Do I Have to Be Separated for One Year to Get a Divorce?

I know a lot of the talk on this blog is about uncontested divorces and I talk about how you have to be separated for more than one year before you can file for divorce.  But that is not always the case.If you are filing for a no-fault, uncontested divorce, I'm sorry but you have to wait the full year out before you can file for divorce.  There is some proposed legislation floating around in Columbia that would allow a no fault divorce to occur after 180 days; however, that is not the law at this time.If you are filing based on a fault-based ground of adultery, physical abuse, and habitual drunkenness  you do not have to be separated for more than one year.  You don't even need to be separated at all (though it is a good idea in most cases).  There are some time limits in place such as a minimum of 60 days from the date of filing to have a final hearing and 90 days must elapse before a final order of divorce can be issued by the court.

Can I get Divorced in South Carolina if I was Married in Another State?

I am faced with this in my practice every day.  A prospective client comes in who went with their spouse to Gatlinburg or Las Vegas to get married or maybe they are from another part of the country and find themselves at this time in South Carolina facing a divorce.South Carolina law will allow you to get a divorce in South Carolina no matter where you were married.  Basically, this is a question of jurisdiction - meaning what kind of cases the court can hear.  In order for a South Carolina Family Court to hear your divorce case you must meet a few criteria.First, if both you and your spouse are South Carolina residents then you can file your divorce here.  Second, if you are not a South Carolina resident, but your spouse is, you can file in South Carolina.  Third, if your spouse is not a resident, but you have lived in South Carolina for more than one year you may file in South Carolina.So, it boils down to whether you or your spouse are currently residents of South Carolina to determine if you can file for divorce in a South Carolina Family Court.

Proving One Year Separation

The no-fault ground for divorce in South Carolina is to prove that you and your spouse have lived separately and apart for more than one year.  That means that you have intentionally and voluntarily lived in a separate residence from your spouse for more than one year.  This does not include sleeping in the guest bedroom down the hall.Many clients ask me if they need to bring in a copy of an apartment lease or hotel receipt to prove the time they moved out.  Usually this is not necessary.  You will simply testify that you moved out or separated from your spouse on a certain date.  Then you will need a witness who knows you well enough that if you were to get back with your spouse they would probably know about it.  Someone who visits your home regularly and calls you on the telephone regularly.  This witness needs to be at least 18 years old, can be a family member or friend, but should not be a child of the marriage.  Their testimony will corroborate yours and that will be enough proof for your divorce.

What Happens If I Don't Know Where My Spouse Is?

Question: I would like to get a divorce from my spouse, but I do not know where they are or how to find them.  Is it still possible to get a divorce from them?Answer: In order for the family court to hear your case they must have personal jurisdiction over you and your spouse.  The court gets this personal jurisdiction over your spouse when they are served with the complaint (the papers filed with the family court).  Usually this is done by personally serving your spouse according to the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure.  Typically, you would have a process server or some independent third party serve your spouse by personally handing them the papers.Well, clearly this can't be done if your spouse is no where to be found.  In this case, you must serve them by publication.  What that means is that an advertisement or legal notice is run in the legal notice section of  a newspaper of "general circulation" in the county where your spouse was last known to reside.  In order to run this advertisement; however, you must perform a diligent search for your missing spouse and then file a motion asking the family court's permission to serve your spouse by publication and including an affidavit stating everything you have done to attempt to locate your spouse.Once your motion has been approved, a legal notice is run one per week for three weeks.  At the end of the third week, your spouse has 30 days to respond.  If there is no response, then your spouse is in "default" meaning they have not responded and you can proceed with your case.

How Long Does it Take for an Uncontested Divorce in South Carolina

This is a hard question to answer because it contains many variables.  But, I can help provide some general guidelines so you can get an idea of how long the typical uncontested divorce takes in South Carolina.Like I mentioned in a previous post, I practice primarily in Greenville County, South Carolina so I can speak more authoritatively on how long it takes in Greenville.  Most other counties will have similar time frames, but they do vary from county to county.This also assumes that your case is truly uncontested, meaning you and your spouse agree that there are no issues for the court to resolve except for actualy divorce (i.e. no property to separate, no children together, or you have reached a written agreement on all of these issues).First, the complaint is prepared by the attorney and filed with the Family Court.  Once the complaint is returned by the Court, it must be served on your spouse.  This can be done in person or by certified mail.  It could also be done by publication, but that complicates things a little for this post.  Look for a post about service by publication coming out soon. It may take a week or two to get the paperwork prepared and ready for service.  Then, depending on the procedure used for serving your spouse, it may take a day or so or possibly weeks.  In many uncontested divorce matters the spouse will come to my office to be served by my paralegal which is much quicker.Once your spouse is served with the paperwork, he or she will have 30 days to answer or they will be considered to be in "default."  If they agree with everything in the complaint, they will be able to sign an answer that says they agree with everything and we can request a hearing.At this point we are at the mercy of the court and we must wait on them to schedule our case on the court docket.  This part could take six weeks or longer to get scheduled.  This time varies widely from county to county depending on the number of family court judges the county has, the time of year, and the number of other cases going on at the time.Once your case is set, we will go to a Final Hearing and you will be divorced.  Typically, a truly uncontested case where everyone agrees and works together takes about three months.  I have seen them happen faster, and I have seen them take much longer.  I hope this helps give you an idea of how long your case might take.

Uncontested Divorce in Greenville, South Carolina

While the title of this posts says uncontested divorce in Greenville, SC, we can actually assist you with any of your family law and divorce matters in several counties in South Carolina.  Currently, I practice in Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Pickens, Oconee and Laurens Counties.But, the real point of this post is to point you in the direction of a new page I've added to this site answering many of the frequent questions that I get regarding uncontested divorce in South Carolina.

The Problem with Do It Yourself Divorce Kits in South Carolina

I have met with a lot of people who are interested in meeting with an attorney to discuss their case, but all along they are really just gathering information so they can file their own divorce papers and attempt to get a divorce on their own in South Carolina. While I don't have a problem with someone representing themselves, nor do I have a problem with someone consulting with me about what they should do - I really want to give a warning to those considering filing for divorce on their own.There are forms for free on the South Carolina Judicial website (www.sccourts.org).   Anyone can download those forms, fill in the blanks and file for divorce in South Carolina.  BUT, and this is a big but, I would only say that is alright in a completely uncontested divorce case where there is no property or debt to separate, the grounds for divorce are the no-fault (one year separation), and there are no children (or the children have reach the age of 18 and have graduated from high school).  Otherwise, you should consult with an attorney about your case because there are going to be details that you do not know or think about in your case that may be forever barred if you do not do it right the first time around.I know this sounds a little self-serving coming from a divorce lawyer, but I really want you to make sure that when you are going through a situation like a divorce you make sure that you take care of yourself and your family the right way the first time around so you do not have to continue coming back to the Family Court again and again.Many companies who provide the divorce forms are being cracked down on in South Carolina because they are either practicing law without a license or they are misleading the public about the actual services that they provide.  They simply provide the fill-in-the-blank forms for you to fill in and a set of instructions on how to file the paperwork correctly but they do not fill in all of the details about how you are supposed to go about getting a hearing date, what questions you will need to ask (or the testimony you will need to provide the Family Court at your hearing) and whether you need a witness or not to testify on your behalf.  All of these things if done incorrectly could be a bar to prevent your divorce from becoming final.

Divorce Dancing Parody

I'm sure you have all seen the JK Wedding dance video on YouTube or the Today Show by now.  I recently found this parody about the couple's "final day."  I think you'll enjoy.