Family Law

The "Temporary" Nature of Temporary Hearings

By Ben Stevens

This week, I have explained certain aspects of temporary hearings in Family Court cases in South Carolina.  One of the things that I explain to all of my clients before these hearings is "No matter what happens, good or bad, this is only temporary."  I also reassure my clients that I am not telling them that to prepare them for bad news, as I discuss this point all my clients, whether I think the hearing will go our way or not.

Because the Court is only given certain slices of information by the parties and there is no opportunity for cross-examination at these hearings, the Court must make decisions while using incomplete and often contradictory information.  To make matters worse, some Affidavits contain misleading, inaccurate, and even false information, which further complicates the Court's decision-making process.  The result is that sometimes the Court can make the wrong decision at a temporary hearing, but the client can take some comfort knowing that it will likely later be rectified at a final hearing.

So does it make sense for parties to use inaccurate information in their Affidavits at these hearings?  The answer is "absolutely not", and it is very short-sighted for a party to take that approach. Since Affidavits are sworn statements, all information contained in them is subject to being used to impeach their authors at trial, and witness credibility is extremely important in Family Court because many issues are "he said / she said".  Once a witness loses his/her credibility on any issue, the Court will be much more critical of everything that witness says, and it may believe none of that person's testimony – which can impact the outcome of the case and makes this an unwise gamble.

Full post as published by SC Family Law Blog on November 20, 2009 (boomark / email).