SC Supreme Court halts warrants for missed child support payments due to coronavirus
South Carolina Chief Justice Donald Beatty has suspended all bench warrants and arrests for the non-payment of alimony and child support for 30 days in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, he announced in a statement Friday.
Under the order, all unexecuted warrants issued by the state’s family courts for failing to make such payments won’t be acted on until at least May 10 in order to “protect the health and safety of our State’s citizens,” Beatty wrote.
According to multiple estimates, more than 10% of inmates in South Carolina county jails are there due to missed child support payments.
The coronavirus pandemic has already had a significant impact on South Carolina’s judicial system, with all federal and state jury trials put on hold starting March 16. Family Courts have been ordered only to hear emergency matters, and all courts, including the state Supreme Court, have moved to remote operations.
Across South Carolina, more than 3,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported as of Thursday afternoon, with 72 deaths. Gov. Henry McMaster has issued a “home or work” order limiting residents to trips outside only for certain essential activities, visits to family and exercise. He has also shut down hundreds of nonessential businesses, ranging from gyms to department stores to theaters to salons.
Before McMaster’s order, several municipalities, including Columbia and Charleston, issued “stay-at-home” ordinances of their own, despite a legal opinion from the office of state Attorney General Alan Wilson arguing local governments didn’t have legal authority to do so. Columbia Mayor Steven Benjamin told The State that he was willing to defend the order against Wilson’s office in court, but Wilson later said he had no intention of suing any local government who issued such an order during the crisis.
This story was originally published April 10, 2020 at 3:50 PM.
