A “Guest Blog Post” From Family Law Attorney Nancy Jo Thomason – “The Ease (And Sense Of Security) In Filing A Family Court Transcript Of Judgment”

My good friend, and mentor, Barry Knobel, recently wrote a blog about protecting your family court client’s potential assets in a divorce case by filing a lis pendens at the commencement of the action, and that blog concluded with a reference to filing a transcript of judgment as “additional protection”.  The blog could not have been more timely.

Recently, I had my first opportunity in my 21-year family law career where I found it necessary to file a family court-authorized transcript of judgment, and I asked Barry if he would be willing to let me share with you the very simple steps necessary to perfect such a lien.  Since I don’t have my own blog (and rarely have anything new or useful to offer), Barry said he would welcome my being his “guest blogger” so that I could share my experience with you.

There are two sections found in Title 20 (domestic relations) of the South Carolina Code of Laws which govern the filing and enrolling of a transcript of judgment with the clerk of court’s office – South Carolina Code Ann. §20-3-670 and §20-3-680. The first section gives you the authority to record the transcript of judgment; the second actually gives you the form to use and file. Very easy!

In my case, my client (the wife) is to receive certain payments when some land which was solely in the former husband’s name is sold. Since a title search might “miss” the order entered by the family court, it was essential to file, record, and index a transcript of judgment which would better protect her financial interest in this property.

The husband’s attorney and I agreed to include a “transcript of judgment” provision in the parties’ divorce decree, and I then sent the judge both the decree and the transcript of judgment.

The transcript of judgment in my case is shown immediately below, and I have redacted the caption and other “protected identifiers”, but hopefully you can see how easy and basic it was to complete this important process.  As a further note, in my case this property was actually owned by an LLC fully controlled by the husband, and I referenced the property in the transcript of judgment with the applicable tax map numbers and also included the name of the LLC as the owner and that the Husband owned all of the LLC.

*******************************************************

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA )                IN THE FAMILY COURT
COUNTY OF ANDERSON )                       CASE # 2014-DR-04-

[CASE CAPTION]

TRANSCRIPT OF JUDGMENT

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that in the above-captioned proceeding, 2014-DR-04-, filed in the Family Court of the State and County aforesaid, judgment was entered against property located at ************, South Carolina and more definitely described as Anderson County Tax Map Numbers: ****** and ******, and owned by ******, which is an entity owned by the Defendant/Husband set forth herein above, on the ***** day of *******, 2015, in the amount of $125,000.00 or 25% of the sales price, whichever is greater, as and by reason of equitable division of marital property.

Attorneys of record are *******, representing the Plaintiff/Husband and Nancy Jo Thomason, representing the Defendant/Wife, both members of the Anderson County Bar.

WHEREFORE IT IS ORDERED THAT:

This notice, pursuant to South Carolina Code of Laws Section 20-3-670 and 20-3-680, shall be recorded in the Office of the Clerk of Court of Common Pleas and indexed in the books and abstracts of judgments thereof referencing both the parties to this action and the entity owning the said property, ****name of owner****

KAREN F. BALLENGER
Anderson, SC Presiding Judge
Tenth Circuit Family Court

Date:********************

*****************************************************

Also, our clerk’s office immediately filed and indexed the judgment, assigning it a separate “file” number.

I hope you find this information useful and that it might better enable you to protect your clients in cases where you find the use of this form appropriate.

Nancy Jo Thomason