If you have a contested divorce, custody, or support case in a South Carolina family court, you will almost certainly be required to mediate before a judge hears the merits of your case. Clients are often surprised by that. They filed because they could not agree, and now the court is telling them to sit in a room and try. This post explains how family court mediation in South Carolina works under the state's Court-Annexed Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules, who has to be there, what stays private, what happens when it works, and the change the Supreme Court made to those rules in 2026.

Family court mediation in South Carolina is required, not optional

Under Rule 3(a) of the South Carolina Court-Annexed ADR Rules, every contested issue in a domestic relations action filed in family court is subject to court-ordered mediation. That covers the issues people fight about most: custody, visitation, child support, alimony, and the division of marital property.

There are exceptions. Rule 3(b) carves out requests for temporary relief, contempt proceedings, and cases started by the Department of Social Services, among others. So the temporary hearing we wrote about in our post on Rule 2(a) and temporary hearings does not wait for mediation, and a rule to show cause for a missed support payment does not either. Everything on the path to a final hearing does.

A party who has a case-specific reason not to mediate can ask the Chief Judge for Administrative Purposes of the circuit to exempt the case for good cause. Rule 3(c) gives the example of a party who cannot participate because of incarceration or physical condition. Exemptions are the exception, and a plain preference for trial is not one.

When it happens and who picks the mediator

Rule 4(d) governs family court. It encourages early mediation, and a judge can order early mediation of custody and visitation issues on a party's motion or the court's own. Otherwise, the rule is triggered by the request for a merits hearing. That request must name the mediator the parties have agreed on or ask the clerk to appoint one, and the court will not schedule the merits hearing until a Proof of ADR has been filed.

If the parties do not agree on a mediator, the clerk appoints a primary and a secondary mediator from the Supreme Court's roster of certified neutrals on a rotating basis. Either party can also ask the clerk to appoint one at any time. Once a mediator is selected or appointed, the first mediation conference must take place within thirty days.

Parties can also opt out of mediation on money issues in a specific way. Rule 4(d)(5) lets them submit property and alimony to binding arbitration instead, or send all issues to early neutral evaluation. Custody and visitation cannot be arbitrated under that provision, so mediation remains the route for the issues involving children.

Who must be in the room

Rule 6(b) requires the mediator, every individual party, and each party's attorney of record to physically attend the mediation conference unless the mediator and all parties agree otherwise or the Chief Judge for Administrative Purposes orders or approves something different. Rule 5(h) allows the conference to be held in whole or in part online unless a party objects, and the people required to attend may appear that way if the mediator and all parties agree.

The mediator runs the conference. Under Rule 7(a) the mediator controls the procedure, and under Rule 7(e) a mediation cannot be ended by one side walking out; only the mediator declares an impasse. The mediator can recess and reconvene, and can require each side to submit a short position memorandum, capped at five pages unless the mediator allows more, before the conference begins.

One thing you will no longer find in the statewide rules is a minimum number of hours. Until April 30, 2026, Rule 6(g) required the parties to participate in at least three hours of mediation unless they settled sooner; that sentence was deleted, as explained below. How long a session runs is now the mediator's call, and in a case with several contested issues it is common to schedule more than one.

What stays confidential

Rule 8 is the reason mediation works. Everything communicated during the mediation is confidential and cannot be introduced as evidence in the family court case or any other proceeding. That includes settlement positions, admissions, the mediator's own proposals, and whether a party was willing to accept a particular offer. The mediator cannot be subpoenaed to testify about what was said, and what a party tells the mediator in a private caucus stays with the mediator.

Two limits matter for family court clients. First, confidentiality does not convert otherwise admissible evidence into protected material; under Rule 8(h), a bank statement that would have been discoverable anyway does not become privileged because it was handed across the table at mediation. Second, once the parties sign an agreement reached at mediation, confidentiality is waived as to the terms of that agreement, and mediation communications can be used in a later court proceeding to establish, void, or reform that agreement. That exception is what makes the post-mediation fights we described in our post on buyer's remorse after signing a family law mediation agreement possible at all.

What happens when you reach an agreement: the 2026 change

This is where the rules changed. On January 30, 2026, the South Carolina Supreme Court submitted an order amending Rule 6(g) of the ADR Rules to the General Assembly, and the amendment took effect on April 30, 2026 after the ninety-day review period passed without objection.

As amended, Rule 6(g) now provides that when the parties reach an agreement in a family court mediation, the mediator provides a Memorandum of Agreement to the parties, their attorneys of record, and any guardian ad litem of record, and that it is the parties' obligation to seek approval of that agreement by the family court.

What the order deleted was the first sentence of the old subsection, which read: “Parties must participate in at least three (3) hours of mediation unless an agreement is reached sooner.” That three-hour minimum was the one piece of the statewide rules that set a clock on family court mediation, and it is gone. A mediator may still keep the parties at the table as long as the mediator believes the process is viable, and under Rule 7(e) only the mediator declares an impasse, but a family court mediation that is plainly going nowhere no longer has to run three hours before it can end.

In practice, that means three things for a Charleston-area family court client. The written record of what you agreed to comes from the mediator, on the day, rather than from one side's lawyer weeks later. Your guardian ad litem, if there is one, gets the same document at the same time. And getting the agreement in front of a judge is on you and your attorney; the mediator's job ends with the memorandum and the Proof of ADR. A mediated agreement in family court is not final until a judge has reviewed it and found it fair, and a case does not close because the parties shook hands in a conference room.

The circuit court rule is different. Under Rule 6(f), civil litigants must reduce their agreement to writing and sign it before the mediation adjourns, and a consent judgment or dismissal is then filed. The family court version now has its own procedure built around the Memorandum of Agreement and court approval, which fits the family court's independent duty to review agreements affecting children and support.

What happens when you do not

If the mediator declares an impasse, the case moves forward. Within ten days of the conference, the mediator files a Proof of ADR with the clerk under Rule 7(f). That filing is what clears the case for a merits hearing, whether the mediation settled everything, some things, or nothing. A partial agreement is common and useful: parties frequently resolve property and support and leave one custody question for the judge, which shortens the trial considerably.

Nothing said at the mediation comes into the trial. The judge will know the parties mediated because the Proof of ADR is in the file, but not what was offered or refused. Rule 7(b)(2) requires the mediator to tell the parties at the outset that they keep their right to trial if they do not settle, and that is exactly how it works.

How to get the most out of it

Mediation goes better when the parties arrive with the financial declarations exchanged, the real sticking points identified, and a realistic range in mind. It goes worse when one party treats it as a formality on the way to trial. Family court judges in Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties see the same cases the mediators do, and a party who refuses to engage rarely gets a better result from the bench than the one that was available across the table.

Before you sign anything at mediation, read it. Under the amended rule the Memorandum of Agreement will be in your hands the same day, and the later post on buyer's remorse explains why a signed mediated agreement is very hard to walk away from.

Talk to a Charleston family law attorney

Family court mediation in South Carolina is a required step, and it is also the point where most contested cases actually get resolved. If you have a divorce or custody case headed to mediation and want to go in prepared, Klok Law Firm represents clients in family court mediation and litigation in Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties. Call Klok Law at (843) 701-1695 to discuss your case.

Frequently asked questions

Is mediation mandatory in South Carolina family court?

Yes, for contested issues. Rule 3(a) of the ADR Rules makes all contested issues in domestic relations actions subject to court-ordered mediation, and Rule 4(d) bars the court from scheduling a merits hearing until a Proof of ADR is filed. Temporary hearings, contempt proceedings, and DSS cases are exempt.

Do I have to attend mediation in person?

Rule 6(b) requires the parties and their attorneys of record to attend physically unless the mediator and all parties agree otherwise or the Chief Judge for Administrative Purposes approves a different arrangement. Online participation is permitted under Rule 5(h) if no party objects and the mediator and all parties agree.

Is what I say in mediation confidential?

Yes. Rule 8 makes mediation communications confidential and inadmissible, and the mediator cannot be compelled to testify. Confidentiality is waived as to the terms of a signed agreement, and evidence that was already admissible does not become protected because it was used at mediation.

What is a Memorandum of Agreement in family court mediation?

It is the written record of the agreement the mediator provides to the parties, their attorneys, and any guardian ad litem under Rule 6(g) as amended effective April 30, 2026. The parties then have the obligation to present that agreement to the family court for approval; it is not a final order on its own.

Is there a minimum length for family court mediation in South Carolina?

Not anymore. Until April 30, 2026, Rule 6(g) required at least three hours of mediation unless an agreement was reached sooner; the Supreme Court deleted that sentence effective that date. The mediator controls the conference and decides when an impasse exists. Many cases take more than one session.

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Court rules change and every case turns on its own facts. For advice about your specific situation, contact Klok Law at (843) 701-1695.