Divorce Malpractice – Failure to Request Maintenance

Powell v. POTTERFIELD, SC: Court of Appeals 2014 – Google Scholar.

This is an unpublished opinion, which is unfortunate, because it deals with a key issue in divorce malpractice cases – could one of the parties have shown that he or she was entitled to maintenance? This issue can be difficult to demonstrate in a legal malpractice context.

Here the court agreed that wife could have obtained maintenance had the lawyers been diligent in asking for it.  Thus, summary judgment in favor of the law firm was reversed.