Fighting the wrong battle on transmutation
I attended a mediation training yesterday in which one of the exercises dealt with the issue of “transmutation,” the process by which non-marital property becomes marital because the property owner...
View ArticleIs there a conflict in the equitable distribution statutes on whether...
South Carolina Code § 20-3-610 indicates that the marital estate is created “at the time marital litigation is filed or commenced…” Yet S.C. Code § 20-3-630(A)(2)(a) lists as part of the exclusions...
View ArticleEquitable distribution when spouses rarely lived together
The December 5, 2012 Court of Appeals opinion in Jenkins v. Jenkins, 400 S.C. 611, 735 S.E.2d 551 (Ct. App. 2012) addresses, without providing guidance, the interesting topic of how you equitably...
View ArticleDoes equitable distribution case law overvalue retirement accounts?
Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) and 401k account assets are not as valuable as an equivalent amount of cash. With some exceptions there is a 10% penalty for withdrawing from such accounts prior...
View ArticleWhat becomes of a transmuted waterfront lot?
In my almost four years of blogging about every reported South Carolina appellate decision from family court and over fifteen years of handling family law appeals, I can discern a few clear patterns on...
View ArticleSupreme Court alters equitable distribution award and reverses reservation of...
N.B., on May 8, 2013, the South Carolina Supreme Court slightly modified its original opinion. For more information read Supreme Court reconsiders equitable distribution of marital home. The February...
View ArticleCourt of Appeals finds family court has authority to order federal pensioner...
The March 6, 2013 Court of Appeals opinion in Barber v. Barber, 402 S.C. 96, 738 S.E.2d 845 (Ct. App. 2013), clarifies a narrow but frequently occurring equitable distribution issue: can the family...
View ArticlePre-trial order settling “personal property” precludes equitable distribution...
I’ve had a few cases in which the issue of what constitutes “personal property” has been the subject of debate. The understanding of the typical litigant is that such property is the household...
View ArticleSupreme Court reconsiders equitable distribution of marital home
In a May 8, 2013 substituted opinion in Wilburn v. Wilburn, the South Carolina Supreme Court made minor modifications to its previous equitable distribution decision. While some of the analysis on...
View ArticleCourt of Appeals provides guidance on enforcing equitable distribution orders...
The June 26, 2013 Court of Appeals opinion in Simpson v. Simpson provides quite useful guidance as to how the family court is to effectuate a final property division order when a party claims it...
View ArticleReserving alimony when there’s military retirement
One of the quirks of family law is that a veteran’s military retirement is subject to equitable distribution but that veteran’s military disability is not. South Carolina law treats military...
View ArticleSupreme Court affirms lower courts’ ruling on transmutation of husband’s...
The January 15, 2014 Supreme Court opinion in Pittman v. Pittman affirmed the Court of Appeals and family court’s determination that husband’s premarital surveying business had been transmuted into...
View ArticleMisunderstanding passive depreciation in equitable distribution
South Carolina family law distinguishes active depreciation or appreciation–changes in value due to the deliberate efforts of one party–from passive depreciation or appreciation–changes in value that...
View ArticleCourt of Appeals mostly affirms family court’s equitable distribution award
The March 5, 2014 Court of Appeals opinion in Teeter v. Teeter largely affirms the family court’s equitable distribution award (child custody and alimony were resolved before trial by agreement). The...
View ArticleThe logical but wrong way to divide transmuted property
How to “equitably” divide transmuted property–property that started out as non-marital but through commingling or use become property of the marriage and hence subject to equitable distribution by the...
View ArticleCourt of Appeals finds prenuptial agreement only partially limited family...
The March 26, 2014 Court of Appeals opinion in Meehan v. Meehan determined that the Meehans’ prenuptial divested the family court of jurisdiction for some issues but not the issue of attorney’s fees as...
View ArticleCourt of Appeals affirms custody determination despite claim of improper...
The April 2, 2014 Court of Appeals opinion in Simcox-Adams v. Adams affirmed the family court’s award of custody to Husband despite Wife’s challenge to the guardian ad litem’s investigation and report....
View ArticleCourt of Appeals reverses family court determination that prenuptial...
The April 16, 2014 Court of Appeals opinion in Hudson v. Hudson reversed the family court’s determination that the parties’ prenuptial agreement was unconscionable on the issue of the equitable...
View ArticleCourt of Appeals slightly modifies prior published opinion of Teeter v. Teeter
On May 21, 2014 the Court of Appeals slightly modified its prior published opinion in the case of Teeter v. Teeter. As near as I can tell the only difference is that, rather than simply awarding...
View ArticleSupreme Court completely reverses Court of Appeals and reinstates family...
The July 2, 2014 Supreme Court opinion in Crossland v. Crossland completely reverses the prior Court of Appeals opinion and reinstates family court’s alimony, property division and attorney fee award....
View Article
