Demand formal requests before allowing a home inspection in marital dissolution cases
May 19, 2020
A request for entry upon land for the purpose of inspection is a discovery option infrequently used by family court attorneys. Part of the reason
March 30, 2020
The doctrine of res judicata prevents the relitigation of issues previously decided between the same parties. The doctrine requires three essential elements: (1) the judgment
February 21, 2020
There’s a never discussed but occasionally employed litigation strategy of using money to purchase time with (or limit an opposing party’s access to) children. Earlier
Softening up an unrealistic defendant
February 20, 2020
I began trial in a visitation establishment case yesterday. While preparing for trial earlier this week my client (the plaintiff) asked me how I thought
The difficulties of predicting alimony reduction on retirement
December 3, 2019
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
Marital property as lump sum alimony
December 2, 2019
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
What de novo appellate review is actually doing
November 12, 2019
I thought it noteworthy when the Supreme Court remanded Stoney v. Stoney, 421 S.C. 528 , 809 S.E.2d 59 (2017), back to the Court of
An evasive or incomplete answer is to be treated as a failure to answer
October 14, 2019
I find it curious that attorneys routinely treat incomplete or evasive discovery responses as no big deal. From my reading, Rule 37(a)(3), SCRCP, could not
