2019 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 63 - South Carolina Children's Code
Chapter 15 - Child Custody And Visitation
Section 63-15-502. Definitions.

As used in this article:

(1) "Adult" means an individual who is at least eighteen years of age or an emancipated minor.

(2) "Caretaking authority" means the right to live with and care for a child on a day-to-day basis, including physical custody, parenting time, right to access, and visitation.

(3) "Child" means:

(a) an unemancipated individual who has not attained eighteen years of age; or

(b) an adult son or daughter by birth or adoption or under the law of this State, other than this article, who is the subject of an existing court order concerning custodial responsibility.

(4) "Close and substantial relationship" means a relationship in which a significant bond exists between a child and a nonparent.

(5) "Court" means an entity authorized under the law of this State, other than this article, to establish, enforce, or modify a decision regarding custodial responsibility.

(6) "Custodial responsibility" is a comprehensive term that includes any and all powers and duties relating to caretaking authority and decision-making authority for a child. The term includes custody, physical custody, legal custody, parenting time, right to access, visitation, and the authority to designate limited contact with a child.

(7) "Decision-making authority" means the power to make important decisions regarding a child, including decisions regarding the child's education, religious training, health care, extra-curricular activities, and travel. The term does not include day-to-day decisions that necessarily accompany a grant of caretaking authority.

(8) "Deploying parent" means a service member, who is deployed or has been notified of impending deployment, and is:

(a) a parent of a child under the law of this State other than this article; or

(b) an individual other than a parent who has custodial responsibility of a child under the law of this State other than this article;

(9) "Deployment" means the movement or mobilization of a service member to a location for more than ninety days but fewer than eighteen months pursuant to an official order that:

(a) is designated as unaccompanied;

(b) does not authorize dependent travel; or

(c) otherwise does not permit the movement of family members to that location.

(10) "Family member" includes a sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, stepparent, or grandparent of a child and an individual recognized to be in a familial relationship with a child under the law of this State other than this article.

(11) "Limited contact" means the opportunity for a nonparent to visit with a child for a limited period of time. The term includes authority to take the child to a place other than the residence of the child.

(12) "Nonparent" means an individual other than a deploying parent or other parent.

(13) "Other parent" means an individual who, in common with a deploying parent, is:

(a) the parent of a child under the law of this State other than this article; or

(b) an individual other than a parent with custodial responsibility of a child under the law of this State other than this article.

(14) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(15) "Return from deployment" means the conclusion of a service member's deployment as specified in uniformed service orders.

(16) "Service member" means a member of a uniformed service.

(17) "Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record to:

(a) execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or

(b) attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.

(18) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(19) "Uniformed service" means:

(a) active and reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States;

(b) the Merchant Marine, the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service or the commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States; or

(c) the National Guard.

HISTORY: 2015 Act No. 61 (H.3156), Section 1, eff June 4, 2015.