Posts Tagged ‘South Carolina Court of Appeals’

(Un)important unpublished rehabilitative alimony opinion from Court of Appeals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

2011 provides further evidence of the dearth of published South Carolina family law appellate opinions

Two of my frequent complaints are that South Carolina family law attorneys don’t appeal enough of the decisions they believe are unjust and that the South Carolina appellate courts don’t publish enough of their family court decisions.   As a result of these two factors, the development of family law in South Carolina fails to [...]

Sanders opinion highlights confused nature of transmutation

The December 21, 2011 Court of Appeals opinion in Sanders v. Sanders demonstrates the continuing confused jurisprudence regarding transmutation of non marital assets.  It also highlights the problems that result when the trial court is provided insufficient information from the parties to make a complete decision. Sanders involved a cross appeal of equitable distribution issues stemming from [...]

Court of Appeals reverses permanency plan of termination of parental rights where Mother remedied conditions that led to removal

In the December 16, 2011 opinion in SCDSS v. Mother and Father, the Court of Appeals reversed a family court permanency planning order requiring the Department of Social Services (DSS) to bring a termination of parental rights (TPR) action against Mother and instead ordered the matter remanded for a reunification plan. This case started when [...]

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 [...]

Lewin affirms family court fee award in face of Father’s multiple challenges

In the December 14, 2011 opinion in Lewin v. Lewin (in which I represented the losing appellant, though I was not his trial counsel), the Court of Appeals affirmed multiple challenges Father brought to the lower court’s award of $18,955 in fees and costs to Mother.  Lewin represents an interesting fact pattern in that the parties [...]

Fitzwater demonstrates willingness to allow greater deviation from equal division of marital property in shorter marriage

The first of the fifteen factors set forth in South Carolina Code Section 20-3-620 regarding the division of marital property is “the duration of the marriage together with the ages of the parties at the time of the marriage and at the time of the divorce or separate maintenance or other marital action between the [...]