Archive for the ‘Of Interest to Family Court Litigants’ Category
Posted Tuesday, January 7th, 2020 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific
2 Comments »
After a couple of years mid-decade in which South Carolina’s appellate courts published only six opinions addressing family law, 2019 produced a more robust set of opinions: eighteen, plus a refiled opinion from late-2018. Many of these opinions were highly consequential. Two Court of Appeals opinions, Singh v. Singh, and Kosciusko v. Parham, held that […]
Posted in Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific | 2 Comments »
Posted Monday, January 6th, 2020 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Support, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific
2 Comments »
Continuing a very recent pattern of appellate courts disregarding the family court’s credibility determinations, the December 31, 2019, Court of Appeals opinion in Bauckman v. McLeod reversed a family court finding of equitable estoppel. In Bauckman, the parties reached a court-approved agreement in 2002 that Father would pay $399 per month in child support. In […]
Tags: Child Support, Equitable Estoppel, South Carolina Court of Appeals
Posted in Child Support, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific | 2 Comments »
Posted Thursday, December 19th, 2019 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific
1 Comment »
Argued first but decided second, the December 18, 2019 Court of Appeals opinion in Singh v. Singh confirms what a November 6, 2019 Court of Appeals opinion in Kosciusko v. Parham previously determined: the family court cannot enforce custody issues decided by arbitration. With no judges overlapping on the two three-judge panels, we have a […]
Tags: Arbitration, Child Custody, South Carolina Court of Appeals
Posted in Child Custody, Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific | 1 Comment »
Posted Friday, December 6th, 2019 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Alimony/Spousal Support, Child Support, Jurisprudence, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific
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An issue more philosophical than legal is whether there should be a ceiling on alimony and (especially) child support awards. On one hand, alimony (and to some extent child support) is intended to allow the spouse or child to enjoy a similar lifestyle to a high-income spouse or parent. On the other hand, why should […]
Tags: Alimony/Spousal Support, Child Support, Jurisprudence
Posted in Alimony/Spousal Support, Child Support, Jurisprudence, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific | No Comments »
Posted Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Alimony/Spousal Support, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific
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In 2012 South Carolina passed a statute, S.C. Code § 20-3-170(B), in which one subsection set forth criteria for the family courts to consider when modifying alimony upon a supporting spouse’s retirement. One assumed the goal was to create greater certainty and uniformity for retirement-based alimony reduction/termination cases. However this subsection lists six factors for […]
Tags: Alimony Modification, Litigation Strategy
Posted in Alimony/Spousal Support, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific | No Comments »
Posted Monday, December 2nd, 2019 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Alimony/Spousal Support, Equitable Distribution/Property Division, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific
No Comments »
There are occasionally cases in which a spouse who would typically pay significant permanent periodic alimony as part of a marital dissolution has destroyed his career around the time of the parties’ separation. Often this career destruction was the cause of the marital dissolution: a spouse charged with a crime that leaves him incarcerated or […]
Tags: Alimony/Spousal Support, Equitable Distribution/Property Division, Litigation Strategy
Posted in Alimony/Spousal Support, Equitable Distribution/Property Division, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific | No Comments »
Posted Wednesday, November 20th, 2019 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Appellate Procedure, Equitable Distribution/Property Division, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific
No Comments »
Last week I blogged about how the Supreme Court’s decisions in Lewis and Stoney–mandating a de novo standard of appellate review of family court factual findings–was making it more worthwhile to appeal family court orders. I noted last month’s oral argument in Conits v. Conits as an example of how this less deferential standard of […]
Tags: Equitable Distribution/Property Division, South Carolina Supreme Court, Unpublished Opinions
Posted in Appellate Procedure, Equitable Distribution/Property Division, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific | No Comments »
Posted Wednesday, November 13th, 2019 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific
No Comments »
The November 13, 2019, Court of Appeals opinion in Tomlinson v. Melton continues the appellate court’s disfavor of joint custody. In Tomlinson, the parties entered a custody agreement at the time of their 2011 divorce that gave Father primary physical custody and final decision making authority but gave Mother every other week from Wednesday to […]
Tags: Child Custody Modification, Joint Custody, South Carolina Court of Appeals
Posted in Child Custody, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific | No Comments »
