In an ideal world, all parents would have the financial resources to take care of their children, and neither parent’s net worth would be a major consideration in the child custody determinations a court must make when parents divorce. However, life is not always reasonable or fair. There are parents who are unable to provide basic essentials for their little ones – and there are parents with plenty of money who will try to use their wealth as a weapon to fight child custody battles during a high net worth divorce. How these battles play out can depend on a number of factors, but the spouses who face them – regardless of how they came to find themselves in this type of conflict – often prefer to work with the advice and support of an experienced family law attorney who is familiar with both child custody cases and high net worth divorces and will be prepared to protect their client’s interest and a family’s future. Call King Law Offices at 888-748-KING today to schedule a consultation at one of our convenient South Carolina locations.
What Is Considered a High Net Worth Family?
“High net worth” is a relative term. Generally speaking, it may be used to apply to any household with at least $1 million in assets. Usually this valuation would exclude the family home, sometimes called the “primary residence,” but might include vacation homes, hunting cabins, and real estate investment properties. High net worth can cover quite a range, from the comfortably well-to-do to the ultra-rich, and lifestyles can vary widely within that broader territory. Personal taste and preferences, as well as the total resources available, play important roles in determining how a family’s wealth is spent, both in any particular purchase or investment decision and in day-to-day habits of financial management.
What Is Considered a High Net Worth Divorce?
A high net worth divorce can be any divorce that takes place between spouses whose combined assets meet the general criteria for a high net worth family or household. Because this definition is based on a couple’s total combined assets during their marriage rather than the individual income or resources of either, the financial considerations involved in a high net worth divorce can come in several different configurations. Each of these scenarios can have implications for how property is divided between the spouses in a high net worth divorce. Less obviously, the specific source of a high net worth couple’s resources, and the portion attributable to each partner prior to the initial divorce filing, may sometimes have implications for the outcomes of child custody battles as well.
How Is Child Custody Determined in South Carolina?
The South Carolina Bar Association explains that, in most cases, divorcing parents are able to agree on a schedule for custody and visitation that they submit as part of the proposed parenting plan that is among the required filings for a South Carolina divorce when the couple has children together. If the spouses are able to agree on all aspects of their parenting plan, then they may be able to submit the plan jointly, with both parties’ signatures, even if other aspects of their divorce are contested. The judge presiding will still need to approve the parenting plan by including its terms in the court’s final custody order before the schedule will be considered legally valid and binding – but as a general rule, if both parents are in agreement and the proposed plan as presented offers the child a reasonable amount of time with each of the parents, then in many cases a South Carolina family judge may be willing to affirm an arrangement the co-parents have agreed will make sense for their child (or children) and now-separate households.
When the parents are unable to work out a custody and visitation schedule on which both parties can agree, or when the judge overseeing their case has concerns about the reasonableness of a proposed arrangement and its likely effects on a child, then the court will step in to make a final custody determination. In either case, the court’s judgment will be guided by the “best interest of the child” standard set out in South Carolina’s Children’s Code.
What Is the Children’s Code?
Title 63 of the Code of South Carolina is sometimes called the “Children’s Code” because it encompasses a set of laws designed specifically to address the needs, safety, and interests of South Carolina’s most vulnerable citizens, and to guide public officials – such as the judges presiding over child custody battles – in situations that require a “judgment call.” An experienced South Carolina attorney with King Law Offices may be able to help you better understand how the custody and visitation issues addressed in Chapter 15 may apply to your situation.
Types of Custody in South Carolina
An important factor for divorcing parents to keep in mind is that South Carolina, unlike some other states, makes its primary division between different types of custody in terms of “sole” vs. “joint” custody, rather than on the basis of parental responsibilities for legal decision-making vs. hands-on childcare. One consequence of this structure that parents engaged in child custody battles may often find confusing is that a South Carolina court can, under S.C. 63-15-230, award one parent “sole custody” and in the same order establish a mandatory allocation of “parenting time” that gives the non-custodial parent significant residential responsibility under the heading of visitation (rather than “custody”).
Child Custody vs. Child Support
Non-custodial parents are typically required to pay child support, so these distinctions in terminology can sometimes have substantial material implications for both parents and children. A major point of contention in some South Carolina custody battles is the weighting of parenting time allocations with respect to child support payments, as child support is intended partly to account for the costs a parent incurs due to having a child in the home.
The “Best Interests of the Child” Standard
Title 63 instructs South Carolina family courts to make their custody determinations on the basis of the “best interests of the child” – as opposed to, for instance, the convenience or preferences of either parent, although the preferences of the child and of each parent are among the many factors the Children’s Code offers for judges to consider in making their decisions for final custody orders. In South Carolina child custody battles arising out of high net worth divorces, often one of the primary questions brought into dispute between the parties is whether, and how, the net worth of the custodial parent may bear on a child’s best interests.
Who Wins Custody the Most?
Arguments over a possible relationship between a child’s best interests and the net worth of either parent can sometimes arise when one parent appears likely to have substantially greater resources than the other after the divorce, even once factors such as the division of marital property, any awards of alimony, and of course the noncustodial parent’s contributions to the child’s financial wellbeing in the form of child support payments, have been taken into account. Allowing for significant variation between the circumstances of individual families, one parent’s anticipated ability to afford their child greater opportunities during their scheduled parenting time often forms a common theme in these discussions. Because “custody” is defined by S.C. 63-15-210 as parental “rights and responsibilities” to make “major decisions” with respect to a child, however, and not necessarily in terms of the time a child spends under either parent’s roof, access to superior resources in one parent’s home may not carry the same weight in South Carolina child custody battles as can sometimes be the case in states where parenting time allocations and the legal definition of custody run more tightly in tandem.
Speak With a South Carolina Divorce Lawyer
Parents engaged in high net worth divorces in South Carolina may find themselves embroiled in child custody battles for a number of reasons. In many situations, these battles can ensue as a result of each parent’s understandable desire to be as involved as possible in their child’s life. On the other hand, sometimes a divorcing parent may unfortunately succumb to the temptation to use child custody as a tool to hurt or manipulate their former partner. South Carolina family courts are generally on the look-out for underhanded tactics and prepared to prioritize the best interests of the children in family law cases – but the custody battles themselves can still do significant emotional damage to both parents and children.
While these disputes can happen in divorces at all income levels, the factors that come into play during a high net worth divorce may differ somewhat from those that are common in middle-income divorces. A family law attorney in your area with experience in both child custody disputes and the specific considerations involved in high net worth divorce may be able to offer you practical guidance for your legal journey. Schedule a consultation with King Law Offices today by calling 888-748-KING to be connected with a South Carolina divorce lawyer at a location near you.