General Knowledge Archives - Vitetta Family Law

March 19

Posted By: Guy Vitetta
Posted In: General Knowledge
Date: March 19, 2019
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Guardians and the child’s therapist.

In virtually all contested family court cases involving children, a Guardian ad Litem is appointed. Should the child be in therapy it is a near certainty that the Guardian will want to speak with their therapist. The responsibilities of a private Guardian ad Litem in a custody matter are foun...

March 13

Posted By: Guy Vitetta
Posted In: Divorce Law , Family Law , Finances , General Knowledge
Date: March 13, 2019
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Keeping Legal Fees Down in Domestic Relations Cases

Divorce cases can be some of the most expensive legal disputes in which most people will be involved. Fixed fees can keep their costs under control. The billable hour has become the norm in legal billing, but it wasn’t always this way. There was a time when a person went to the lawyer, told th...

March 07

Posted By: Guy Vitetta
Posted In: General Knowledge
Date: March 7, 2019
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Buyers Remorse: Can a Marital Settlement Agreement be enforced by the Family Court before it has been approved and adopted as a court order

Many marital settlement agreements are the result of an extended period of mediation. Sometimes one of the parties wakes up the next morning and feels that they got the short end of the stick and are no longer willing to abide by the terms. Can they withdraw their consent? It depends. Our jurispru...

February 12

Posted By: Guy Vitetta
Posted In: General Knowledge
Tags: Contempt of Court
Date: February 12, 2019
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Contempt Of Court

Many times people who enter into agreements in the Family Court resolving divorce and custody issues don’t take their agreement seriously. This can be a serious mistake. When resolving a dispute in our legal system, people almost always put their agreement in writing. When these writings are c...

June 18

Posted By: Guy Vitetta
Posted In: Court Process and Procedure , Divorce Law , Family Law , General Knowledge , Law Advice , Legal Advice
Tags: Charleston divorce lawyer
Date: June 18, 2018
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What should therapists do when they get a request to release their client’s mental health file to a divorce lawyer?

Therapists and others in the mental health community are often unsure what to do when confronted with a request for a client’s therapy records from a divorce lawyer. Here are a few practice pointers based on what I have learned over the years in this evolving area of law. First, how was the re...

May 08

Posted By: Guy Vitetta
Posted In: Child Custody , General Knowledge
Date: May 8, 2018
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- 283

Appeals Court Re-Affirms Sole Custody Preference In Family Court Contested Cases

A majority of custody cases settle with an agreement to share joint custody of children. Regardless, the court of appeals has re-affirmed their preference that awards of joint custody be granted only in exceptional circumstances in contested cases. When parents have separated and are fighting over c...

April 16

Posted By: Guy Vitetta
Posted In: General Knowledge
Tags: Adoption, Family law
Date: April 16, 2018
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Can parents withdraw their consent to the adoption of their birth child?

When a person signs their consent to place a child up for adoption, as long as their consent was done properly, it will be very difficult to take back. This past January the South Carolina Supreme Court reversed the adoption of a child due to problems with the biological parent’s attempts to...

November 12

Posted By: Guy Vitetta
Posted In: General Knowledge , Law Advice
Date: November 12, 2017
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Is Collaborative Family Law right for you?

Collaborative Law can be a useful, efficient and inexpensive method to resolve a family law case. While Collaborative Law has many benefits, it is prone to abuse and parties are cautioned to engage in this process only upon careful consideration of all options. Collaborative Law is best used in fa...