S.C. Dept. of Social Services v. Bey, Natural Person, In Propria Persona, Sui Juris

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA CHARLESTON DIVISION South Carolina Department of Social Case No. 2:25-cv-6543-RMG Services, et al.

Plaintiff, v. ORDER

Alan Bey,

Defendant.

Before the Court is the Report and Recommendation (“R&R”) of the Magistrate Judge recommending that this removed child support action be remanded to the Charleston County Family Court because of a lack of federal jurisdiction. (Dkt. No. 6). Defendant was advised that he had 14 days to file written objections to the R & R, and the failure to file objections would result in only clear error review and a waiver of the right to appeal the order of the District Court. (Id. at 5). Defendant filed no objections to the R & R. I. Legal Standard The Magistrate Judge makes only a recommendation to this Court. The recommendation has no presumptive weight, and the responsibility for making a final determination remains with this Court. Mathews v. Weber, 423 U.S. 261, 270-71 (1976). The Court is charged with making a de novo determination only of those portions of the Report to which specific objections are made, and the Court may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the recommendation of the Magistrate Judge, or recommit the matter to the Magistrate Judge with instructions. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). In the absence of specific objections, the Court reviews the matter only for clear error. See Diamond v. Colonial Life & Accident Ins. Co., 416 F.3d 310, 315 (4th Cir. 2005) (stating that 1 “in the absence of a timely filed objection, a district court need not conduct a de novo review, but instead must ‘only satisfy itself that there is no clear error on the face of the record in order to accept the recommendation.’”) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 72 advisory committee's note). II. Discussion On review of the record and the R&R for clear error, the Court finds that the Magistrate Judge ably considered the issues in this case and correctly determined that this Court lacks federal

jurisdiction over this child support action. The R&R (Dkt. No. 6) is ADOPTED as the Order of the Court, and this matter is REMANDED to the Charleston County Family Court. AND IT IS SO ORDERED.

s/ Richard Mark Gergel Richard Mark Gergel United States District Judge

August 3, 2025 Charleston, South Carolina