Best Interest of the Child Archives | Page 2 of 3

Charleston Family Law Attorneys | Notice Requirement in Adoption Cases

August 19, 2014 By Patricia O. DeTreville Leave a Comment

Charleston Family Law Attorneys | What Matters in Adoption Cases: #1, Notice to Necessary Persons

Within the past year, newspapers in the Charleston area were full of stories about a prolonged custody and adoption battle between an adoptive couple living in Charleston County and a biological father living in Oklahoma. While that case ultimately was decided by the US Supreme Court, and included issues of whether the child was a member of an Indian tribe, issues of notice were also argued. In any adoption case, the issue of notice to the people who are necessary to the cas [Read more…]

Charleston Divorce Lawyer | Custody and a Child’s Preference

June 30, 2014 By J. Michael DeTreville Leave a Comment

Custody disputes can be among the most difficult cases for a Charleston divorce lawyer to handle. The difficulty is often compounded by the family tensions that existed long before the client ever walked in the door, tensions that are often multiplied by either a lack of or misunderstanding of South Carolina custody laws. One frequently misunderstood custody law is that regarding a child’s stated preference to live with one parent or the other. Parents want to know — will this make a difference in my case?

The short answer, as it so often it is in Famil [Read more…]

Divorce Lawyer in Charleston SC | Holidays with the Kids

June 19, 2014 By Patricia O. DeTreville Leave a Comment

As a long-time divorce lawyer in Charleston SC, I have seen an entire generation of children processed (literally) through the court system as part of their parents’ divorce. Along the way, these children, many now adults with children of their own, have been analyzed, scrutinized, poked, prodded, debated, and carefully considered. Decisions and rulings beyond number have been made for them, and in their best interests, all as determined by the system. What we discover at this point, however, is that these children feel that they have not been heard, and they definitely have [Read more…]

Divorce Attorneys in Charleston | Making Summers Easier on the Kids

June 17, 2014 By Patricia O. DeTreville Leave a Comment

Divorced or separated parents have to live, day by day, with the consequences to their children of the choices which they make as adults. Good choices for the children can be difficult to make, in the “fog” of separation or divorce. Whether you are separated, thinking about separation, divorced, or in the middle of a case on either, here are some suggestions from experienced divorce attorneys in Charleston for handling your extended summer times with your children:

1) Don’t use this time to say bad things about your children’s other parent or members of their family.[Read more…]

Divorce Lawyer in Charleston | Picking Your Battles Wisely

February 12, 2014 By J. Michael DeTreville Leave a Comment

“If you treat every situation as a life or death matter, you’ll die a lot of times.”

As a divorce lawyer in Charleston, one of my primary responsibilities toward my clients is to help them decide what battles to fight and what issues to let go. Every case is different, so every client’s priorities will be different, but there are some guiding principles that can apply to everybody equally.

Your children are worth fighting for.

As long as you have your children’s best interests at heart, there are few child-related issues that are not worth battling over. [Read more…]

James Island Divorce Lawyers | Loving Your Kids After Divorce

February 10, 2014 By Patricia O. DeTreville Leave a Comment

It’s almost Valentine’s Day. Here is some holiday advice from our James Island divorce lawyers on giving your children special gifts when they are experiencing the divorce or separation of their parents.

Every holiday brings strain to children whose parents are divorced, going through a divorce, or just separated – no matter how long it has been since their parents have been together.

Father and/or Mother may now have a new spouse (stepfather or stepmother), a significant other, or just a new boyfriend or girlfriend. There may or may not be loving grandparents in the pictu [Read more…]

Charleston Divorce Attorney | Changing a Child’s Name

February 7, 2014 By J. Michael DeTreville 1 Comment

Changing a child’s name can be a tricky proposition, particularly following a divorce or under circumstances where unmarried parents have a falling out. It’s certainly one thing for parents to part ways, and another to hotly contest custody, but attempting to change a child’s surname will almost always be viewed as an attempt to permanently break a familial bond, and is sure to be angrily contested in most cases. A qualified and experienced Charleston divorce attorney can assist in guiding you through this potential minefield.

As with most issues pertaining to children in [Read more…]

Charleston Family Court Lawyers | Grandparent Visitation in South Carolina

January 30, 2014 By J. Michael DeTreville Leave a Comment

The dissolution of a marriage or a parental relationship can traumatize more than just the parents and the children; grandparents stand to suffer a substantial loss of quality time with their grandchildren that they may have once enjoyed. Charleston Family Court lawyers are frequently faced with distraught grandparents looking to recover the close relationship they had and lost with their their grandchildren. The law in South Carolina is very specific on the topic, and quite frequently not what the grandparents want to hear.

Under normal circumstances, our courts will no [Read more…]

Divorce Lawyers in Charleston |Text Messages in Family Court

December 12, 2013 By J. Michael DeTreville 1 Comment

Making changes to procedural rules can sometimes create unpredicted after-affects, which can take some time to become apparent.

The South Carolina Supreme Court changed the rules regarding temporary hearings just over a year ago, the most important change being that they set a limit of eight pages of affidavits that each litigant may submit (excepting fee affidavits and Financial Declarations and the like). This limitation notably excludes from the page count “attachments or exhibits [Read more…]

Charleston Divorce: Can I Withhold Visitation From a Parent Who Is Behind on Child Support?

December 9, 2013 By J. Michael DeTreville Leave a Comment

Every day we see custodial parents who are pushed to the brink by unpaid child support obligations. The child support system in South Carolina can be slow, and it certainly is imperfect, so it can seem to a parent struggling because of unpaid support that the system doesn’t work, or even worse, doesn’t care.

These feelings lead often to lead to thoughts of self-help; “if the system can’t make him pay child support maybe I can.” And what is the only “bargaining chip” a custodial parent may have in their relationship with the non-paying parent [Read more…]

« Previous Page