In what is, for me, one of the most highly anticipated decisions on this year’s docket, the South Carolina Supreme Court decided on September 19, 2011 in the case of Theisen v. Theisen, 394 S.C. 434, 716 S.E.2d 271 (2011) that physical separation is a required component for bringing a separate maintenance action. For almost a decade, [...]
Archive for the ‘Divorce and Marriage’ Category
Should separation be required for a separate maintenance action?
In April 2011, the South Carolina Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of Eileen Frances Theresa Busto Theisen v. Clifford Richard Theisen. According to the Supreme Court’s roster of cases, the issue in this appeal is “whether physical separation is a pre-requisite for a party to receive separate maintenance and support.” Since Supreme [...]
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 [...]
A Divorce Lawyer’s Tips for Marriage
From Guest Blogger, Thomas F. McDow: 1. Love each other as you are. Men marry women hoping they will not change. Women marry men expecting them to change. The awful reality is that men do not change and women do. If you think you can make him into a perfect husband, do not marry him [...]
If I were Dear Abby
Eighteen years of family law practice has caused me to develop a persona of a frustrated advice columnist. Today’s Dear Abby column demonstrates why family law attorneys will never run out of business. A man writes: DEAR ABBY: My fiancee, “Vanessa,” and I have been engaged almost a year. We’re to be married in three months. [...]
Dan Savage on the virtues of infidelity
An interesting piece in tomorrow’s New York Times Sunday Magazine, Married, with Infidelities, highlights my favorite relationship advice columnist, Dan Savage, and his views on marriage and monogamy. In his relationship column, Savage Love, Dan observes many of the same problems with contemporary marriage that I see in my divorce practice: the tensions and conflicts [...]
Didn’t she read the owner’s manual?
Went to another temporary hearing yesterday to “learn” from reading the opposing party-wife’s affidavit that my husband-client likes to “drink beer” and “visit adult websites.” Well duh. Aren’t women reading the owner’s manual before purchasing husbands? I’m pretty sure it notes that husbands like to drink beer and visit adult websites. Admittedly when a husband [...]