A few months ago I blogged about the common misconception that South Carolina has a ground for divorce for drug abuse when it really has a ground for divorce for habitual intoxication that can include narcotic intoxication. That blog noted that the statutory definitions of narcotic differed from the medical definitions (with medicine increasing eschewing [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Divorce’
When attacking the opposing party is counterproductive
Perhaps because the legal process involves the resolution of conflict, and because conflict requires parties to be in opposition, folks involved in litigation reflexively believe it is necessary to attack the opposing party. In family court, where emotions run hot, such attacks can be particularly vehement. When fighting over a divorce, spouses believe they need [...]
He got what he wanted but lost what he had
Little Richard threatened to title his yet-unwritten autobiography, “He got what he wanted but lost what he had,” after his 1962 single of the same name. Someone should appropriate that title for a memoir of modern Bourgeois marriage. That title, and the poignant sadness it implies, is the meta theme for much of the literature of Western [...]
Hit the crack pipe, not the bong?
At a family law lecture yesterday, I came to the realization that most South Carolina family law attorneys believe there is a ground for divorce for habitual drug use. However a close reading of S.C. Code. Ann. § 20-3-10(4) makes the ground for divorce “Habitual drunkenness; provided, that this ground shall be construed to include [...]
Andrew Michael Myers is one husband who definitely needed a prenup
In the history of South Carolina husbands who wish they had a prenup, I bet there are few with more justification for this feeling than Andrew Michael Myers. The January 19, 2011 Court of Appeals opinion Myers v. Myers, 391 S.C. 308, 705 S.E.2d 86 (Ct. App. 2011), provides some fascinating views of South Carolina’s contemporary divorce jurisprudence. [...]
What is the burden of proof for adultery divorce in South Carolina?
Has anyone else noticed that our South Carolina appellate courts have made a hash out of the burden of proof necessary to obtain a divorce on the grounds of adultery? Three reported South Carolina cases state adultery must be proven by “clear and convincing evidence.” Doe v. Doe, 324 S.C. 492, 478 S.E.2d 854, 856 [...]
Hell hath no fury…
I tell my divorce clients that I cannot make them happy; I can only get them to a place in which they can pursue happiness. I actually feel somewhat proud to be an American every time I take someone who’s been unhappy in his or her marriage and free them from that burden. After all, [...]
Should having sex, or even spending nights, with one’s spouse prevent a one-year’s continuous separation divorce?
South Carolina law allows spouses to obtain a divorce when they “have lived separate and apart without cohabitation for a period of one year.” S.C. Code Ann. § 20-3-10(5). Based primarily upon what I hear anecdotally, I suspect if you asked South Carolina family court judges whether they could grant a divorce on this ground [...]