Introduction
by Lilly Collette
This blog presents my discovery of scandalous criminal misconduct in a sham divorce action by an unmarried woman, that being Susan Lee Rice (Susan). In the great game of South Carolina Divorce Lotto Susan was awarded the residential property of a man to whom she was not married and allowed to enslave him for the support of her bastard child which he could not have sired.
The victim in this case was my future husband Richard S. Collette (Richard). For the politically sensitive, I am providing copies of email correspondence between me and this now 25 year old man which will show that my use of the ‘B’ word was not badly chosen.
This fraud was aided and abetted by officers of the Charleston County family court of South Carolina. In blatant violation of “all law” officers of the court became knowing agents and enforcers of multiple acts of fraud in this case. There are Constitutional and Human Rights issues here that should be important to all citizens and especially to those of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of this state who could easily find themselves at similar risk.
Speaking of “all law”, I have provided an avalanche of legal citations in this matter which may be of interest to some readers. God knows no one in that odious place called family court had any interest in them.
After entering into wedded bliss in 1999, I slowly began uncovering shocking facts about the divorce action between Susan and Richard. I thought it best to double check documents from that action while I was reviewing Richard’s taxes in 1999 for updating. However, Richard and no one in his immediate family had any of that paperwork.
After protracted stalling from the family court Richard finally received a copy of the alleged decree of divorce on April 7, 2000 almost a full year after we had first requested it—and Thirteen (13) years after it was issued September 22, 1987. Initially it made no sense that the person listed as Richard’s attorney would fail to provide him a copy—it became clearer upon further investigation.
I found this decree of divorce to be so critically facially defective that I thought it must be a bad joke of some sort. It was beyond me to comprehend how any sane / sober lawyer, law firm or even judge would allow their reputation to be attached to such an outrageous piece of garbage, but there it was—in black and white. I am providing a copy of it followed by a duplicate with my work notes and legal citations and will not repeat too much of it here.
Basics
The decree shows the court had strangely failed to have a court reporter present to record testimony and enter evidence into the record at this self-styled final hearing of divorce.
1986 South Carolina Rules of Family Court (SCRFC).
Rule 28. The court, as a court of record, shall grant no divorce unless testimony sworn in open court before the judge is recorded and filed.
After investigating this matter a little further it was no longer of any surprise to me that there was no court reporter present—as any evidence Susan could submit would prove her to be a fraud and open her up to criminal charges.
The purported attorney for Richard had filed a Special Appearance where he only challenged the court’s jurisdiction on the grounds that Richard had moved to Berkeley County and no longer resided in Charleston County. Hello -- both counties are part of the Ninth Judicial District. It was obvious that Richard entered that place without any representation.
Proving a marriage existed is the threshold point in establishing subject matter jurisdiction in any divorce. However, there is only a rudimentary allegation on Susan’s divorce decree that, the parties last lived together “as” husband and wife in March 1986, without stating a date of marriage or how long it allegedly lasted.
No child had been identified by name, age or even gender as being the product of any alleged marriage to Richard and he had not been named as the father of any child to whom a duty of support was owed. The word ‘custody’ had not even been mentioned. Paternity had clearly not been determined and ruled upon and there was no order of child support—giving me the impression that someone knew this was not Richard’s child.
This document was not a valid court order of divorce and child support. It was evidence—signed sealed and delivered—showing the court’s involvement in coercing Richard into submitting to Susan’s fraud and extortion under the duress of being jailed for contempt any time Susan wished. It was and remains evidence of corruption, in all its negative connotations, which leached out to contaminate all members of law enforcement and government who have refused to bring this matter to justice.
If anyone is upset over the mention of their name in this blog, you are of course free to seek legal counsel on ‘What to do—what to do‘. You of course run the risk of future shame in your inability to accept public disclosure of any crimes attributable to you.
The day of victims being forced to take it on the chin while perpetrators are protected is over.
