Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 63 > Chapter 17 - Paternity and Child Support

• 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.
• Agency: means the clerk of court of this State and, when the context requires, means either the court or agency of any other jurisdiction with functions similar to those defined in this chapter, including the issuance and enforcement of support orders. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1810
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• 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.
• Arrearage: means amounts of past-due and unpaid monthly support obligations established by court or administrative order. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• Arrearage: means the total amount overdue under an order of support. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1020
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Child: means any child, whether above or below the age of majority, with respect to whom a support order exists. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1810
• Child: means a person under the age of eighteen. See South Carolina Code 63-1-40
• child: includes , but is not limited to, a person under the age of eighteen years. See South Carolina Code 63-17-10
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Compliance with an order for support: means that pursuant to an order for support the person required to pay under the order is in arrears no more than five-hundred dollars and has paid the full child support obligation for the last two consecutive months. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1020
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Costs of collections: means costs as provided for in § 63-3-370 in addition to the monthly support obligation. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• Court: means the family court of this State and, when the context requires, means either the court or agency of any other jurisdiction with functions similar to those defined in this chapter, including the issuance and enforcement of support orders. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1810
• Credit bureau: An agency that collects individual credit information and sells it for a fee to creditors so they can make a decision on granting loans. Typical clients include banks, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and other financing companies. (Also commonly referred to as consumer-reporting agency or credit-reporting agency.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Custodian: means a parent, relative, legal guardian, or other person or agency having physical custody of a child. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent child: means a person who is legally entitled to or the subject of a support order for the provision of proper or necessary subsistence, education, medical care, or other care necessary for the person's health, guidance, or well-being who is not otherwise emancipated, self-supporting, married, or a member of the armed forces of the United States. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• 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.
• Director: means the Director of the Child Support Enforcement Division of the State Department of Social Services or his designee. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1020
• Director: means the Director of the Child Support Enforcement Division of the State Department of Social Services or the director's designees. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Division: means the Child Support Enforcement Division of the State Department of Social Services. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1020
• Division: means the Child Support Enforcement Division of the State Department of Social Services. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Duty of support: includes the duty to pay a monthly support obligation and any arrearage. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• entity: means , for the purposes of issuing or revoking a license, a state, county, or municipal agency, board, department, office, or commission that issues a license. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1020
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• 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.
• Extradition: The formal process of delivering an accused or convicted person from authorities in one state to authorities in another state.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Income: means any form of payment to an individual as defined in § 63-17-1410. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1810
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• judge: means any court or judge in this State having jurisdiction to determine the liability of persons for the support of another person. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• 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.
• Jurisdiction: means any state or political subdivision, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1810
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: means :
  
  (a) a certificate, license, credential, permit, registration, or any other authorization issued by a licensing entity that allows an individual or is required of an individual to engage in a business, occupation, or profession and includes, but is not limited to, a medical license, teaching certificate, commission and certificate of training from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy for a sworn law enforcement officer, and a hunting, fishing, or trapping license for commercial use and the privilege to hunt, fish, or trap or hold a hunting, fishing, or trapping license for commercial use;
  
  (b) a driver's license and includes, but is not limited to, a beginner's or instruction permit, a restricted driver's license, a motorcycle driver's license, or a commercial driver's license;
  
  (c) a hunting, fishing, or trapping license for recreational purposes and the privilege to hunt, fish, or trap or hold a hunting, fishing, or trapping license for recreational purposes;
  
  (d) a watercraft registration. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1020
• Licensee: means an individual holding a license issued by a licensing entity. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1020
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Monthly support obligation: means the monthly amount of current child support that an obligor is ordered to pay by the court or by the division pursuant to this article. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• Obligee: means a person or agency to whom a duty of support is owed or a person or agency having commenced a proceeding for the establishment or enforcement of an alleged duty of support. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• Obligee: means any person or entity which is entitled to receive support under an order of support and includes an agency of another jurisdiction to which a person has assigned his right to support. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1810
• Obligor: means a person owing a duty of support or against whom a proceeding for the establishment or enforcement of a duty to support is commenced. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• Obligor: means any person required to make payments under the term of a support order for a child, spouse, or former spouse. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1810
• Order: means an administrative order that involves the establishment of paternity and/or the establishment and enforcement of an order for child support and/or medical support issued by the Child Support Enforcement Division of the State Department of Social Services or the administrative agency of another state or comparable jurisdiction with similar authority. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• Order for support: means an order being enforced by the division under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act and which provides for periodic payments of funds for the support of a child or maintenance of a spouse or former spouse and support of a child, whether temporary or final and includes, but is not limited to, an order for reimbursement for public assistance or an order for making periodic payments on a support arrearage. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1020
• 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.
• Payee: means a custodial parent on whose behalf child support payments are being collected or an agency or its designee in this or another state to which an assignment of rights to child support has been made. See South Carolina Code 63-17-720
• Payor: means any payor of income. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1810
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Support order: means an order of a court which provides for periodic payments of funds for the support of a child or maintenance of a spouse or former spouse and support of a child, whether temporary or final, whether incidental to a proceeding for divorce, separation, separate maintenance, paternity, guardianship, or otherwise and includes an order providing modification of support payment of an arrearage or reimbursement of support. See South Carolina Code 63-17-1810
• 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.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.