June 2011

South Carolina Specific

June 30th, 2011

Does looking at online pornography make you an unfit parent?

Does looking at online pornography make you an unfit parent?  At least one local family court judge seems to think so. I had a motion to compel hearing earlier this week.  One of the answers I thought was evasive was a response to my question about whether there was anything about my client that made […]

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Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys

June 29th, 2011

Disloyal collegiality in the prosecution and non prosecution of motions to compel

South Carolina attorneys are expected to be collegial.  Part of that collegiality is a reluctance to file motions to compel discovery responses and a frequent acceptance of discovery responses that are incomplete or evasive.  Another part of that collegiality is a general understanding that a demand for fees as part of a motion to compel […]

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Of Interest to Family Court Litigants

June 29th, 2011

Court of Appeals holds Rule 59(e) motion does not authorize family court to modify final order, <i>sua sponte</i>, in manner not requested by the moving party

The June 29, 2011 Court of Appeals opinion in Wannamaker v. Wannamaker, 395 S.C. 592, 719 S.E.2d 261 (Ct. App. 2011) (refiled August 11, 2011 with a slightly altered analysis of the equitable distribution issue) involved three issues, two of which were not novel.  The unnovel issues: In a sixteen year marriage, where the supported spouse earns $30k […]

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Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys

June 29th, 2011

Verifying interrogatory answers

I prosecuted a motion to compel recently against an experienced attorney.  One of the things I wanted his client compelled to do was verify the answers to my client’s interrogatories.  At the hearing the opposing attorney reported that, until he received my motion to compel, he was unaware of the requirement that interrogatory answers be […]

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Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys

June 29th, 2011

Free Ethics CLE August 12, 2011

Charlie Tex Davis, staff attorney for the South Carolina Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC), is one of my favorite ethics speakers.  He explains in clear and lively terms exactly the sort of behaviors that get attorneys into trouble and how to avoid conduct that violates the rule of professional conduct or mitigate the consequences that […]

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Not South Carolina Specific

June 26th, 2011

Can inability to remedy a child’s morbid obesity be considered child abuse or neglect?

Until recently I had been representing the family of a child whose morbid obesity led to repeated Department of Social Services interventions.  His medical doctors could find no organic reason for the child’s morbid obesity and warned he was at high risk of early death or serious health problems unless he lost weight and kept […]

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