To file for divorce in South Carolina, you must meet the state’s residency requirement, choose a legal ground, complete a set of family court forms, pay a $150 filing fee, and arrange to have your spouse formally served. Cases are filed in the family court of the county where you live, and the earliest a judge can finalize the divorce is 30 days after filing for a case based on a one-year separation, or 90 days for fault-based grounds.
Confirm You Meet the Residency Requirement
South Carolina will not accept a divorce filing unless one of the spouses has lived in the state long enough. If both spouses live in South Carolina when the case begins, the filing spouse needs three months of residency. If only one spouse lives here, that resident spouse must have been in the state for at least a year before filing.1South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-30 – Residence Requirement
You file in the county where you live. If you moved here recently and your spouse still lives elsewhere, the one-year clock runs from the date you actually established your home in South Carolina.
Choose a Ground for Divorce
Every complaint has to state a legal reason. South Carolina recognizes one no-fault ground and four fault-based grounds.2South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 20 Chapter 3 – Divorce
One-Year Separation (No-Fault)
The most common ground is living separate and apart for one continuous year with no reconciliation. That means separate residences. Courts rarely accept spouses who still share a home as living apart, even in different bedrooms, unless the separation of daily life is extreme and well-documented. A single night back together can restart the clock.
Fault-Based Grounds
Fault grounds let you avoid the one-year wait, but you have to prove them with more than your own testimony. Corroborating evidence is required for each:
- Adultery: a sexual relationship outside the marriage. Circumstantial evidence of opportunity and inclination is usually enough.
- Desertion: your spouse left for at least a year, without your agreement and without justification.
- Physical cruelty: physical harm that endangered your safety.
- Habitual drunkenness: chronic alcohol abuse or drug addiction at the time of separation.
Ground selection has consequences beyond ending the marriage. A spouse proven to have committed adultery before a written separation agreement or court order is completely barred from receiving alimony, so the ground you choose can shape the entire financial picture of the case.3South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-130 – Award of Alimony
Complete the Required Forms
The South Carolina Judicial Branch publishes self-represented litigant divorce packets on its website. The core documents are:
- Family Court Cover Sheet, a routing document identifying the case type.
- Summons for Divorce, which formally notifies your spouse of the case and sets a response deadline.
- Complaint for Divorce, which states your ground and lists the relief you want, such as property division, custody, or alimony, along with basic facts like names, addresses, and your marriage date.
- Financial Declaration, a sworn statement of each spouse’s income, expenses, assets, and debts. It is required whenever financial issues are involved, even if you are not asking for support.4South Carolina Judicial Branch. SRL Simple Divorce Packets
You may also need a Certificate of Exemption if your case qualifies for an exemption from the state’s alternative dispute resolution requirements.
Pay the Filing Fee or Request a Waiver
The divorce filing fee is $150. If you cannot afford it, you can file a Motion and Affidavit to Proceed In Forma Pauperis, which asks the court’s permission to file without paying.5South Carolina Judicial Branch. Family Court Filing Fees
Serve Your Spouse
After filing, your spouse has to be formally served with copies of the documents. South Carolina permits service by a sheriff, a private process server, or certified mail with a return receipt your spouse signs. You cannot deliver the papers yourself. Once service happens, proof of service must be filed with the court promptly. The filing spouse is responsible for making sure service is done correctly, because a defective service can delay the entire case.
What Happens After You File
Your Spouse’s Response
Your spouse has 30 days after being served to file a written response. They can file an answer addressing your claims, or a counterclaim raising their own requests. If nothing is filed within 30 days, you can ask the court for a default judgment.
Temporary Hearings
Divorces can take months to resolve, and some issues cannot wait. Either spouse can file a motion for temporary relief covering things like custody, child support, spousal support, and who stays in the family home. Hearings on these motions are set no sooner than 21 days and no later than 45 days after the motion is filed.6South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Family Court Rule 21
Mediation
South Carolina requires mediation for all contested family court issues before a judge will hear them. A neutral mediator works with both spouses to negotiate a resolution, and the parties must participate in at least three hours of mediation unless they settle sooner. A resulting agreement goes to the court for approval; if mediation fails, the case moves toward a final hearing.7South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – ADR Rule 6 Duties of the Parties, Representatives and Attorneys – Mediation
Timeline to the Final Order
How fast the divorce finalizes depends on the ground and whether you agree on the terms. In a one-year separation case where everything is agreed, the court can schedule a final hearing 30 days after filing. Fault-based cases have a minimum 90-day waiting period. Contested cases usually take considerably longer because of discovery, mediation, and court scheduling. At the final hearing, the judge reviews any settlement or, in a contested case, hears evidence and rules on the remaining issues, then signs a Final Order of Divorce.
Issues the Filing Sets in Motion
The complaint is where you ask for everything you want the court to decide, so it helps to know what the divorce will resolve alongside ending the marriage.
Property and debt are divided under equitable distribution, meaning fairly rather than equally. Marital property covers most assets acquired during the marriage regardless of whose name is on the title, while inheritances, third-party gifts, premarital property, and anything excluded by a prenuptial agreement stay separate.8South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 20 Chapter 3 – Divorce – Section 20-3-630
Custody is decided by the child’s best interests, weighed across 17 statutory factors. The court can award sole or joint custody, and legal custody covering major decisions can be shared even when physical custody is not.9South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-15-240 – Contents of Order for Custody Affecting Rights and Responsibilities of Parents
Child support is calculated under the Income Shares Model using both parents’ gross monthly incomes, with adjustments for health insurance, uninsured medical costs, and work-related childcare.10Legal Information Institute. South Carolina Code Regs 114-4720 – Determination of Child Support Awards
Alimony comes in periodic, lump-sum, rehabilitative, and reimbursement forms, and for any agreement finalized after December 31, 2018, payments are neither deductible by the payer nor taxable to the recipient.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 452, Alimony and Separate Maintenance
If you changed your name at marriage, you can ask the judge to restore your former name in the final decree. Only you can request it for yourself, and the restoration does not release you from debts incurred under the married name.12South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-180 – Change of Name
If You Are in Danger, Do Not Wait for the Divorce
You do not have to have a divorce case pending to get legal protection from a spouse. South Carolina lets you petition for an Order of Protection against a current or former spouse, filed with the Clerk of Court in the county where you live, where the abuser lives, or where you last lived together. There is no filing fee. The order can prohibit contact and threats and can temporarily address custody, support, and use of shared property. If domestic violence is a factor, it also weighs directly on custody decisions inside the divorce case.9South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-15-240 – Contents of Order for Custody Affecting Rights and Responsibilities of Parents