The August 12, 2026, Court of Appeals opinion in McConnell v. McConnell dismissed Husband’s appeal of family court orders denying him discovery he had issued pursuant to a contempt action he had filed.
In McConnell, Husband filed a rule to show cause seeking to hold Wife in contempt over alleged violations of the parties’ marital settlement agreement that was incorporated into the family court’s final order. Husband served Wife with interrogatories and requests for production. When Wife failed to respond, Husband moved to compel the discovery responses. Wife filed a return and moved to quash the discovery requests.
At the hearing on these motions, the family court ruled from the bench that it would not allow discovery because such was categorically unavailable in a contempt action under Rule 14, SCRFC. The family court’s subsequent written order denied Husband’s request for discovery and required him to pay Wife $1,500 in attorney’s fees. Husband appealed.
The Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal because, under S.C. Code § 14-3-330, discovery orders are not immediately appealable. Both the majority opinion and the concurrence noted concerns that the issue of whether discovery is allowed in independent contempt actions was being applied non-uniformly across the state. Both noted the need for limited discovery in certain post-merits hearing contexts even if the family court rule authorizing discovery (Rule 25, SCFCR) does not apply to contempt proceedings. Both noted the need for resolution of this issue.
The concurrence noted, “An appeal of these orders can proceed after the family court decides the underlying rule to show cause. After the rule is decided, we may again face the argument that discovery should have been allowed.” A non-uniform, family court judge dependent, ad hoc, resolution of whether contempt petitions authorize discovery is untenable. It is a topic of frequent debate among my peer and there is no clear answer. I would expect either a legislative or judicial resolution on whether and what discovery is authorized in an independent family court contempt petition within a few years.
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