Friday, November 23, 2007
_________________________________________________
Here is another Post and Courier article about the devastating results that can occur when the Family Court fails to follow the law. In this instance, the father was jailed, the parents both spent thousands of dollars in attorneys fees to litigate a question whose answer was so obvious that the Supreme Court of South Carolina did not deem it necessary to provide a legal analysis, and no one has been able to explain to the father how he can obtain the expungement of his arrest record and the destruction of his arrest documents.
So riddle us this--why shouldn't the trial judge have to draft an Order rectifying the harm that her ill-considered decision caused? Why shouldn't the State have to reimburse the father for the fees and costs expended to clear his name? And why shouldn't the mother's attorney have to reimburse her the legal fees she incurred for rendering what was obviously unsound advice?
From our prospective, and with all respect to Professor Stuckey, the only solution to the wrongful incarceration of parents does not appear to be appointing "more judges" and spending more money. Maybe it would help for the attorneys and the judges to both learn and apply the applicable law. Or maybe Mr. Fassuliotis could have been allowed to stop by a money machine to pay his "fine" before he was hauled off to the hoosegow.
: 5:40 PM << Home
