Child custody in South Carolina

What the law tells the judge to look at

In the order the law lists them.

1. Your child's temperament and developmental needs.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(1)
2. Each parent's ability and willingness to understand and meet your child's needs.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(2)
3. The preferences of each child.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(3)
4. What each parent wants for custody.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(4)
5. The past and current relationship of your child with each parent, brothers and sisters, and anyone else, including a grandparent, who may strongly affect your child's best interest.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(5)
6. What each parent does to support your child's relationship with the other parent, including following court orders.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(6)
7. Whether a parent manipulates or pressures your child to get involved in the parents' dispute.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(7)
8. Any effort by one parent to put down the other parent in front of your child.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(8)
9. Each parent's ability to be actively involved in your child's life.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(9)
10. How well your child is adjusted to home, school, and community.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(10)
11. How stable your child's current and proposed homes are.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(11)
12. The mental and physical health of everyone involved. A disability alone does not decide custody unless the plan is not in your child's best interest.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(12)
13. Your child's cultural and spiritual background.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(13)
14. Whether your child or a brother or sister has been abused or neglected.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(14)
15. Whether a parent has committed domestic violence or child abuse, or how any domestic violence (between the parents, or between a parent and someone else or the child) has affected your child.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(15)
16. Whether a parent moved more than 100 miles away from your child's main home in the past year, unless the move was for safety.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(16)
17. Any other factors the judge thinks are needed.S.C. Code § 63-15-240(B)(17)

Other things the judge considers

• The judge must consider your child's reasonable preference, and gives it weight based on the child's age, experience, maturity, judgment, and ability to express a preference.S.C. Code § 63-15-30
• The judge must give weight to evidence of domestic violence, including physical or sexual abuse and, if appropriate, who was the primary aggressor.S.C. Code § 63-15-40(A)
• When placing a child with someone, the judge should, when practical, choose a person or agency of the same religious faith as the parents, or of the child.S.C. Code § 63-15-20
• If custody is contested or a parent asks for joint custody, the judge must consider all custody options, including joint custody, and explain the decision in the final order.S.C. Code § 63-15-230(C)

What the judge may not consider

There is no preference for giving young children to the mother (the 'tender years doctrine' is abolished). A disability alone does not decide custody. A person's blindness cannot be the only reason to deny custody or visitation.

Joint custody

No presumption. The judge can give joint custody to both parents or sole custody to either parent. If custody is contested or a parent asks for joint custody, the judge must consider joint custody and explain the decision.

The child's wishes

The judge must consider your child's reasonable preference. How much weight it gets depends on the child's age, experience, maturity, judgment, and ability to express a preference. The statute sets no age.

Domestic violence

The judge must give weight to evidence of domestic violence, including physical or sexual abuse and who was the primary aggressor. If a victim of domestic violence (who was not the primary aggressor) left the home, that alone cannot be a reason to deny that parent custody. A person found to have committed domestic violence can get visitation only if the child and the victim can be kept safe, for example with supervised visits, safe exchanges, an offender program, no alcohol or drugs, or no overnight visits. That person must pay for any medical or counseling treatment the child needs because of the violence. There is no presumption against custody.

Establishing paternity

How

If you are not married when your child is born, both parents can sign a Paternity Acknowledgement Affidavit at the hospital, or later at SC Department of Public Health Vital Records or any county health department. It cannot be used if the mother was married during the pregnancy or at birth. A signed acknowledgment is a legal finding of paternity. Either signer can cancel it within 60 days, or before any court or agency hearing about the child, whichever is earlier. After that it can be challenged in court only for fraud, duress (force), or a material mistake of fact. If you are not sure who the father is, DSS can arrange free DNA testing and help get a court order of paternity.

Form

Paternity Acknowledgement Affidavit

Agency

SC Department of Social Services, Child Support Services (Parenting Opportunity Program), and SC Department of Public Health Vital Records
https://dss.sc.gov/child-support/parents-families/establishing-paternity/
1-800-768-5858

Changing an order

You file a new Summons and Complaint in Family Court to change custody or visitation and pay the $150 filing fee. The judge decides based on your child's best interest and uses the same best-interest factors. A judge usually changes custody only if circumstances have changed since the last order.

Law: S.C. Code § 63-15-240(A), (B)

If the other parent does not follow the order

If the other parent does not follow the custody or visitation order, you can ask the Family Court for a rule to show cause (contempt). The filing fee for this motion is $25. Neither parent may forcibly take a child from the parent who has legal custody.

Law: S.C. Code § 63-5-30; SC Motion Fee List item B.16

Grandparent visitation

Yes. The Family Court can order visits for a grandparent (a parent's natural or adoptive parent) if one or both parents have died, are divorced, or live apart, and the court finds that:

• The parents or guardians are unreasonably keeping the grandparent from visiting, including denying visits for more than 90 days
• Visits would not interfere with the parent-child relationship
• And, by clear and convincing evidence, either the parents are unfit or there are compelling circumstances to overcome the presumption that the parents' decision is best for the child.

The judge may award attorney's fees and costs to the winner.

Custody by someone who is not a parent

A person can ask to be named a 'de facto custodian' if clear and convincing evidence shows they were the child's main caregiver and financial supporter, and the child lived with them for 6 months or more (child under 3) or 1 year or more (child 3 or older). Time after a parent files to get the child back does not count. The court can then give that person custody or visitation only if the parents are unfit or other compelling circumstances exist.

Custody and visitation in the order

Yes. After a hearing, the judge can give temporary custody and temporary visitation for children living in the home. These parts of the order stay in effect until a later court order, even after the protection order itself ends. There is no filing fee. For good cause, the court can hold an emergency hearing within 24 hours after the other person is served.

Military parents

South Carolina has the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, with special rules for custody and visits when a parent is deployed.

Law: S.C. Code §§ 63-15-500 et seq. (2015 Act No. 61)

Preventing abduction

Under the Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act, a court can order measures to prevent a child from being wrongfully taken or kept, in any custody-related case.

Law: S.C. Code §§ 63-15-600 et seq. (2024 Act No. 195)