South Carolina Divorce

The South Carolina Family Law Center is a resource on divorce and family law in the State of South Carolina for non-lawyers and pro se litigants. Please let us know if we have omitted a link to an important state resource and we will gladly add it.

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South Carolina Code of  Laws - Title 20, Domestic Relations

Divorce Law
SECTION 20‑3‑10. Grounds for divorce.
No divorce from the bonds of matrimony shall be granted except upon one or more of the following grounds, to wit:
(1) Adultery;
(2) Desertion for a period of one year;
(3) Physical cruelty;
(4) Habitual drunkenness;   provided,  that this ground shall be construed to include habitual drunkenness caused by the use of any narcotic drug;  or
(5) On the application of either party if and when the husband and wife have lived separate and apart without cohabitation for a period of one year.  A plea of  res judicata  or of recrimination with respect to any other provision of this section shall not be a bar to either party obtaining a divorce on this ground.

SECTION 20‑3‑30. Residence requirement.
In order to institute an action for divorce from the bonds of matrimony the plaintiff must have resided in this State at least one year prior to the commencement of the action or, if the plaintiff is a nonresident, the defendant must have so resided in this State for this period;  provided, that when both parties are residents of the State when the action is commenced, the plaintiff must have resided in this State only three months prior to commencement of the action.  The terms ‘residents’ or ‘resided’ as used in this section as it applies to a plaintiff or defendant stationed in this State on active duty military service means a continuous presence in this State for the period required regardless of intent to permanently remain in South Carolina.

SECTION 20‑3‑60. Venue.
Actions for divorce from the bonds of matrimony or for separate support and maintenance must be tried in the county (a) in which the defendant resides at the time of the commencement of the action, (b) in which the plaintiff resides if the defendant is a nonresident or after due diligence cannot be found, or (c) in which the parties last resided together as husband and wife unless the plaintiff is a nonresident, in which case it must be brought in the county in which the defendant resides.

...For further information, please refer to the South Carolina Code of  Laws - Title 20

Marriage and Living Together Laws
South Carolina Marriage License Information

Child Support
SECTION 20‑7‑852. Child support proceedings;  amount of award.
(A) In any proceeding for the award of child support, there is a rebuttable presumption that the amount of the award which would result from the application of the guidelines required under Section 43‑5‑580(b) is the correct amount of child support to be awarded.  A different amount may be awarded upon a showing that application of the guidelines in a particular case would be unjust or inappropriate.  When the court orders a child support award that varies significantly from the amount resulting from the application of the guidelines, the court shall make specific, written findings of those facts upon which it bases its conclusion supporting that award.  Findings that rebut the guidelines must state the amount of support that would have been required under the guidelines and include a justification of why the order varies from the guidelines.
(B) Application of these guidelines to an existing child support order, in and of itself, is not considered a change in circumstances for the modification of that existing order, except in a Title IV‑D case.
(C) The court shall consider the following factors which may be possible reasons for deviation from the guidelines or may be used in determining whether a change in circumstances has occurred which would require a modification of an existing order:
(1) educational expenses for the child or children or the spouse, to include those incurred for private, parochial, or trade schools, other secondary schools, or post‑secondary education where there is tuition or related costs;
(2) equitable distribution of property;
(3) consumer debts;
(4) families with more than six children;
(5) unreimbursed extraordinary medical or dental expenses for the noncustodial or custodial parent;
(6) mandatory deduction of retirement pensions and union fees;
(7) support obligations for other dependents living with the noncustodial parent or noncourt ordered child support from another relationship;
(8) child‑related unreimbursed extraordinary medical expenses;
(9) monthly fixed payments imposed by a court or operation of law;
(10) significant available income of the child or children;
(11) substantial disparity of income in which the noncustodial parent’s income is significantly less than the custodial parent’s income, thus making it financially impracticable to pay what the guidelines indicate the noncustodial parent should pay;
(12) alimony.  Because of their unique nature, lump sum, rehabilitative, reimbursement, or any other alimony that the court may award, may be considered by the court as a possible reason for deviation from these guidelines;
(13) agreements reached between parties.  The court may deviate from the guidelines based on an agreement between the parties if both parties are represented by counsel or if, upon a thorough examination of any party not represented by counsel, the court determines the party fully understands the agreement as to child support.  The court still has the discretion and the independent duty to determine if the amount is reasonable and in the best interest of the child or children.
(D) Pursuant to Section 43‑5‑580(b), the department shall promulgate regulations which establish child support guidelines as a rebuttable presumption.  The department shall review these regulations at least once every four years to ensure that their application results in appropriate child support award amounts.

...For further information, please refer to the South Carolina Code of  Laws - Title 20

South Carolina Child Support Guidelines - Adobe.pdf format
South Carolina Child Support Worksheets
South Carolina Child Support Enforcement
Child Support Facts
South Carolina Child Support Calculator
Support of Minor Children After Divorce or Separation
Child Support Explained

Child Custody and Visitation Law
SECTION 20‑3‑160. Care, custody and maintenance of children.
In any action for divorce from the bonds of matrimony the court may at any stage of the cause, or from time to time after final judgment, make such orders touching the care, custody and maintenance of the children of the marriage and what, if any, security shall be given for the same as from the circumstances of the parties and the nature of the case and the best spiritual as well as other interests of the children may be fit, equitable and just.

Property Division
SECTION 20‑7‑472. Equitable apportionment of marital property;  criteria;  finality of order.
In a proceeding for divorce a vinculo matrimonii or separate support and maintenance, or in a proceeding for disposition of property following a prior decree of dissolution of a marriage by a court which lacked personal jurisdiction over an absent spouse or which lacked jurisdiction to dispose of the property, and in other marital litigation between the parties, the court shall make a final equitable apportionment between the parties of the parties’ marital property upon request by either party in the pleadings.
In making apportionment, the court must give weight in such proportion as it finds appropriate to all of the following factors:
(1) the duration of the marriage together with the ages of the parties at the time of the marriage and at the time of the divorce or separate maintenance or other marital action between the parties;
(2) marital misconduct or fault of either or both parties, whether or not used as a basis for a divorce as such, if the misconduct affects or has affected the economic circumstances of the parties, or contributed to the breakup of the marriage;  provided, that no evidence of personal conduct which would otherwise be relevant and material for purposes of this subsection shall be considered with regard to this subsection if such conduct shall have taken place subsequent to the happening of the earliest of (a) entry of a pendente lite order in a divorce or separate maintenance action;  (b) formal signing of a written property or marital settlement agreement;  or (c) entry of a permanent order of separate maintenance and support or of a permanent order approving a property or marital settlement agreement between the parties;
(3) the value of the marital property, whether the property be within or without the State.  The contribution of each spouse to the acquisition, preservation, depreciation, or appreciation in value of the marital property, including the contribution of the spouse as homemaker;  provided, that the court shall consider the quality of the contribution as well as its factual existence;
(4) the income of each spouse, the earning potential of each spouse, and the opportunity for future acquisition of capital assets;
(5) the health, both physical and emotional, of each spouse;
(6) the need of each spouse or either spouse for additional training or education in order to achieve that spouses’s income potential;
(7) the nonmarital property of each spouse;
(8) the existence or nonexistence of vested retirement benefits for each or either spouse;
(9) whether separate maintenance or alimony has been awarded;
(10) the desirability of awarding the family home as part of equitable distribution or the right to live therein for reasonable periods to the spouse having custody of any children;
(11) the tax consequences to each or either party as a result of any particular form of equitable apportionment;
(12) the existence and extent of any support obligations, from a prior marriage or for any other reason or reasons, of either party;
(13) liens and any other encumbrances upon the marital property, which themselves must be equitably divided, or upon the separate property of either of the parties, and any other existing debts incurred by the parties or either of them during the course of the marriage;
(14) child custody arrangements and obligations at the time of the entry of the order;  and
(15) such other relevant factors as the trial court shall expressly enumerate in its order.
The court’s order as it affects distribution of marital property shall be a final order not subject to modification except by appeal or remand following proper appeal.  

SECTION 20‑7‑473. Marital and nonmarital property;  nonmarital property as not subject to judicial apportionment.
The term “marital property” as used in this article means all real and personal property which has been acquired by the parties during the marriage and which is owned as of the date of filing or commencement of marital litigation as provided in Section 20‑7‑472 regardless of how legal title is held, except the following, which constitute nonmarital property:
(1) property acquired by either party by inheritance, devise, bequest, or gift from a party other than the spouse;
(2) property acquired by either party before the marriage and property acquired after the happening of the earliest of (a) entry of a pendente lite order in a divorce or separate maintenance action;  (b) formal signing of a written property or marital settlement agreement;  or (c) entry of a permanent order of separate maintenance and support or of a permanent order approving a property or marital settlement agreement between the parties;
(3) property acquired by either party in exchange for property described in items (1) and (2) of this section;
(4) property excluded by written contract of the parties.  “Written contract” includes any antenuptial agreement of the parties which must be considered presumptively fair and equitable so long as it was voluntarily executed with both parties separately represented by counsel and pursuant to the full financial disclosure to each other that is mandated by the rules of the family court as to income, debts, and assets;
(5) any increase in value in nonmarital property, except to the extent that the increase resulted directly or indirectly from efforts of the other spouse during marriage.
Interspousal gifts of property, including gifts of property from one spouse to the other made indirectly by way of a third party, are marital property which is subject to division.
The court does not have jurisdiction or authority to apportion nonmarital property.

...For further information, please refer to the South Carolina Code of  Laws - Title 20

Property Rights in Divorce