When Will my South Carolina Divorce be Final?

One of the questions we have discussed on this blog is how long with my divorce case.  Another related question is when will my divorce be final.  In many states there is a waiting period for the divorce to be finalized following a trial.  However, in South Carolina there is no waiting period for the divorce to be finalized after the final hearing.  For your divorce to be final in South Carolina the judge has to sign your divorce decree and the decree must be filed in the Family Court clerk of court's office.  After it has been signed and filed with the clerk of court your divorce will be final.  Many times this happens on the day of the final hearing, especially if your case is an uncontested divorce.  If your divorce case is contested and goes to a trial it may take several weeks for the order to be sent to the judge because one of the lawyers will prepare the order and send it over to the other lawyer for his review.  They will go back and forth until they can agree on particular wording for the order and then it is submitted to the Judge for his/her review.