Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 63 > Chapter 15 - Child Custody and Visitation

• Abandoned: means left without provision for reasonable and necessary care or supervision. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Adult: means an individual who is at least eighteen years of age or an emancipated minor. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Caretaking authority: means the right to live with and care for a child on a day-to-day basis, including physical custody, parenting time, right to access, and visitation. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Child: means :
  
  (a) an unemancipated individual who has not attained eighteen years of age; or
  
  (b) an adult son or daughter by birth or adoption or under the law of this State, other than this article, who is the subject of an existing court order concerning custodial responsibility. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Child: means a person under the age of eighteen. See South Carolina Code 63-1-40
• Child: means an individual who has not attained eighteen years of age. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Child custody determination: means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court providing for the legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Child custody proceeding: means a proceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child is an issue. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Close and substantial relationship: means a relationship in which a significant bond exists between a child and a nonparent. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Commencement: means the filing of the first pleading in a proceeding. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Court: means an entity authorized under the law of this State, other than this article, to establish, enforce, or modify a decision regarding custodial responsibility. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Court: means an entity authorized under the law of a state to establish, enforce, or modify a child custody determination. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Custodial responsibility: is a comprehensive term that includes any and all powers and duties relating to caretaking authority and decision-making authority for a child. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Decision-making authority: means the power to make important decisions regarding a child, including decisions regarding the child's education, religious training, health care, extra-curricular activities, and travel. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deploying parent: means a service member, who is deployed or has been notified of impending deployment, and is:
  
  (a) a parent of a child under the law of this State other than this article; or
  
  (b) an individual other than a parent who has custodial responsibility of a child under the law of this State other than this article;
  
  (9) "Deployment" means the movement or mobilization of a service member to a location for more than ninety days but fewer than eighteen months pursuant to an official order that:
  
  (a) is designated as unaccompanied;
  
  (b) does not authorize dependent travel; or
  
  (c) otherwise does not permit the movement of family members to that location. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Family member: includes a sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, stepparent, or grandparent of a child and an individual recognized to be in a familial relationship with a child under the law of this State other than this article. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Guardian: means a person who legally has the care and management of a child. See South Carolina Code 63-1-40
• Home state: means the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Initial determination: means the first child custody determination concerning a particular child. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Issuing court: means the court that makes a child custody determination for which enforcement is sought under this article. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Joint custody: means both parents have equal rights and responsibilities for major decisions concerning the child, including the child's education, medical and dental care, extracurricular activities, and religious training; however, a judge may designate one parent to have sole authority to make specific, identified decisions while both parents retain equal rights and responsibilities for all other decisions. See South Carolina Code 63-15-210
• Judge: means the judge of the family court. See South Carolina Code 63-1-40
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Limited contact: means the opportunity for a nonparent to visit with a child for a limited period of time. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Modification: means a child custody determination that changes, replaces, supersedes, or is otherwise made after a previous determination concerning the same child, whether or not it is made by the court that made the previous determination. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Nonparent: means an individual other than a deploying parent or other parent. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Other parent: means an individual who, in common with a deploying parent, is:
  
  (a) the parent of a child under the law of this State other than this article; or
  
  (b) an individual other than a parent with custodial responsibility of a child under the law of this State other than this article. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Parent: means biological parent, adoptive parents, step-parent, or person with legal custody. See South Carolina Code 63-1-40
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, governmental agency or instrumentality, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Person acting as a parent: means a person, other than a parent, who:
  
  (a) has physical custody of the child or has had physical custody for a period of six consecutive months, including any temporary absence, within one year immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding; and
  
  (b) has been awarded legal custody by a court or claims a right to legal custody under the law of this State. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a child. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Return from deployment: means the conclusion of a service member's deployment as specified in uniformed service orders. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Service member: means a member of a uniformed service. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Sole custody: means a person, including, but not limited to, a parent who has temporary or permanent custody of a child and, unless otherwise provided for by court order, the rights and responsibilities for major decisions concerning the child, including the child's education, medical and dental care, extracurricular activities, and religious training. See South Carolina Code 63-15-210
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Tribe: means an Indian tribe or band, or Alaskan native village, which is recognized by federal law or formally acknowledged by a state. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Uniformed service: means :
  
  (a) active and reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States;
  
  (b) the Merchant Marine, the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service or the commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States; or
  
  (c) the National Guard. See South Carolina Code 63-15-502
• Warrant: means an order issued by a court authorizing law enforcement officers to take physical custody of a child. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302