Margaret "Peggi" Jackson Sorrell will make a big change in January 2017.
Though she will only move maybe 50 feet into a new, larger office, she will have the weight of the entire Probate Court on her shoulders. It will be her first time holding elected office, having won her first term as Probate judge June 14 with 53 percent of the public's vote against opponent Peggy Knox.
"I am just so humbled by all the support," Sorrell said last week after the primary. "I intend to do the best that I can for the residents of Clarendon County and make the Probate Court work as efficiently as it can for them, whatever their needs may be."
A Manning native and 1981 Laurence Manning Academy graduate, Sorrell will be the first licensed attorney to hold the position in nearly a decade when she replaces two-term judge Kathy Geddings next year. She received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1985 from the College of Charleston and earned a juris doctor degree from the University of South Carolina Law School in 1988.
She touted her time as a practicing attorney during her campaign, saying she knows how the courtroom works.
"The Probate Office is a court of law," she said. "You have hearings, and you have to operate within state law. Being a practicing attorney has given me exposure to hearings, to the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure and to the South Carolina Probate Code."
Sorrell said her law background gives her an understanding of deeds of distribution and the laws of intestacy.
“I understand the rules of evidence,” she said. “I also believe that I have learned how to run this office and keep the records, keep the accountings and books and how to keep the marriage and mental health records.”
Sorrell is no stranger to the office: She joined the office in summer 2013 at a part-time clerk, and became deputy probate judge in November 2015.
She said there will be a seamless transition from Geddings' administration to hers.
“I have the knowledge and the energy to do this job,” she said. “I believe I have the social skills to provide excellent customer service to the public. I want to carry on the tradition of public service that is woven through the fabric of my family.”
Sorrell said in her current role with the court she helps with all matters of Probate.
“Probate handles the probating of wills and the estates of intestate deceased persons,” she said. “The court appoints personal representatives to handle deceased persons’ estates. This court handles appointing and overseeing guardianships and conservatorships of incapacitated persons.”
The court also issues and preserves marriage licenses.
“We issue detention orders for mentally ill or chemically dependent persons to be evaluated at the local emergency room,” Sorrell noted. “This is done only after we receive an affidavit from someone who has been to our local Department of Mental Health and has gotten an affidavit from a counselor there.”
She said the office maintains these records “indefinitely, all on paper and many on computer.”
A member of the Presbyterian Church at Manning, she attends Indiantown Presbyterian Church, where her husband, Mike, is pastor. She is a member of the South Carolina Bar Association, the South Carolina Probate Judges’ Association, the Clarendon County Historical Society and Museum Society.
She is a Paul Harris Fellow, formerly having been a member of the Manning Rotary Club. She is a prospective member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and has volunteered to organize a book club at the Harvin Clarendon County Library later this month.
