Archive for the ‘Alimony/Spousal Support’ Category

(Un)important unpublished rehabilitative alimony opinion from Court of Appeals

I was eagerly awaiting the Court of Appeals decision in Allen-Hines v. Hines because I was hoping it would answer the question of whether a short marriage alone was sufficient to award rehabilitative alimony rather than permanent periodic alimony.  On August 29, 1988, the Court of Appeals affirmed an award of one year rehabilitative alimony [...]

Fuller opinion provides little guidance on affect of retirement on periodic alimony

Even though he was reversed, one has to admire the clarity of Judge R. Kinard Johnson, Jr.’s views on age, retirement and alimony.  Judge Johnson was asked to determine Husband’s request to reduce his alimony based on Husband’s claim that his medical condition limited his ability to work.  Husband was 67 years old at the [...]

Roof demonstrates confused nature of South Carolina’s “substantial change of circumstances” jurisprudence

In South Carolina, child support, child custody and permanent periodic alimony can all be modified upon a showing of “substantial change of circumstances.”  However, there is an exception to this general principle: if the change of circumstances was anticipated at the time of the previous final order, then the change of circumstances is not a [...]

Defending false allegations of untimely support payments

Counseling clients to pay support by having their bank mail the support check can be a useful prophylactic for defending false claims of late payments. Most of my child support and alimony-paying clients hate paying through the courts.  This hatred is completely justified.  The 5% fee associated with paying support through the South Carolina clerks [...]

Does a short marriage justify the award of rehabilitative alimony rather than permanent alimony?

Most family law attorneys and divorcing parties seem to believe a short marriage suggests an award of rehabilitative rather than permanent alimony.  I’m not so sure.  Next month the Court of Appeals will hear oral argument in the appeal of Karen Allen-Hines v. Franklin Hines.  One of the issues on appeal is whether the family [...]

One hundred things I don’t know about South Carolina family law

This blog is inspired by myriad important family law issues that current South Carolina case law and statute don’t adequately answer.  None of these questions is merely academic, as each has come up at least once in my eighteen years of family law practice.  I have firm opinions on the correct answer to some of [...]

The “best” age(s) for South Carolina husbands to commit adultery

One of the many oddities of South Carolina family law is that a husband is typically best off committing adultery when he and his wife are either very young or very old.  It’s the middle-aged dudes who suffer the most financially from their philandering. When a couple is young, especially if there are no children, [...]

So that’s why (s)he left

Continuing today’s theme of gifts from benevolent domestic litigation deities is the issue of overly vitriolic affidavits for temporary hearings in marital dissolution cases. When beginning representation in a marital dissolution case the spouse who moved out is often at a disadvantage unless he or she can provide a good explanation for why he or [...]