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South Carolina Family Law Blog Information and Insight On Family Law Issues In South Carolina

Use of Other Professionals in Family Law Cases

By J. Benjamin Stevens on Posted in Educational Resources, Research & Investigation

Experienced family law attorneys know that it is sometimes necessary or desirable to hire other professionals to assist with particular issues in domestic cases.  Of course, the types of professionals  and tasks to be performed will vary, depending on the issues involved in each specific case.  Other professionals commonly used include:

  • The professionals most commonly used in Family Court cases are private investigators.  Not only can these professionals be very helpful in obtaining information about a spouse’s misconduct, they can also help with many other types of issues, such as child custody and visitation cases.
  • Mental health counselors are also helpful in many cases. These professionals can include psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed social workers, and custody evaluators.  Their services provided range widely and include psychological evaluations, anger management, conflict resolution, child counseling, domestic violence, and parenting issues.
  • If parties cannot agree on the value of an asset, it may be necessary to hire an appraiser. Typically, the first type of appraiser that comes to mind is a real estate appraiser. However, there are also professional appraisers who can value anything from antiques, equipment, furniture, or collections to retirement accounts.
  • Accountants are used in many Family Court cases when difficult financial issues arise. The most common areas in which an accountant can be beneficial are (a) determining the income of a self-employed individual, (b) valuing a retirement account, and (c) determining the value of a business entity.

If any of these issues arise in your family law case, your attorney will generally be able to refer you to a qualified professional.  Our firm, like most attorneys, strive to do everything we can to ensure that our clients receive excellent service, not only from us, but also from the other professionals with whom we work.

  • Linda Marsh

    Six years ago we adopted a girl from China. She was supposedly 5 years old and in the orphanage since birth. However, the orphanage falsified her documents, gave her a false background and different name. This was not discovered until several days after the adoption. In fact, this child had been severely physically abused, tortured, abandoned, confined in a cage, and sexually abused prior to arriving at the orphanage at probably age 10. She was told never to reveal the truth to her new parents. We’ve been through many doctors/therapists with little progress. Two months ago a friend got an appointment for us with a county office of DMH. After only 4 meetings with our daughter they approved her placement into the highest level institution available (near Greenville). The therapist said she was the most damaged child she had ever seen. The past year she has become increasingly violent, and has threatened to kill me (her mother) and two of her brothers. She has run away from home 9 times in the past 8 weeks, however she actually just lives in the woods around our house for between 1 and 4 days. During this time she sometimes screams and throws rocks at our house, or leaves “love notes” for me at our front door. Her behavior can only be described as “creepy”. I take her to the facility Monday morning where they expect her to reside for 6 mo to 1 year. My question is this. My family is convinced that she has the capacity to kill one of us, although she is physically small and it is hard for others to see it when they look at her. She has written to her therapist that she wants to kill me, and has verbally said it to me directly. My family does not want her back in our home and is prepared to terminate our parental rights, but we have no idea if we can do this, and if so, how. We know nothing about SC Family Law, and no idea who to ask.