New SC chief justice seeks extra Family Court judges to handle backlogged cases

Yahoo

06-02-2025

South Carolina Supreme court Justice John Kittredge arrives for his screening by the Judicial Merit Selection Commission on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in Columbia, S.C.(Mary Ann Chastain/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — When it comes to questions of child custody or divorce, South Carolina families can wait weeks for a court hearing. That delay can leave children in homes with an abusive parent or one who is struggling with addiction. And that is 'unacceptable,' the new head of the state's judicial branch said Thursday.
State Supreme Court Chief Justice John Kittredge, whose own legal career started in Family Court, said judges have been doubling up dockets and holding evening court sessions in some parts of the state to catch up. But the system has reached its limit on how far it can stretch, he told a House budget-writing panel.
'Quite frankly, family courts are in crisis,' he said in his first budget pitch since ascending to the state's top judicial post. 'We are in desperate need of more resources.'
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Kittredge, who was sworn in as chief justice last August, is seeking an additional $1.8 million in the coming fiscal year to pay for three new Family Court judges — one in Lexington, one in Beaufort and one in Berkeley County — to help with backlogs.
It's a request that the top House budget writer expects the General Assembly will support and a problem he understands personally.
House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister works as a family court attorney and has seen domestic struggles involving children play out in his law practice.
'The day you serve the other parent, there's a heightened conflict,' said the Greenville Republican. 'From that time until you get a hearing before a judge, it's the wild, wild west.'
Bannister said he's had cases where a parent has taken a child out of school without the other parent knowing, essentially keeping the child out of the classroom, missing out on learning and hidden for days.
Without a judge's ruling, Bannister said, there's nothing to keep a child away from an abusive spouse or stepparent.
'It puts stress on the parties, minor children, in dire need of resolution and stability,' Kittredge said.
Wait times for court hearings can vary from one county to the next. In Greenville, where Bannister practices, he said it typically takes 10 days. But in areas where there is only one Family Court judge, it can take a month or longer.
Kittredge said the need is actually greater than three new judges can cover. But to keep costs down, he focused new positions in some of the state's fastest-growing areas, where the courts that resolve family issues — including adoption, child custody, juvenile delinquency, and domestic abuse — are particularly strained.
In Lexington County, the Family Court was able to hear more than 1,100 cases in the second half of 2024 but still had upwards of 1,500 pending cases at the end of the year, according to judicial branch data.
Berkeley County heard nearly 1,1oo cases but had a backlog of the same size. Each of those counties have just two Family Court judges in residence. And in Beaufort, where there is only one Family Court judge, 625 cases were heard, leaving nearly 750 still pending.
Part of the reason for the logjam, Kittredge said, is a growing caseload from the state's child welfare and foster care agency and the state Department of Juvenile Justice.
'Not only have we seen explosive population growth, South Carolina has also seen an increase in the number of children in (Department of Social Services) custody, as well as juveniles involved with' DJJ, he said. 'The undeniable reality is that the number of Family Court judges has not kept pace with the growing population or the increase in the demands on the family courts themselves.'
When the state removes a child from parental custody and places them in foster care, there are at least four court hearings required. In 2024, that meant nearly 15,000 hearings for children alone, Kittredge said.
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And according to Bannister, a law passed in 2019 that moved 17-year-olds from adult to criminal juvenile court proceedings added to the caseload.
Even if legislators were to approve funding for additional Family Court judges, the earliest those judges could get through the Legislature's screening process and elected to the bench would be July 2026. And it may take a year or longer before they're comfortable enough to handle complex cases, Kittredge said.
That's why he also is looking for more help in the interim. Kittredge wants to encourage more retired judges to come back part-time to hear cases. (In South Carolina, state law requires judges to retire from full-time work after they turn 72, but they can still work on an as-needed basis.)
The chief justice asked for an additional $1 million in the fiscal year starting July 1 to pay retired judges a rate of $400 a day.
'These judges represent a great resource and opportunity,' Kittredge said.
Bannister agreed, saying he's excited to see the court focused on getting dockets caught up and using good, trained judges to do so.