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In order for you to obtain a divorce in South Carolina, the South Carolina Family Court must have jurisdiction of your case before it can hear the case and make a ruling on it. The South Carolina Family Court is a court born out of statute, therefore it has limited jurisdiction. The Family Court can hear and decide cases involving all types of marital litigation and disputes between spouses involving children, termination of parental rights, custody, visitaiton, child support, alimony and spousal support, and division of marital property.
In order for you to file for divorce in South Carolina you will be required to be a resident of South Carolina. You cannot file for divorce in South Carolina unless the plaintiff or defendant in the divorce case has been a resident of the state for certain periods of time. If the defendant does not live in South Carolina, the plaintiff must have resided within the state for at least one year. If the plaintiff is a non-resident, the defendant must have resided in South Carolina for at least one year. If both parties are residents of South Carolina, plaintiff must have only resided in South Carolina for three months prior to filing for divorce.
So, depending on where your spouse lives, you or he/she will have to be a resident of South Carolina for a certain amount of time before you can file for divorce here no matter where you and your spouse were married.
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