A dispute over custody of a child is one of the most stressful and grueling processes that Charleston divorce lawyers can help their clients face. While child custody disputes are often difficult enough between a divorcing couple, two individuals who are not married and have a child between them can add an extra layer of complexity to an already complex situation. [Read more…]
Charleston SC Divorce Lawyer | Co-Parenting During a Hurricane
Any Charleston SC divorce lawyer will tell you that there is an extraordinary amount of stress and uncertainty that comes along with co-parenting and complying with court orders during any type of natural disaster, particularly when evacuations are ordered and each parent would have time with the children during the evacuation days.
During hurricane season, parents often inquire as to what their rights are with regards to their ability to evacuate with the children. While these questions are never easy to answer, there a few things you can do to ensure your safety, your child’s safety, and y [Read more…]
Charleston SC Divorce Attorneys | Understanding Joint Custody
Custody is generally the most important issue people face when first meeting with Charleston SC divorce attorneys. So in any situation in which a divorcing couple has children, an exploration of the different types of custody is the first topic of conversation.
Joint custody is frequently the type of custody potential clients want to discuss first in our consultations, as the laws and courts in South Carolina have slowly come to view it more favorably. As with any [Read more…]
Charleston Divorce Lawyers | Holiday Survival Guide
It’s that time of year again. The holidays, of course, where children move back and forth between their separated or divorced parents, where money is short, where demands on time, temper and money become tight, and where small impressions made may live forever.
Suggestions to survive the holidays:
1) Follow the rules.
If you and your former spouse, or your separated spouse, have rules in place to govern the holidays, follow those rules. If you wanted to make changes, or ask for changes, or negotiate changes, this is not the time; that should have been done earlier, say in the summ [Read more…]
Charleston Divorce Lawyer | Custody and a Child’s Preference
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
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
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
“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…]
Charleston Family Court Lawyers | Grandparent Visitation in South Carolina
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…]
Charleston Divorce: Can I Withhold Visitation From a Parent Who Is Behind on Child Support?
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…]