South Carolina § 63-17-1450 - Petitions to stay service.

§ 63-17-1450. Petitions to stay service.

(A) The obligor may prevent a notice to withhold from being served on the obligor's payor and prevent the recording of the arrearage pursuant to Section 63-17-1600 by filing a petition to stay service with the clerk of court with jurisdiction of the matter within ten days of the date that the notice of delinquency is postmarked; however, the grounds for granting the petition to stay service are limited to a dispute concerning the identity of the obligor or the existence or amount of the arrearage.

(B) Filing of a petition to stay service within the ten days required under this section prohibits the clerk of court from serving the notice to withhold on any payor of the obligor and prohibits the recordation of the arrearage.

(C) If a petition to stay service is filed, a hearing on the petition must be held within thirty days of its filing. The obligor, obligee, and Department of Social Services, where appropriate, must be notified by the clerk of court of the date, time, and place of the hearing and the court must decide the matter, notify the obligor, and enter an order granting or denying relief or amending the notice of delinquency within forty-five days of the date the notice of delinquency was mailed to the obligor. If the court finds that a delinquency existed when the notice of delinquency was mailed, the court shall order immediate service of the notice to withhold and the arrearage may be recorded immediately pursuant to Section 63-17-1600. The court shall inform the obligor of the time frame within which withholding is to begin and shall provide the obligor in writing with the information contained in the notice to withhold to be served on the payor with respect to the withholding.

(D) Upon filing an affidavit with the court stating that a petition to stay service was not timely filed because the notice of delinquency was not received and that grounds exist for a petition to stay service as stated in subsection (A), the obligor is permitted to file a petition to withdraw the notice to withhold, terminate the withholding procedures, and remove the judgment created by the recording of the arrearage. Income withholding, however, may not be interrupted unless the court enters an order granting the relief sought by the obligor based on the limited grounds for a petition to stay service.

HISTORY: 2008 Act No. 361, SECTION 2; 2008 Act No. 332, SECTION 4.