South Carolina H 3228: Alimony

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3228 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3228

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING 
SECTION 14-7-1050, RELATING TO JURY VOIR DIRE, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR 
ATTORNEY-CONDUCTED JURY VOIR DIRE BY ORAL AND DIRECT QUESTIONING; BY AMENDING 
SECTION 14-7-1060, RELATING TO THE DRAWING OF JURY PANELS, SO AS TO PROVIDE 
THAT THE NUMBER OF JURORS TO BE DRAWN IS WITHIN THE DISCRETION OF THE TRIAL 
JUDGE; AND BY AMENDING SECTION 14-7-1080, RELATING TO THE DRAWING OF SECOND 
JURY PANELS, SO AS TO REMOVE THE REQUIREMENT THAT PANELS MUST BE MADE UP OF 
TWENTY JURORS.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 14-7-1050 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 
14-7-1050. In the trial of all actions at law in the 
courts of common pleas and issues ordered to be framed by the judge in equity 
cases in the courts, the clerk in the manner provided by Section 14-7-1060 
shall furnish the parties or their attorneys with a list of twenty jurors from 
the whole number of jurors who are in attendance, the names on the list to be 
numbered from one to twenty, and be stricken off by numbers in the same manner 
as the regular panels of jurors in those courts have been formed. From this 
list the parties or their attorneys shall alternatively strike, until there are 
but twelve left, which shall constitute the jury to try the case or issue. In 
all cases the plaintiff shall have the first strike and in all civil cases any 
party shall have the right to demand a panel of twenty competent and impartial 
jurors from which to strike a jury.(A) In the trial of all actions in the courts of common pleas and 
issues ordered to be framed by the judge in equity cases in the courts, the 
parties have the right to conduct voir dire, by oral and direct questioning, of 
the jury panel from which the trial jury is to be selected. The voir dire must 
be conducted after the administration of a preliminary oath, the swearing in of 
the jury panel, and a short, nonargumentative statement of the case by the trial 
judge.

 (B)(1) The scope of the voir dire is 
within the limits set forth by the trial judge.

 (2) The purpose of the voir dire is to 
discover any inclinations, leanings, or bias which the jurors might have with 
regard to the circumstances of the case.

 (C) Upon motion, by either party, to 
propose oral and direct voir dire questions to a jury panel, the parties shall 
prepare their proposed questions in writing and exchange the questions at least 
seven days before the selection of the trial jury. Any objections to the voir 
dire questions must be ruled upon by the trial judge who shall give final 
approval of the questions. Each party is allotted no more than thirty minutes 
to ask questions. If there is more than one plaintiff or one defendant with 
divergent interests between the plaintiff parties or defendant parties, the 
trial judge shall allocate an even amount of time between the parties to voir 
dire the jury panel. Upon motion, by either party, the thirty minute time limit 
may be extended by the judge after consideration of the amount of time 
requested by the moving party, the length of the trial, the number of parties, 
the number of witnesses, the amount of damages in question, and any unique or 
complex legal or factual issues.

 (D) After swearing in of the jury 
venire, a list of jurors, the number of which will be determined by the trial 
judge, will be prepared to participate in voir dire. Attorneys for the 
plaintiff shall begin voir dire by asking their approved questions. Attorneys 
for the defendant will then proceed with their approved questions. Additional 
questions may be asked in a manner in which the trial judge deems proper and 
within the scope set forth by the trial judge.

 (E) A party may not ask the following 
questions without showing, to the satisfaction of the trial judge, that the 
question is relevant to the issue or would affect the juror's impartiality:

 (1) questions about the juror's 
political views, voting patterns, or political party preferences; or

 (2) questions about the juror's 
religious beliefs or religious affiliations.

 (F) The following questions are 
prohibited:

 (1) questions that seek to commit a 
juror to a result including, but not limited to, questions about what evidence 
would cause the juror to find for one party over the other party;

 (2) questions that have no purpose 
other than to argue a party's case or to persuade the juror to find for one 
party over the other party; and

 (3) questions about the outcome of 
previous trials on which the person served as a juror including, but not 
limited to, the vote of the juror or the ver