To file for divorce in SC, you file a Complaint and Summons for Divorce with the Family Court in the county where your spouse lives, meet South Carolina’s residency requirement, choose a legal ground (either one year of continuous separation or a fault ground), pay the $150 filing fee, and formally serve your spouse with the papers. The case then moves through an answer period, possible temporary hearings, mediation on any contested issues, and a final hearing before a judge signs the divorce order.
The sequence below walks through each step in the order you actually do it.
Confirm You Meet the Residency Requirement
Before anything else, check that you qualify to use South Carolina’s courts. If both spouses live in South Carolina, the filing spouse must have lived in the state for at least three months. If only one spouse lives here, the in-state spouse must have been a resident for at least one year.1South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-30 – Residence Requirement
The clock runs from the day you actually began living in the state. A lease, utility bills, or a South Carolina driver’s license can prove it if the court asks. Filing before you hit the threshold gets your case dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
Choose Your Ground for Divorce
South Carolina recognizes one no-fault ground and four fault-based grounds, and the ground you pick controls how long the case takes.2South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-10 – Grounds for Divorce
The no-fault ground is one year of continuous separation. You and your spouse must live apart without any cohabitation for a full year. Even one night together during that year restarts the clock. The judge cannot sign the final order until the year is complete, so filing early only moves the paperwork along; it doesn’t shorten the wait.
The four fault grounds are adultery, desertion for at least one year, physical cruelty, and habitual drunkenness or drug use. Filing on a fault ground eliminates the one-year separation wait, but you’ll need evidence: witnesses, photographs, police reports, or other documentation. Your spouse can raise defenses, such as showing that you consented to the conduct or forgave it and resumed the marriage. Established fault can also affect alimony and how property gets divided.
Prepare the Court Forms
The South Carolina Judicial Branch publishes a self-represented litigant packet with the required forms, and South Carolina Legal Services offers an interactive tool at lawhelp.org/sc that fills the packet in based on your answers.3South Carolina Judicial Branch. SRL Simple Divorce Packets
The main documents are:
- Summons for Divorce, which notifies your spouse the case has been filed and gives the deadline to respond.
- Complaint for Divorce, which sets out your ground, confirms your residency, and states what you want the court to order (property division, alimony, custody, child support).
- Financial Declaration, a detailed breakdown of your income, expenses, assets, and debts, plus what you know about your spouse’s finances. It must be signed in front of a notary.
- Family Court Cover Sheet, a one-page administrative form.
- Certificate of Exemption, which confirms whether your case is exempt from certain court requirements.
Take the Financial Declaration seriously. Judges use it to set temporary support, decide custody arrangements, and divide property. Understating income or leaving assets off will hurt you at a hearing.
The Complaint is where you tell the court what you want. If you’re seeking alimony, custody, child support, or a specific division of property or debts, ask for it here. South Carolina uses equitable distribution, meaning the court divides marital property fairly rather than automatically 50/50, weighing factors like the length of the marriage, each spouse’s income and contributions, and any misconduct that affected finances.4South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-620 – Equitable Apportionment of Marital Property Custody decisions turn on the best interest of the child, and child support is calculated using an income shares model based on both parents’ combined income.5South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-15-240 – Custody of Children
File in the Correct County
You take the completed forms to the Clerk of Court in the Family Court division. South Carolina venue rules dictate which county has jurisdiction:6South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-60 – Venue
- The county where your spouse lives when you file, as the default.
- The county where you and your spouse last lived together, as an alternative.
- The county where you live, if your spouse lives out of state or can’t be located after a diligent search.
The filing fee is $150.7South Carolina Judicial Branch. Family Court Filing Fees Most clerks accept cash, money orders, and cashier’s checks, but not personal checks. That fee covers only the initial filing. Service costs, mediation fees, and other expenses come on top.
If you can’t afford the fee, file a Motion and Affidavit to Proceed in Forma Pauperis. It asks the court to waive costs and requires a sworn statement about your finances.8South Carolina Judicial Department. South Carolina SCCA 405 – Motion and Affidavit to Proceed in Forma Pauperis
Serve Your Spouse With the Papers
Filing isn’t enough. You have to formally deliver a copy of the Summons and Complaint to your spouse through a process called service, and you can’t do it yourself. South Carolina allows three main methods:9South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure – Rule 4
- Acceptance of Service. Your spouse voluntarily signs a written acknowledgment showing the place and date they received the papers. This is the simplest and cheapest option.
- Personal delivery. A sheriff’s deputy, a private process server, or another authorized person hands the papers to your spouse. Fees commonly run from $30 to $65.
- Certified mail. You mail the papers with return receipt requested, restricted to the addressee. Service takes effect on the delivery date. If the mail is refused or comes back, you’ll need another method.
After service, proof gets filed with the court. For personal delivery, that’s an affidavit from the person who served the papers. For certified mail, the signed return receipt. For acceptance, the signed acknowledgment form.
Wait for the Answer and Handle Interim Matters
Once served, your spouse has 30 days to file a written Answer admitting or denying the claims in your Complaint. Your spouse can also file a counterclaim asking for their own relief, such as custody, alimony, or a different property split. If no Answer arrives within the deadline, you can ask the court for a default judgment.
Temporary Hearings
Either spouse can request a temporary hearing to address urgent matters while the case is pending. A judge can issue temporary orders on custody, visitation, child support, spousal support, use of the family home, and responsibility for bills. Those orders stay in effect until the final divorce order replaces them.
Mediation
South Carolina requires mediation for all contested issues in family court before those issues can go to trial.10South Carolina Judicial Branch. Alternative Dispute Resolution Rule 3 A neutral mediator helps you and your spouse try to reach agreement. It isn’t binding; if you can’t agree, the contested issues go to the judge. Temporary relief requests, contempt proceedings, and appeals are exempt.
If you and your spouse agree on everything, you can skip the contested track. An uncontested divorce uses a written marital settlement agreement covering property, debts, alimony, and any child-related issues. Both sides sign, and the judge reviews it at the final hearing. Uncontested cases finish faster and cost less.
The Final Hearing
Every South Carolina divorce ends with a hearing before a Family Court judge, even when both sides agree. In an uncontested case, the hearing is short. You testify about residency and the ground for divorce, confirm the terms of your agreement, and the judge signs the Final Order of Divorce if the agreement is fair and covers what it needs to.
In a contested case, the final hearing is a trial. Both sides present evidence, call witnesses, and argue their positions. The judge then rules on property division, alimony, custody, and support. For a no-fault divorce, the one-year separation must be complete before the judge can sign the final order.2South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-10 – Grounds for Divorce Once signed, the order is effective immediately. Either side has 30 days to appeal.
Loose Ends Worth Knowing About Before You File
A few issues sit outside the filing process but catch people off guard, so plan for them while the case is still open.
Health insurance. If you’re covered under your spouse’s employer plan, divorce is a COBRA qualifying event that lets you continue the coverage for up to 36 months at your own cost. You or a family member must notify the plan administrator within 60 days of the divorce, or the plan doesn’t have to offer COBRA at all.11U.S. Department of Labor. FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers
Retirement accounts. Dividing a private employer’s retirement plan requires a separate court order called a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO). Without a valid QDRO, the plan administrator pays out only according to the plan’s own terms, whatever the divorce decree says.12U.S. Department of Labor. Qualified Domestic Relations Orders Under ERISA – A Practical Guide to Dividing Retirement Benefits QDROs take time to draft and get approved, so start early. Government and church plans generally aren’t covered by the QDRO rules, so ask the specific employer how those get divided.
Taxes. Your filing status for the whole tax year depends on whether you’re divorced on December 31. If the divorce is final by that date, you file as single or head of household for the entire year.13Internal Revenue Service. Filing Status Property transfers between spouses as part of a divorce generally don’t trigger a taxable gain, but the receiving spouse takes over the original tax basis, which matters when the property is later sold.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1041 – Transfers of Property Between Spouses or Incident to Divorce For any divorce finalized after December 31, 2018, alimony is not deductible to the payer and not taxable to the recipient.
Social Security. If your marriage lasted at least ten years, you may qualify to collect Social Security based on your ex-spouse’s record once you’re 62, unmarried, and not entitled to a higher benefit on your own. Collecting on an ex’s record doesn’t reduce their benefit.