 | $3,850 | $12,200 | — | — | −26% | — |
| Bankruptcy | $1,100 | $3,050 | $4,250 | 15 | 36th | −15% | North Dakota |
| Real Estate Closing | $850 | $1,800 | $3,900 | 9 | 37th | −19% | North Carolina |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $450 | $1,500 | $4,550 | 7 | 44th | −28% | Oklahoma |
Simple tier. $2,550 ÷ $180 = about 14 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,275 a month. The $3,000 step to the moderate tier is 11 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $5,550 to $13,050 is a $7,500 step, mostly work: 22 more hours at $220 is $4,840, while moving to $280 across 47 hours adds $2,820. Work carries 63%.
What using the wrong reference figure costs. South Carolina ends the dui / dwi table, so one side has no row to borrow. The $7,450 midpoint of all 51 tracked states is out by $1,900 against the $5,550 recorded here.
Both ends, in time. $3,700 is 17 hours at $220; $7,400 is 34. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate dui / dwi, that is 4 to 8 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At South Carolina's own recorded figures, $13,050 buys 5.1 matters at the $2,550 simple median — or, counted in time, 47 implied hours against 14, a factor of 3.4 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the South Carolinacourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.