Legal Name Change in South Carolina
So you are wanting to change your name in South Carolina? and you want to know how to change your name or what to expect if you are meeting with an attorney about legally changing your name.
Here are the steps that will be required when you want to change your name in South Carolina.
Legal name changes are governed by South Carolina Code Section 15-49-10. Before a name change petition can be filed with the Family Court, you must take care of some administrative things. Before you can file, the law requires that you have been a resident of South Carolina for at least six months unless you fall into a category where this requirement can be waived (related to the petitioner’s safety). Once you satisfy that hurdle, you will complete a SLED fingerprint card and background check . You should go to a local law enforcement office to get fingerprinted. That fingerprint card should be sent to SLED with the background check form and affidavit along with a check for $25.00. A few days later you will receive a copy of the background check from SLED that also confirms you are not listed on the State Sexual Offender Registry.
You must also obtain a screening statement from the Department of Social Services stating that you are not on any child abuse or neglect registries. There is an $8.00 charge for this statement. You will need to fill out a form and mail the form and payment in and several days later you will receive that report.
After you have obtained the requisite background checks, and an affidavit that comports with the language contained in the name change statute and you or your attorney will file a petition for name change with the Family Court asking for the legal name change.
From there you will most likely have a hearing where you have to testify before the judge about the reason you are seeking a name change. The statute does not say that a hearing is absolutely required, so to me that leaves it up to the discretion of the Family Court judge. I have seen it go both ways, where a judge signs a name change order without a hearing and other times where the judge requires a hearing. It usually depends on the reason for the name change or if there are concerns about the background check or DSS registry check.
"Legal" Separation for South Carolina No-Fault Divorce
Question:I am seeking a divorce from my spouse. There are no fault-based grounds for me to file on so I have to wait for the year to pass before I file for divorce. Do I have to file for legal separation in order to start the time running for my divorce?Answer:Thanks for your question. I’m sorry to hear that you are contemplating divorce, but to answer your question, no, you are not required to file for a legal separation in order for the time to begin running. South Carolina law requires that in order to obtain a no-fault divorce the couple must live separately for more than one year. So the clock starts to tick the very first day that you and your spouse live in separate residences. It is important to note that your separation cannot be that you have moved into the bedroom down the hall. You must physically live in a different residence from your spouse to start the separation clock.
When can a Child Determine Which Parent He Will Live With?
Question: What age can a child determine which parent he will live with?Answer: This is a question I receive quite often from parents going through a custody fight with their spouse or former spouse. There is a misconception that the South Carolina child custody law allows children who have reached a certain age to make decisions on where they should live. This is simply not true.Children, no matter what their age, generally lack the knowledge and life experience to make a binding decision on their own. If the custody of a child is a contested matter, then the child will not get the final say on where he or she lives. This does not mean the child gets no say, but just not the final say.In a contested South Carolina child custody matter, the Family Court will determine what is in the best interest of the child. The “best interest of the child” is the overarching consideration in any issue regarding children. The child communicates to the Court through the Guardian ad Litem appointed to represent the child and provide information to the Court about the details surrounding the children. The judge will use the Guardian’s report along with the other evidence from trial to determine what is in the child’s best interest and in whose custody they should be.
What's a Reason for Divorce
While I know there are many reasons and circumstances that lead to a couple or spouse determining it is time for a divorce, South Carolina only grants divorces when you are able to prove one of five divorce grounds. Over the coming days we are going to delve into the five divorce grounds in depth, but today I want to highlight them for you and let you know what you are in store for.So what are divorce grounds? Divorce ground are the reason you are getting a divorce that state law recognizes as a way to get divorced? For example, if your spouse cheats on you it is possible to proceed with a divorce on the grounds of adultery. However, if there are no specific fault based reasons for divorce but you and your spouse simply can't stay married for any other number of reasons you would proceed on the no-fault ground for divorce in South Carolina which is by being separated from your spouse for more than one year continuously.The five divorce grounds in South Carolina are:
- Physical Cruelty
- Habitual Drunkenness and Drug Use
- Adultery
- Abandonment
- More than one year's continuous separation.
The first four grounds listed above are all fault based grounds. Number five is the no-fault divorce ground in South Carolina. If you file for divorce using a fault-based ground, you must wait at least 90 days from the date of filing before you can request a final hearing. Stay tuned for a more detailed discussion of each of the divorce grounds coming soon.
Will I have to go to Court?
Do you have to go to Court to finalize your divorce case? Yes. In order for you to finalize your divorce case in South Carolina and get a divorce decree you must appear in court if you are the plaintiff in the case. That means if you were the one who hired the attorney and filed the papers at the court house for divorce, you must appear in court and provide evidence to the court regarding the reason for your divorce (prove the grounds for divorce like one years separation or adultery). You must also testify to things relating to your case such as the agreement you and your spouse have signed or the reason you should be entitled to custody of your children.Depending on the complexity of your case, your final hearing may last five minutes or less or it may last several days or weeks.In many cases, you will be required to have a witness (or many witnesses) depending on what needs to be proven in your case.
What is an Uncontested Divorce in South Carolina?
So what is an uncontested divorce in South Carolina? There are several things that must be in place before your divorce is considered uncontested. An uncontested divorce looks good to people because they believe it can be obtained more cheaply and quicker than trying to duke it out in court.Sometimes it makes sense to proceed with trying to get an uncontested divorce. I have met with a lot of potential clients recently who have been living separate from their spouse for many years. They have moved on emotionally and physically, but they have never done anything about the marriage.An uncontested divorce is good when the couple does not have any property to divide, when there are no children, and when there is no alimony to be paid from one spouse to the other. If there are issues like property that must be divided, child custody, property division, alimony, child support and so on then you may need to forget about the uncontested divorce and make sure you are protected.If you and your spouse are able to work out those issues, it is normally possible for you to put your agreement in writing is a separation agreement which is presented to the court for the court's approval. This agreement must settle all issues in the marriage before you can proceed like the divorce is an uncontested divorce.Finally, an uncontested divorce is filed on the grounds of more than one year's continuous separation. Without going into a huge discussion of the law on what that means, basically it means that you have been voluntarily separated from your spouse for more than one year. Voluntarily means that the separation is not due solely because your spouse is incarcerated or because they have been deployed by the military. Separated means they are living in a totally separate residence. Not that they are sleeping in the bedroom down the hall or the basement or not because you haven't had sex in over a year. Finally, you must have been separated as described above for more than one year or you cannot ask for a divorce on that ground.For a description of what the process is like, and more information about uncontested divorce visit the South Carolina Uncontested Divorce page on this blog.
How Do We Get Into a Marriage?
Well, this blog talks a lot about divorce issues and how to get out of a marriage, but so far we haven't talked about how to get into a marriage. In South Carolina there are two ways to get married and over the next couple of days we will talk about each way to get married.The first way is a statutory marriage. This is what you think of when you and your bride/groom-to-be run down to the local probate court and fill out your marriage license request and then a few weeks later you gather together with 500 of your closest friends to celebrate the big day. Check out our post later on to see what the requirements are for you to qualify for that marriage license.The second way for you to get married in South Carolina is more passive. You may not even intend to be married, but you could in fact be married according to a judge. Yup, it's the old fashioned common law marriage. When we talk about common law marriage we will define it as well as put down some of the rumors and incorrect ways of being "common law married."So stay tuned and prepare for these new posts coming in the days ahead.
Can You Guarantee a Fast Divorce
Occasionally I am asked by someone to guarantee that I can get their divorce done by a certain date. This happens for a variety of reasons (sometimes because there is another wedding planned) but the bottom line is that they want the divorce to be finished fast! So how long does it take to get a divorce? Are there loop holes that some attorneys know to get the divorces over faster?The truth is, a lawyer simply cannot guarantee with a whole lot of certainty when a case will be done. Based on how long I've been practicing and how many cases I have handled I can make a pretty good guess at when a final hearing might take place in a fairly simple case (like a South Carolina uncontested divorce case where there are no issues). However, in a case where there are substantial issues like custody or property division the things that effect the length of time a case could take begin to multiply and compound.So, can I guarantee when a case will be over? No. The only guarantee I can make is that we will work as hard as we can for you. While I understand that any type of legal matter is stressful and is usually better when it is over, it may not be to your best interest to buzz through the case just so it is over.But, just so you don't feel like I totally wimped out on this answer, here is a general timeline for an uncontested divorce case in South Carolina (and more specifically Greenville County). First, the complaint must be filed with the Family Court. After the complaint has been filed, it must be served on your spouse. In some cases, the couple is working together to resolve their case and service is quite simple and fast. But there are other cases where the spouse is avoiding service of the complaint and it takes much longer to get them served. Once your spouse is served, he/she will have 30 days to file an answer or respond to our complaint. If they are in agreement (like they are many times in an uncontested divorce) they sign an Answer that agrees with what we asked for in a complaint and we are able to move on to the next step. Sometimes, however, they do not sign the answer or they just forget about things. When this happens, we have to wait for the entire 30 days to pass before we can move forward. The other thing that might happen is for your spouse to hire an attorney which may transform your case from an uncontested case to a contested matter with issues. The next step (if the case is uncontested) is to request a hearing. The hearing can be requested either after the 30 days has passed or after your spouse has signed the Answer agreeing to the relief you requested. Then we wait on the Court to set our hearing. The time it takes for the Court to set your final hearing varies from county to county. Greenville County is fairly quick with uncontested final hearings being set about 7 weeks from the date of request. Other counties that are smaller and have fewer family court judges take longer to get a case set. Some counties take four months or longer.I hope that helps show you some of the complexities and variables that play into determining how long it is going to take to finish your case up. So, next time if you ask your divorce lawyer how long, don't be surprised when he says, "it depends."