Rom Reddy: A Family Court Reform Strategy

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by ROM REDDY

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During the gubernatorial campaign trail and in subsequent surveys, the one issue South Carolina families are passionate about is reforming a broken family court system.  More often than not, any family who has been unfortunate enough to be trapped in the South Carolina family court web emerges broken, bankrupt or stunned by the process.

Is there a silver bullet? Nope. However, like everything else, we cannot sacrifice good at the altar of perfection.  Over the last several months, I have discussed components of family court reform, but I had not articulated a good first step reform strategy.

So, here goes:

1. Pass Judicial reform:  The judicial reform bill that overwhelmingly passed the House last year and got held up in the Senate was common sense. Legislators and their next of kin cannot serve on the JMSC, the commission that picks judges in this state including family court judges. Why? Besides violating the separation of powers clause of the US and SC constitution, it is distinctly a conflict of interest when a lawyer legislator practices in front of a judge he appointed and has to re-appoint. This is an essential step to reform family court and other courts in SC.

2. Pass 50/50 parenting: This also is a commonsense concept that shifts power away from the guardian ad litem ( GAL), consultants, counselors and lawyers back to the parents. It simply says that parents can agree on whatever custody arrangement they choose. If they cannot agree, then the default custody the judge awards is 50/50 unless there is evidence of abuse against the child or any type of domestic violence or abuse involving the parents.  Ideally, this would be passed in conjunction with item 3 below.

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3. The 15-30-minute temporary hearing based on affidavits that may or may not be accurate must be modified. Temporary orders tend to become permanent by delay in South Carolina. Changing existing primary custody through a temporary hearing must be done with a full evidentiary hearing under penalties of perjury and temporary custody arrangements cannot exceed 120 days before a final resolution or a judge must issue a written explanation for extending the arrangement.

4. Each court must be measured by whether they are meeting goals to a final decision in a timely fashion. Most standard cases must have a resolution target of 120 days. 75 percent of cases must be resolved in 180 days and 98 percent within 360 days. Courts must be held accountable to these targets which must play a role in re-appointments to the bench or even recalls.

5. The private guardian ad litem (GAL) system in South Carolina is utterly broken. The reforms to this are too vast to detail here but at a very minimum must include the following:

• An oversight or GAL governing board needs to be established. This board will investigate complaints, audit billing practices, discipline GAL’s ,administer 40-60 hours of standardized training, administer a written certification test annually etc. None of this exists today and the GAL management is largely left to the sole discretion of the judge with little recourse for parents.
• GAL’s should have PRESUMPTION AGAINST APPOINTMENT. In other words, routine disagreements in a contested case should not require a GAL. The judge should have written justification for a GAL for reasons such as abuse, domestic violence, mental illness etc. SC appoints GAL’s in 80 to 90 percent of disputed cases, Virginia in less than a third of cases and Florida in less than a fifth.
• GAL fees in South Carolina are uncapped. The judge assigns the GAL, the scope and effort are not defined or effectively managed in most cases, the parents are stuck with the bill and face jail terms for contempt if they cannot pay. This has to stop. GAL fees can be set at $ 200-225 per hour but must have a cap of $ 4k for standard cases and $ 7.5 k for complex cases. GAL’s can seek an increase but only before they exceed the cap not after. The judge has to provide written approval and explanation for exceeding the cap, and the state must reimburse the fees above the parental cap.

While not comprehensive, this is a start. Of course, this does not include reforms to the corrupt S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) that must be done in conjunction to have a sustainable success model. We will leave that discussion for another day. 

There will be a new administration in Columbia starting next year. Let’s hope they champion changes to the system. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue but a citizen welfare issue that must be fixed and fixed quickly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Rom Reddy is a businessman from Isle of Palms, S.C.

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