Family Law

Ben Stevens Interviewed About Proposed Increases to Family Court Filing Fees

By J. Benjamin Stevens

In case you haven't heard, the South Carolina Legislature is considering drastically increasing certain Court filing fees.  In Family Court, the proposed increases are (a) increasing filing fees (except for child support enforcement or modification) from $150 to $200; (b) increase the filing fee for Motions from $25 to $75; and (c) imposing a new fee of $50 per deposition.

South Carolina Lawyers Weekly interviewed me earlier this week about these proposed changes and their impact on litigants in Family Court.  My quotes are listed below:

• "Anytime filing fees are increased, it creates additional barriers that may prevent some from having access to the court system, which is not only unfortunate – it is wrong."
• "Making those tools (Motions and depositions) less accessible will not benefit the parties by any means."
• "The solution is for the legislature to adequately fund the system so that the increase in filing fees won't be necessary, or least any increases can be phased in reasonably and not be so drastic."

You can read more about this important subject in the South Carolina Lawyers Weekly article here.

Full post as published by SC Family Law Blog on May 12, 2010 (boomark / email).