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Family Court

General: The uniform statewide Family Court system was established by statute in 1976. The Family Court has exclusive jurisdiction over all matters involving domestic or family relationships. Pursuant to this provision, the Family Court is the sole forum for the hearing of all cases concerning marriage, divorce, legal separation, custody, visitation rights, termination of parental rights, adoption, support, alimony, division of marital property, and change of name. The court also generally has exclusive jurisdiction over minors under the age of seventeen alleged to have violated any state law or municipal ordinance. However, most traffic, fish, and game law violations are still triable in the magistrate or municipal courts. Serious criminal charges may be transferred to the Circuit Court.

At least two family court judges are elected for staggered six year terms to each of the sixteen judicial circuits, and rotate primarily from county to county within their resident circuits. Occasionally they are assigned to other circuits based upon caseload requirements as directed by the Chief Justice.

© 2000-2008 South Carolina Judicial Department

A mighty wind blew night and day.

It stole the oak tree’s leaves away,

Then snapped it’s boughs

and pulled it’s bark

until the oak was tired and stark.

But still the oak tree held its ground

while other trees fell all around….

The weary wind gave up and spoke,

“How can you still be standing, Oak?”

The oak tree said, “I know that you

can break each branch of mine in two,

carry each leaf away,

shake my limbs, and make me sway.

But I have roots stretched in the earth,

growing stronger since my birth.

You’ll never touch them, for you see,

they are the deepest part of me.

Until today, I wasn’t sure

of just how much I could endure.

But now I’ve found, with thanks to you,

“I am stronger than

…I ever knew”

~~Author Unknown~~

He rules prosecution's evidence insufficient to continue trial

By Amy Clarke • PICKENS COUNTY NEWS • April 29, 2008

A Pickens County murder trial came to a dramatic end last week as the judge dismissed the jury and issued a directed verdict in favor of the man who was charged with killing his wife, 30-year-old Keri Gillespie Gibson.

Circuit Judge Larry Patterson said on April 23 that the state's evidence, which he said was primarily circumstantial, was insufficient to continue the case.

Gunshot-residue evidence from the Jan. 21, 2007, shooting was inconclusive, Patterson said, and he termed the state's theory of a staged suicide improbable.

After the verdict, defense attorney Scott Robinson, who said in his motion that the state's case was based on "suspicion" and "innuendo," said he was pleased with the judge's decision.

MORE HERE!!

But hiding from stalkers may become more difficult under a federal law called the Real ID Act that's scheduled to take effect on May 11.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's new regulations mandate specific standards for what personal information states must print on the face of Real ID drivers licenses and encode on their machine-readable zones. Although there's some consideration for people who qualify for special confidentiality treatment, critics argue the protections don't go far enough.

Homeland Security hasn't yet stipulated what information must be exchanged among the state-to-state databases, saying only that it will be "limited," nor has it specified exactly how the database linking will work, leaving lingering worries among privacy and victim advocates.

All it would take is a determined, persuasive stalker--many have tricks, like saying an ex-spouse is suicidal or otherwise in need of help--and a gullible or corrupt DMV employee, and a victim's identity could be divulged, Southworth said.

"Given that there are less than six degrees of separation between most abusers and a friend or relative who works for the DMV, we are concerned about victims' location information housed in state databases that could be searched nationally," Southworth said. "Prior to national search ability, a victim could move to a different state and increase her safety and privacy, but national search functionality could place countless victims at risk."

"We still have this problem of the backbone of this system, which is that we're creating this nationwide system of databases, all interlinked," said Guilherme Roschke, an Electronic Privacy Information Center fellow who focuses on domestic violence privacy issues. "A breach in one is a breach in all of them."

MORE:

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), now has online IM services that victims can use instead of calling in. This link is to the FAQ section which has a link to the actual Online Hotline at the top of the page...

National Sexual Assault Online Hotline