The problem in filing updated financial declarations at final hearings to approve agreements
Posted Tuesday, May 31st, 2016 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific
Family Court Rule 20(a) requires “a current financial declaration” “be served and filed” “[i]n any domestic relations action in which the financial condition of a
Script for defeating the “unclean hands” defense in contempt prosecutions
Posted Saturday, May 28th, 2016 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Contempt/Enforcement of Orders, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
I don’t believe “unclean hands” is a defense to contempt. If an opposing party seeks to hold my client in contempt for conduct that party
“I don’t know/recall” may be the best interrogatory or deposition answer you can get
Posted Thursday, April 21st, 2016 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
I lectured last week to recent law school graduates about family law discovery. Part of this lecture discussed Rule 37(a)(3), SCRCP which reads: “Evasive or
Why join stepparents as opposing parties to family court proceedings?
Posted Friday, March 25th, 2016 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
The short answer is discovery. While I understand the logic of joining stepparents as parties to custody or visitation proceedings when that stepparent will not
Why not divide up legal custody?
Posted Saturday, February 27th, 2016 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
Deciding who will have legal custody–final decision making authority for a child–can be one of the more contentious issues in custody cases. Often one parent
Using opposing parties’ evasive discovery responses against them
Posted Tuesday, February 9th, 2016 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
Often opposing parties will respond to discovery with evasion: giving answers that respond to some, slightly different allegation; providing lengthy responses to “yes/no” questions without
Posted Sunday, February 7th, 2016 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Attorney-Client Relations, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
In responding to discovery or pleadings, some of the responses, if accurate, will bolster the other party’s case. Clients, even (especially) sophisticated clients, often balk
Respecting the ongoing duty to supplement written discovery responses
Posted Friday, February 5th, 2016 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
South Carolina case law recognizes the fundamental importance of discovery to preparing a lawsuit for trial: The primary objective of discovery is to ensure that
That ship has sailed (or implicitly condoning past child abuse or neglect)
Posted Friday, February 5th, 2016 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
A decent subset of my custody and visitation cases have one parent raising abuse or neglect allegations that predate an agreement (whether a temporary consent
The problems in splitting children’s expenses based upon undefined “pro rata income shares”
Posted Friday, January 8th, 2016 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Audience:, Child Custody, Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public
I have recently encountered a number of court-approved child support agreements in which child-related expenses are divided upon undefined “pro rata [Latin for “in proportion”]
