Legal Question in Family Law in South Carolina
I filled for separated for divorce for 2 years. We are still separated now, due to the fact that I cannot afford to pay for a divorce, and he hides or flees the state and refuses to financially do ANYTHING. Court ordered child support was included in the separation agreement, and it has been active since the signing of the separation papers, though he has only ever paid twice. He was behind from the get go, refusing to pay the very first month. He started out 3 months behind and paid to get rid of the warrant. The 2nd time he paid was 8 months later, he had been arrested and had to pay in order to get out of jail. He also told the judge that he had re-enlisted into the military and was being deployed. TOTAL LIE!
That was 10 months ago. He had another warrant issued a few months after that, unknown to me at the time, he has ran to California, gotten in trouble and was/is facing alleged charges of impersonating a Police Officer, assault with a weapon, and wrongfully detaining people. (I called out to CA and talked to the station myself). My husband has been back in this state though, since at least 4 months ago. I have photos with time stamps to prove it, taken and given to me by a friend of his family.
About the time my husband took off to CA, we had had a court date, concerning his non-payment of child support again. The judge issued a bench warrant and when I inquired about his not showing up for visitation those previous months, she stated that she wasn't going to make me care anymore than he does. She told me I didn't need to continue to drive to our transfer location, and she suspended his visitation.
All the phone numbers I had for my husband and his family have been disconnected, they are never at my husbands parents home (where he was living), and I was verbally attacked and cussed out in an email from his sister out of the blue several months ago, where she also stated that she didn't know where her brother was, and wouldn't tell me even if she did know. (This was a month before their friend showed me the photos)
Over the course of the past 2 years, my husband has sent me emails and texts stating that he will sign over his rights to me if I drop child support. Of which when I try to reply to the emails, I find that they are deleted accounts, and before he changed his number, I was only met with yelling, and threats anytime I returned a call.
I'm tired of his verbal attacks, hiding, and in my opinion, abandonment. (He hasn't seen his son since December 2009).
My question is this:
If I can scrape up the money for a lawyer to initiate/complete our divorce, will the judge allow me to take my husbands rights?
I honestly have no clue if/how he will be served or if he would show up or respond to court.
1 Answer from Attorneys
The Court has the ability to terminate a parent's rights if you can prove willful failure to (a) visit the child or (b) pay child support for six months or more. However, just because the Court has the ability to do so does not guarantee that it will. For instance, the Court could suspend his visitation but still require him to pay child support.
These are complex issues, and it is important that they be handled correctly. Therefore, it is important that you consult an experienced family law attorney to find out what options are available to you based on the facts of your particular case. If you need more information, you can visit my family law blog (www.SCFamilyLaw.com) or our website (www.SpartanburgLawyers.com). I wish you the best of luck.
Ben Stevens
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