SC Bar

After you receive copies of the documents from the Clerk of Court, send one (1) copy of the Family Court Cover Sheet, Certificate of Exemption, Summons, and Complaint for Divorce to your spouse. You must send these documents Certified Mail, Restricted Delivery, Return Receipt Requested. If you are unsure how to do this, contact your local post office. Keep one copy for your own files.

 

If you get the green return receipt card back from the U.S. Post Office, check to make sure your spouse signed the card. Record the docket number you received from the Clerk of Court and the words “Summons and Complaint” across the top of the return receipt and then make a copy of the card for your file. If you do not get the green return receipt back, you may have to call your local Sheriff’s office to serve the papers to your spouse.

 

The next form to be completed is the Affidavit of Service. Print your docket number in the upper right hand corner. If you served the documents to your spouse by mail, complete the top portion of the affidavit by printing the same month, day, and year that is on the green card. Also print the address where you mailed the documents, and sign your name where it says “Plaintiff, filing pro se.” Do not sign the form until you are in front of a Notary Public. The Notary Public must see you sign the Affidavit of Service.

 

If your local Sheriff served the papers, ask the Sheriff who served the documents to complete the bottom half of the affidavit and have the form notarized and returned to you.

 

Next, get a calendar. Count thirty-five (35) days after your spouse received the documents, not counting the day on the green return receipt card or the date the sheriff served the papers on your spouse, and mark that day on a calendar. On that day, if you have not received an answer from your spouse, complete the Application and Affidavit for Default and the Request for Hearing. On the Application and Affidavit of Default, check whether the Summons and Complaint was served by U.S. Mail or by personal service by the Sheriff. Print the month, day and year the Summons and Complaint was delivered. Do not sign the affidavit until you are in front of a Notary Public. Next, complete the Request for Hearing. Print your name in the space marked “Plaintiff, filing pro se.” Print your address, telephone number, and e-mail address where noted.

 

If your spouse has hired an attorney, complete the information regarding your spouse’s attorney, if you know the information. If your spouse will be representing his or herself, print “pro se” where it asks for Defendant’s attorney, and print his or her address, telephone number, and email address. Next, check whether the divorce will be contested (challenged) by your spouse and whether there are any child custody issues. Your divorce is considered contested if you receive an answer from your spouse that is different from the information you provided or if your spouse disagrees with the outcome you requested in your Complaint. If you discover that your spouse will be fighting your divorce, check “yes.” If you check “yes” OR if you have a child custody issue not yet resolved, your divorce becomes contested and proceeding pro se is not suggested. Please call the South Carolina Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service at 800-868-2284 and ask for a family law attorney in the county where your divorce will be filed.

 

If you are able to check “no” to the questions about whether the divorce is contested AND there are no child custody issues, print dates and times you are unavailable in the space provided. Print comments or issues that you would like to bring to the Court’s attention and sign your name at the bottom of the form where it says “Plaintiff.” Check the box marked “Plaintiff,” date the form, and make a copy of each. Take the original Application and Affidavit for Default, the Request for Hearing, and the Green Return Receipt to the Court and file them with the Family Court Clerk.

 

Once these documents have been filed, come back to this Web site and click Part 3.