Illiterate family court attorneys?
Posted Sunday, August 27th, 2017 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Family Court Procedure, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific
Whence came the South Carolina family court habit of pleading for procedural relief in initial pleadings? When I learned to draft pleadings in law school
South Carolina child custody restraining orders I really hate
Posted Saturday, August 26th, 2017 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Contempt/Enforcement of Orders, Jurisprudence, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific
By the same process that causes attorneys’ boilerplate to grow over time–they borrow “good” ideas from other attorneys but never weed out redundant or obsolete
Best methods for equalizing physical custody
Posted Wednesday, August 23rd, 2017 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
There are some custody cases that will only settle if both parties get equal time with the child(ren). Thus a sizable subset of custody cases
Posted Friday, August 18th, 2017 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
Parents come to my office wanting to litigate custody. Often they are not sure what it means but they know they want it. Terms like
Was there wisdom in the “tender years” doctrine
Posted Monday, August 14th, 2017 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Jurisdiction, Law and Culture, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to General Public
There is no doubt that the “tender years” doctrine–which favored granting mothers custody of young children–would not pass constitutional muster in the 21st century. Such
Two recent interesting unpublished family law opinions
Posted Thursday, August 10th, 2017 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Alimony/Spousal Support, Child Support, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific
I rarely blog about unpublished opinions because even when they are interesting, and even when they should have been published, they rarely do anything other
The legislative paternalism of South Carolina’s name change law
Posted Wednesday, August 9th, 2017 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Jurisprudence, Legislation, Of Interest to General Public, South Carolina Specific
When my wife was a social worker at a local hospital she once acted as a case manager for a mother giving birth to twins.
Posted Tuesday, August 8th, 2017 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public, Paternity, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific
Ever since DNA testing became sufficiently accurate to conclusively exclude paternity, there’s been a tension between the goals of establishing paternity with finality and with
Equal protection challenge to domestic abuse statute leaves law in chaos
Posted Tuesday, August 8th, 2017 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Jurisprudence, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public, Protection from Domestic Abuse, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific
N.B., as anticipated below, the Supreme Court subsequently modified its decision and revived the application of the domestic abuse statute to unmarried cohabitants. See South Carolina
Getting bossy with custody clients
Posted Saturday, July 1st, 2017 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Attorney-Client Relations, Child Custody, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys
I have a saying that custody cases are the rare litigation in which it is acceptable for an attorney to change the facts. While the
