This past Wednesday, Laura Moberley was served notice that she would no longer be the primary parent in a S.C. Family court custody divorce case. Moberley also faced mounting court related and court mandated debts.
Laura Moberly and her husband, William Moberley, were in a hearing on Tuesday in a case where Laura was the defendant and William Moberly was the plaintiff. A legal order of separation was filed by William Moberley on June 13th.
MyrtleBeachSC News received those entire court records as a result of a Freedom of Information Request.
Tragic Conclusion
One day after the hearing, Mrs. Moberley shot her two children in their family home, and afterwards turned the gun on herself.
MOUNTING COURT DEBTS – PLEAS FOR RELIEF
Entries for the Aug. 30 hearing are listed as “affidavit of guardian ad litem fees,” “interim report of the guardian ad litem,” “temporary consent order” and “financial declaration of Laura Moberly.”
Those records show Laura had run up debts to a state required Guardian Ad Litem, a court mandated psychology evaluation at MUSC ($20,000 to $40,000), as well as, fees to her own legal representative.
Both parents asked for court mandated child support payments.
Common Court Ordeal: Unending Court Debts – Commonly Required Expensive Evaluations – HUGE GAL FEES
Said Eric Carrol, Nationally Known Host of Dad Talk Today, “This is not uncommon, but nobody listens and the mainstream media will not report on it until somebody dies.”
Laura Moberley taught at Carolina Forest Elementary School, according to Horry County Schools. She was hired in 2018 as a Reading Loss Interventionist. According to family court required declaration records, the teacher made $4,732.26 monthly.
The bill from the court mandated Guardian Ad Litem totaled $8,167.00 from July 26th to August 30th alone. Laura Moberley was required to pay half. These GAL fees amounted to almost one month of the teacher’s salary.
Nation – Community Mourns The Loss Of A beloved Family
The Children
Emily Moberley was a third-grade student at Carolina Forest Elementary School. Eric Moberley was a student at Ten Oaks Middle School, according to the district.
LOSS OF PARENTAL GUARDIANSHIP, MOUNTING DEBTS, FEAR OF PARENTAL ALIENATION
Horry County School Board Chairman Ken Richardson put out notice to the community quickly. Counseling centers were set up in the school district.
Court records indicate that Mrs. Moberley’s pleas for financial relief and child support were not granted.
Court records also indicate Ms. Moberley feared what is known as Family Court Sponsored Parental Alienation. Court Sponsored Parental Alienation is a process whereby the family court system intentionally or unintentionally displays to the child unjustified negativity aimed at the parent not granted primary custody.
Whether intentional or not, when a court finds one parent less fit than another, natural questions are asked. How the court comes to these conclusions is often considered curious, at best.
The end result can damage the child’s relationship with the non primary custodial parent and can turn the child’s emotions against that parent.
FAMILY COURT – A SYSTEM NO AVERAGE AMERICAN CAN AFFORD
The S.C. Legislative session begins in January 2023. Before the S.C. House of Representatives is Bill H. 3569. The bill is commonly known as the Shared Parenting Act of S.C.
The legal language of the bill reads: TO AMEND SECTION 63-15-220, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO PARENTING PLANS, SO AS TO CREATE A REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION THAT IT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD TO SPEND APPROXIMATELY AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF TIME WITH EACH PARENT WHEN BOTH PARENTS ARE WILLING, ABLE, AND FIT; AND TO AMEND SECTION 63-15-240, RELATING TO CHILD CUSTODY ORDERS, SO AS TO REQUIRE THE COURT TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION CERTAIN FACTORS WHEN DETERMINING WHAT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF A CHILD, TO REQUIRE THAT A CHILD CUSTODY ORDER INCLUDE FINDINGS OF FACT IF THE TIME-SHARING SCHEDULE DOES NOT ALLOCATE APPROXIMATELY EQUAL PARENTING TIME TO EACH PARENT, AND TO PROVIDE REQUIREMENTS TO MODIFY CHILD CUSTODY ORDERS.
BILL’S TRUE PURPOSE – Fairness, without unending legal debts
The bill is designed to remove the legal community’s current stronghold ability to financially destroy hard working, average Americans. The bill’s sponsors do not believe the courts and the legal community have a right to financially prey upon divorcing parents. They say the current S.C. Family Court System is broken and predatory. Family court cases MyrtleBeachSC News covered in 2022 alone have cost one defendant as much as $500,000.
It’s not a matter of what a divorce costs legally, but rather how much have you got! (in income and assets).
In over 6 divorce custody cases we have covered in recent years, witnesses tell us this time and time again, the system is the only winner.
In one recent article, we pointed out that a responsible father had his children adopted out to the mother’s new husband without the father’s knowledge nor consent. The S.C. father never changed his address, yet the court did not reach out to him letting him know of these serious changes. Cases like these are unthinkable, but true.
S.C. Representatives Respond To Wednesday’s Tragedy
Said Stewart Jones, the author of Bill H. 3569, “Our prayers go out to all those devastated and destroyed by this horrific tragedy. I will do everything in my power to pass legislation that ensures a rebuttable presumption in custody disputes; so that children have equal access to parents who are willing, able, and fit.” – Rep. Stewart Jones
Said S.C. Representative Gil Gatch, who represents Charleston & Dorchester Counties, “I am devastated to hear about what happened in Horry county this week. I can’t get the haunting question out of my head, could tragedies like this be avoided by doing family court in SC differently? I hope that we take a serious look at how the system can be changed to help SC children.”
The bill has overwhelming State-House support. It will face a challenge from S.C. Senator Luke Rankin (who heads the S.C. Judiciary). Rankin may likely try to “kill” the bill by not allowing it out of committee in the Senate.
The bill will also be challenged by the S.C. Trial Lawyers and the National Trial Lawyers associations.
DIVORCE INDUSTRY IS A LUCRATIVE, $50 BILLION BUSINESS
Hawaiibusiness.com states: While hard numbers are impossible to nail down, various trade and business groups estimate the U.S. divorce industry falls somewhere between a conservative $50 billion a year and a startling $175 billion.
Divorced families, and the children of divorced families, are left financially devastated. Lawyers and the system, including expensive court mandated counselors, court mandated psychologists, DSS Agents, Guardian Ad Litems, and divorce lawyers are left with billions.
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES ISSUES
MyrtleBeachSC News, in recent articles, documented concerns about the Department of Social Services (DSS) which works in concert with S.C. Family Court. As our readers can view, serious problems exist within this bureaucracy. These problems drive up substantial costs and issues for parents seeking divorce and custody.
Horry County DSS Lead Attorney, Kelly Ann Galley, was charged with Criminal Domestic Violence in September 2020 for stabbing her boyfriend in her home. The boyfriend and his remains later went missing, suspected to be buried in a N.C. forest. The charges against Galley were dropped since no witness existed. Galley remains at her post as Lead Attorney of Horry County DSS.
In July 2021, Amanda Marie Sutherland, former Horry County investigator with the South Carolina Department of Social Services was charged following a child’s death.
Sutherland was assigned to investigate allegations of child abuse and/or neglect on April 21, “and had a legal duty to begin an appropriate and thorough investigation within twenty-four hours of receiving the report.”
On May 5, 2021 one of the children listed in it died, authorities said. On May 12, (21 days later) Sutherland manufactured a “detailed falsification” stating she conducted a home visit with the mother and children, according to the affidavit. None of this was true.
In April of this year, a child was removed from a Socastee home, because the child decided to convert to Christianity. When our news team reached out directly to the State Director of DSS, Michael Leach, about the curious removal, he refused to respond.
Response from Senator Rankin
We reached out to the head of the Senate Judiciary, Horry County Senator Luke Rankin, as well as, S.C. House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford. Each of these men head up the S.C. Judicial Merit Selection Committee.
The S.C. Judicial Merit Selection Committee qualifies every judge who sits on a bench in S.C. Family Court.
Rutherford and Rankin are professional lawyers by trade.
Neither chose to respond to our request for a comment.