Divorce Lawyers on Hilton Head Island

Grounds

South Carolina grants a divorce for adultery, desertion for one year, physical cruelty, habitual drunkenness, or when the spouses have lived separate and apart without cohabitation for one year (SC Code § 20-3-10).

Residency

The person filing must have lived in South Carolina for one year, or three months if both spouses live in the state (§ 20-3-30).

Waiting

No final decree before three months after filing, except that a one-year-separation or desertion case can be heard once the responses are filed or the other spouse is in default (§ 20-3-80).

Where it is filed

Family court for Beaufort County sits at the courthouse complex at 102 Ribaut Rd in Beaufort.

On the island

About one in ten Hilton Head residents 15 and older is divorced.

Five firms on the island

Kennedy & Blackshire, Clark & Stevens, Prince Law Firm, the Law Offices of David Parker Geis and Lowcountry Legal Solutions list divorce or family law on their own websites.

South Carolina grants a divorce on one of five grounds: adultery, desertion for one year, physical cruelty, habitual drunkenness (which includes narcotic drugs), or, on the application of either spouse, when the two have lived separate and apart without cohabitation for one year (SC Code § 20-3-10). Before granting a divorce the court must also find that an effort to reconcile the parties was unavailing (§ 20-3-90).

Which ground fits is a question for a Hilton Head divorce attorney. Every firm on this page can tell you how it approaches the choice.

To file, one spouse must have lived in South Carolina for a year before the case starts. If both spouses live in the state, the person filing needs only three months (§ 20-3-30). The rule counts residence in South Carolina, so ask a firm how it applies if you split the year between homes. For someone stationed in South Carolina on active duty, the code counts a continuous presence in the state as residence whether or not they intend to stay.

The code sets minimum delays: no reference before two months after the complaint is filed with the Clerk of Court, and no final decree before three months after filing. A case filed on one-year separation or desertion can be heard and decided once the responsive pleadings are in, or once the other spouse has been found in default, whichever comes first (§ 20-3-80).

In a divorce case the family court may make orders about the care, custody and maintenance of the children, at any stage and again after the final judgment (§ 20-3-160). It may grant alimony or separate maintenance, temporary or permanent, in amounts and for a term it finds appropriate (§ 20-3-130), and on request it must make a final equitable apportionment of the marital property (§ 20-3-620). A spouse who commits adultery before a written settlement agreement is signed, or a permanent order is entered, cannot be awarded alimony (§ 20-3-130).

Prince Law Firm lists alimony, property division and changes to court orders, and Kennedy & Blackshire and Clark & Stevens list mediation. David Parker Geis lists equitable distribution, child support, separate maintenance, and prenuptial and separation agreements. This page does not say what you would receive or pay.

Family court for Beaufort County sits at the courthouse complex at 102 Ribaut Rd in Beaufort. A divorce case is started with the Clerk of Court there, so hearings mean a drive off the island. The firms above all work from the island and handle the Beaufort filings for clients who live here.

If the cost of a lawyer is the hurdle, Lowcountry Legal Volunteers (843-815-1570) helps income-qualified Beaufort, Hampton and Jasper County residents with civil legal problems, including family cases, with an Okatie location at 108 Traders Cross open Monday through Thursday, 9 to 4, by appointment.

A divorce often touches the home, so see Hilton Head real estate and the closing attorneys on the lawyers page. Wills and powers of attorney are on the estate planning page, and families with children can check Hilton Head schools. Across the bridge, the Bluffton divorce attorneys page lists firms on the mainland.