A South Carolina Senate panel is considering broad reforms in the
state’s family court system, which critics claim often is too
costly, time-consuming and unfair to people going through a divorce
or seeking child support.
Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, has appointed a six-member subcommittee to
study the issues and draft legislation to submit in January when the
General Assembly returns.
During a subcommittee hearing last week, Barry Knobel, a family
court judge in Anderson, said each of the state’s 52 family court
judges typically hears 4,000 to 5,000 cases a year — the largest
caseload in the country.
“The system is way overloaded,” S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice
Jean Toal said.
Toal told the subcommittee that:
• S.C. family court judges spend
only about 20 minutes on average on any case during a year.
• A big chunk of the caseload is
composed of child support cases brought by the state Department of
Social Services, which is required to obtain child support from
noncustodial parents to offset welfare benefits awarded to custodial
parents.
• Child abuse and neglect cases
brought by DSS make up another large share of the cases.
A committee of family court judges headed by Knobel recently
recommended that:
• To better process DSS cases,
South Carolina should use special hearing officers, as is done in
other states. That would allow family court judges to spend more
time on divorce and other cases, Toal said.
• Mandatory mediation be used in
the early stages of divorce and custody cases to cut down on costly
litigation.
Both recommendations would cost the state money, Toal said,
though she didn’t provide figures.
Lawmakers didn’t approve her request earlier this year for three
more family court judges. Toal said last week that the total number
of judges would have to double to “reasonably process” family court
cases.
Subcommittee members had their own concerns.
Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, contended the process of
collecting child support is broken. He said a man he knows was
called into family court by a “vindictive ex-spouse” for being a day
late on child support payments. The man had to shut down his
business during the proceedings.
“People should not be able to use the court to help with their
vindictiveness,” Knotts told Toal.
“That’s not the fault of the judges. That’s not the fault of the
system,” Toal responded. “(The feuding couple) are responsible for
the viciousness and vindictiveness with which they treat each other,
and you and I can’t solve that problem.”
Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, decried the lack of diversity in
the family courts, saying only one of the 52 judges is black. The
state’s black population is about 30 percent.
“The family court system really is a shame when you look at the
makeup of the South Carolina population,” Ford said.
The subcommittee has met twice this month and plans to meet at
least three more times by mid-November.
Subcommittee chairman Sen. Jim Ritchie, R-Spartanburg, said the
Legislature has never before tackled a broad spectrum of family
court reforms at once.
His subcommittee will look at issues such as staffing, possible
changes in alimony and child support laws, and less costly
alternatives to contested divorce, child support and custody
actions.
“We have chosen the family court to be the forum to resolve
dysfunctional families, dysfunctional marriages and criminal
allegations against children,” Ritchie, an attorney, said recently.
“It is an environment that is emotionally charged, and it is
probably the most important work done in the courts.”
Ritchie said the subcommittee was formed, in part, to address
growing caseloads that are “overrunning the system.”
“When you have that pressure, it takes longer to be heard, and it
increases costs,” he said.
Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484 or rbrundrett@thestate.com.
