Legal Separations in South Carolina
If a party cannot prove any of the five divorce grounds, he/she may still seek a legal separation, which is called a "Decree of Separate Maintenance" in South Carolina. In an action for separate maintenance, the Court can still address many issues on a permanent basis, such as asset/debt distribution, alimony and spousal support, child custody, child support, and visitation, etc. However, the key difference between a divorce and a legal separation is that the parties are still married, but their relationship with is legally and specifically defined.
I was under the impression that you didn't have to be legally separated in SC. My husband and I are currently living together because he refuses to leave. I am trying to wait until tax time to give him a chance to have money to move but the longer I wait the more I want him out. I can't move because the company I am going through to purchase a house wants to include his income and have him sign the note because he is still in the house. I have put up with the mention and verbal abuse but the alcohol/drug abuse is too much and we have two small children. Please give me some advice.
I have been separate from my husband since sep 08. We have two kids, myself and the children live with my mother and he moved about an hour away to live with his sister. Neither of us are steadily employed, but then I have been continuially seeking work well before we seperated. I had medical complications after our daughter was born and had to go out of work to fully recover. At first it was a little rough but it was pretty much agreed I was keeping the kids and he could see them when he wanted he just had to call ahead and let me know. This worked well at first but then in November police me showed up a couple times looking for him, supposedly to pursue a warrent related to unpaid child support he has from a previous relationship. I informed him that when the police came looking for him that I would not allow the visitations till the warrent had been taken care of and I did not have to worry about the potential trauma to the children of thier father being arrested while they were with him. He became upset and did not call to speak with the children or really pursue the matter. I had little no contact with him till christmas eve where he and his sister contacted me through IM service on the computer and got our number once more to call the children and then when I asked if he had taken any measures to clear the warrent he became beligerant and aggressive and his sister tried to state my concerns about him being arrested wit hthe kids was unfounded because she said she knew the police could not find him and that because it was a civil matter it did not mean much. She also stated she had an attorney friend that would be willing to help us but that my husband needed to see his kids. I obviously cannot trust her so called attorney and i do want to and have tried to be as civil and reasonable as I feel I can be. I do not have the money for a lawyer but am told if I have the paperwor and fee i can file for seperation by myself. Since none of the conditions for divorce can be met by SC standards and because I do not wish to risk loosing custody of my children because his sister has her 'freind' what options or possibilites do I have?