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Custody And Parenting Time

S.C. Code 63-15-230 and S.C. Code 63-15-240 — joint or sole custody in the child's best interest, a parenting plan, and equal access to records

The family court makes the final custody decision in the child's best interest on the evidence. It may award joint custody to both parents or sole custody to either, and where custody is contested it considers every option, including joint custody, and states its reasons.

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A parenting plan. At every temporary hearing where custody is contested, each parent files a parenting plan setting out preferences, time with each parent, and major decisions on education, health care, activities and religious training. The parents may file one jointly.

  • The child's temperament and developmental needs, and each parent's capacity to meet them.
  • The preferences of the child, weighed by age, maturity and judgment, and the wishes of the parents.
  • The child's relationships with each parent, siblings and grandparents.
  • Each parent's efforts to encourage the child's relationship with the other, and any manipulation, coercion or disparaging of the other parent in front of the child.
  • The child's adjustment to home, school and community, and the stability of each residence.
  • Abuse, neglect or domestic violence, and a parent's move of more than one hundred miles in the past year other than for safety.

Those are among the factors the court considers. A parent's disability alone does not decide custody.

  • S.C. Code 63-15-240

Whatever the custody arrangement, each parent has equal access to the child's school and medical records and may take part in school activities held in public, unless a court order or law says otherwise. A particular case is a question for the family court and a licensed South Carolina attorney.

  • S.C. Code 63-15-260
Sources for this section (5)
  1. S.C. Code 63-15-30 — Child's preference
  2. S.C. Code 63-15-220 — Parenting plans
  3. S.C. Code 63-15-230 — Final custody determination; considerations
  4. S.C. Code 63-15-240 — Contents of order for custody; best interests of the child
  5. S.C. Code 63-15-260 — Equal access to educational and medical records of child by parents

Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed South Carolina attorney.

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