There are literally hundreds of commonplace but unresolved family law issues in South Carolina. Yet, at the rate our appellate courts issue published family law opinions, these unresolved issues pile-up faster than our appellate courts resolve them.
In 2013, our appellate courts issued fourteen published family law opinions: six from the Supreme Court and eight from the Court of Appeals. This is the lowest figure since I began this blog in 2009. I can’t blame this dearth on the appellate courts leaving opinions dealing with novel issues unpublished–as I didn’t find a single 2013 unpublished opinion blogworthy.
Until South Carolina family law attorneys start appealing a greater number of cases–especially those dealing with unresolved legal issues–the number of important family law issues that remain unanswered will continue to increase.
