Blog

What does default mean in South Carolina family court?

Posted Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific

South Carolina Family Court Rule 17(a), appears to mitigate some of the harsher consequences under the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure for a failure

Why family court attorneys should know how to do appeals

Posted Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys

There are approximately a half dozen family law attorneys in the Charleston, South Carolina area whom I consider extremely underrated.   Typically their hourly rate

The client whose child is uniquely attractive to pedophiles

Posted Sunday, July 4th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Law and Culture, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to General Public

I and other attorneys I know are now having cases in which one parent complains about the other parent posting photographs of the child to

Is South Carolina family court the only place where attorneys negotiate with the expectation that judges won’t follow the law?

Posted Sunday, July 4th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific

I negotiated the resolution of a motion for temporary relief at the courthouse on Friday.  On at least three different occasions during the hour and

When to file a contested marital dissolution action before negotiating and when not to request a temporary hearing when filing a contested family court case

Posted Sunday, July 4th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Alimony/Spousal Support, Child Custody, Child Support, Equitable Distribution/Property Division, Family Court Procedure, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific

It is my experience that most family law attorneys in South Carolina reflexively file a motion for temporary relief when filing a contested family court

How does a judge know evidence is relevant without (generally) resorting to hearsay?

Posted Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Jurisprudence, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys

While responding to a comment on my blog “Why isn’t corporal punishment considered domestic abuse?,” I began thinking about how one might “know” a fact

Why isn’t corporal punishment considered domestic abuse?

Posted Saturday, June 26th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Law and Culture, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to General Public

Yesterday, while bantering with a DSS attorney I really like during a lull in a mediation I was conducting, she mentioned that she used corporal

I too have read South Carolina Family Court Rule 9 (or how to piss-off a family court judge part 2)

Posted Saturday, June 26th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific

If you practice family law in South Carolina, how often has the following happened to you?: ATTORNEY: [Asks the witness a question] OPPOSING COUNSEL: Objection

A new response to “move on counsel; you’ve made your point” (or how to piss-off a family court judge part 1)

Posted Saturday, June 26th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Litigation Strategy, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys

Since family court proceedings are bench trials a family law attorney’s task is to convince a judge, not a jury.  Judges who feel that the

Not publishing opinions to save the trial court embarrassment

Posted Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Jurisprudence, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public, South Carolina Specific

I have been a past critic of the South Carolina Court of Appeals’ failure to publish opinions that do not meet the criteria of S.C.