Our Divorce & Family Law Services in Charleston

Here’s a list of some of the things we do as family law attorneys serving Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, and the surrounding areas. If you need us for any of the following, then contact us today.

4. Spousal Support (alimony)

   • Our goal is to make sure that whether you are receiving or paying, your alimony is the fairest amount possible under South Carolina law.

5. Distribution of Marital Property

   • Marital assets and debts must be divided under South Carolina’s family laws. No matter how simple or complicated your finances and properties may be, we will help you reach an equitable distribution.

6. prenuptial agreements

   • Our lawyers have the knowledge and the skill to prepare or to negotiate the best prenuptial agreement for you.

Our Divorce & Family Law Services in Charleston

Here’s a list of some of the things we do as family law attorneys serving Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, and the surrounding areas. If you need us for any of the following, then contact us today.

1. Child custody & support

   • Our lawyers have decades of experience helping both mothers and fathers resolve their problems concerning child custody and child support.

2. Child visitation

   • We know what you need – a visitation schedule that focuses on the well-being of your children and is fair for both parents.

3. Divorce

   • Divorce is rarely easy on anyone. Our attorneys will set your mind at ease and protect the best interests of you and your family.

4. Spousal Support (alimony)

   • Our goal is to make sure that whether you are receiving or paying, your alimony is the fairest amount possible under South Carolina law.

5. Distribution of Marital Property

   • Marital assets and debts must be divided under South Carolina’s family laws. No matter how simple or complicated your finances and properties may be, we will help you reach an equitable distribution.

6. prenuptial agreements

   • Our lawyers have the knowledge and the skill to prepare or to negotiate the best prenuptial agreement for you.

Helpful Information on an Uncontested Divorce in South Carolina

Our attorneys handle both contested and uncontested divorces in Charleston and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. With some divorces the husband and wife are looking to go their separate ways without the expense and heartache of fighting with each other in family court. These couples usually wonder whether they need to hire a lawyer or each hire their own lawyers to get divorced. They know they need to bring their case to family court, but they do not know the process from there.

There are many issues for couples to consider if one or both want a divorce. If there are children, you need to address custody, visitation, support, and other details regarding your children. Marital property needs to be divided. Marital debts need to be apportioned. You need to decide whether one party will pay alimony to the other or whether you will both waive alimony. These are just some of the issues depending on the particular situation. If you and your spouse are in full agreement on all of the issues, then the divorce is oftentimes called “uncontested.”

There are plenty of free, and paid, online separation agreements. To be fair, some of these forms aren’t bad. However, when it comes to a divorce, one size doesn’t fit all. Your needs, your spouse’s needs, and your children’s needs are unique. In the end, you will be better served by speaking with a divorce lawyer about your situation before trying to cram the future of your family into a template separation agreement. Here is one example of why template divorce agreements don’t always work. In South Carolina, there are inheritance rights for a spouse when their husband or wife dies without a will. Just because you have a separation agreement doesn’t mean that these inheritance rights go away if the other spouse should die before the divorce is finalized. In the template forms we’ve seen, none of them address this issue. Again, this is just one of many examples of the shortcomings of separation template forms.

It’s possible to get divorced in South Carolina without an attorney. However, we’ve had clients come to us in the past because they attempted the process and found themselves unsuccessful in court. There are several procedural requirements that must be met. The paperwork must be correct. For example, both parties must file accurate financial declarations with the family court. Also, even if you think the agreement you’ve come up with is a good one, the family court still has to decide whether it is fair and equitable to both parties and in the best interests of any children involved. If you choose to attempt this process on your own, we strongly encourage you to at least schedule a consultation so that you know your rights and have a better understanding of the process in family court. The consultation could actually save you time and money in the long run.

Additionally, oftentimes when we review an agreement that spouses have written, we spot details that neither spouse thought of. When this happens, we can likely help with a solution. Here are some examples:

1) Marital Home – In some cases, both the husband and wife are on the deed, note, and mortgage of the marital home. Although they decided that one of them will keep the home and be responsible for the mortgage payments, they forgot that they are both remain obligated to the bank, so the other spouse can’t get a loan to buy a new home. The solution may require that the spouse keeping the home refinance the loan within a reasonable period of time, otherwise the house would need to be sold.

2) Parenting Schedule – As another example, the couple may have come up with a great parenting schedule that works for a pre-schooler, but they haven’t given thought to what schedule works best for everyone when the child enters school. In this instance, the family court may send you back to the drawing board to figure out a new parenting schedule. We can help you figure out a schedule that works both now and in the future.

3) Tax Consequences – In other cases, there are tax consequences to how property is transferred, support is paid, and other taxation issues that neither spouse considers when coming up with their agreement. When we advise our clients, we make them aware of how their agreement may impact them with the IRS in the future. There are just three of many examples of where an uncontested divorce should remain uncontested, but the separation agreement needs a little fine-tuning.

One divorce attorney can’t represent both the husband and the wife. In 1981, the South Carolina Bar’s Ethics Advisory Committee issued an opinion stating: “The position of the [husband and wife] in a divorce action are inherently adversary. We conclude that an attorney could and should not represent both.”

Even though we can’t represent both spouses in a divorce, we can give advice to the spouse that hires us and we can prepare an agreement according to that spouse’s wishes. We will send the agreement to the other spouse and ask if that spouse proposes that anything is changed. We will not provide any advice or substantive representations to the other spouse, except that we will encourage that spouse to have the agreement reviewed by his or her own lawyer. Otherwise, we deal with the pro se (doesn’t have a lawyer) spouse fairly and professionally. After all, we want (and encourage) your divorce to remain uncontested.

In an uncontested divorce, we make sure your agreement is signed before anyone ever steps into the courtroom. After it is signed, we file a case with the court and request a hearing.

Also, we make sure all of the appropriate paperwork is prepared, and we attend the hearing to make sure everything runs smoothly. At the hearing, we have the agreement approved by the court so that it is enforceable, we proceed with the divorce, and if ask the court for any name changes (typically a wife who wants to use her maiden name) if necessary.

We’ve seen posters on telephone poles advertising uncontested divorces in Charleston, South Carolina for $150.00 even when there are children involved. Knowing the filing fee in family court costs this much, we were curious how any lawyer could advertise this fee for their services. So, we called the number and visited their website to find out more. As it turns out, this advertiser was NOT a law firm nor were they lawyers. Instead, these advertisers are non-lawyers who are charging people for the divorce forms and paperwork that are already FREE online from the South Carolina Judiciary including instructions. As written on one website, in fine print, “We are not attorneys, nor do we portray to be. All parties are ‘pro se’ and clients will file any and all court documents as ‘pro se.’ We do not offer or provide any legal advice,opinions,conclusions, persuasions or otherwise. The services provided are only administrative and of a clerical nature . . . .”

We charge by the hour for our services. If your divorce is uncontested, we plan to keep it that way and to keep your hourly fees down to a minimum!

In South Carolina, you must have a legal ground to get a divorce. The grounds for divorce are:

(1) one year’s continuous separation,

(2) adultery,

(3) physical cruelty,

(4) habitual drunkenness or drug use, and

(5) desertion.

To “keep the peace,” most uncontested divorces we’ve seen are on the ground of one-year continuous separation. This means that we can’t file for divorce until 365 days have passed since you and your spouse separated. We caution couples not to spend one night together during these 365 days because it could reset the clock.

Even if you’re waiting on one year to get divorced, you can still go to family court to get your separation agreement approved by the court. This way, you don’t have to wait a year before you have an enforceable agreement.