Estate Planning Attorney Near Me Greenwood, SC

The South Carolina Supreme Court reprimanded Curtis G. Clark, a former foreclosure judge in Greenwood County, citing a Post and Courier Uncovered report that exposed how Clark allowed his wife and children to buy dozens of properties at the auctions he oversaw.

In an opinion issued March 18, the court said Clark and the Office of Disciplinary Counsel came to an agreement after an investigation: Clark admitted his misconduct and would never again seek judicial duties in South Carolina.

The court also issued a public reprimand, which it said was the maximum possible sanction the court could hand out since Clark has already left the bench.

Clark did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Clark had long held prominent judicial roles, serving as a special referee and master-in-equity in Abbeville County, and as a probate court judge and special referee in Greenwood County since 1987. In foreclosure cases, judges are given the power to force delinquent borrowers from their homes, and they are tasked with selling properties to cover as much of the debt as possible.

In 2022, The Post and Courier-led Uncovered report with The Index-Journal of Greenwood detailed how Clark’s oversight of these auctions benefited his family.

Using real estate records and other public documents, the newspapers showed how Clark sold more than three dozen properties during these auctions to his wife and their adult children.

In one case, family members later put land in his name, making Clark the owner of 33 acres he once ordered foreclosed.

In its opinion released March 18, the court cited the newspaper’s Uncovered report in 2022, along with then-Chief Justice Donald Beatty’s swift move a week later to bar Clark from running future foreclosure auctions.

But it would take four more years for the court to finish its investigation and release its findings.

The court said Clark’s actions created a clear appearance of impropriety. It noted that Clark had provided incomplete information years before to a judicial screening committee about his auctions.

In an affidavit to the court, Clark touted his 40 years of service as a probate judge, master-in-equity and special referee, as well as his role on the state’s Probate Judges Advisory Committee and as editor of the South Carolina Foreclosure Law Manual.

In the affidavit, Clark expressed remorse and that neither he nor his friends or family “ever acted upon any nonpublic information in connection with an auction.” He told the court he planned to retire soon.

In its initial Uncovered report, The Post and Courier quoted legal observers who said the Clark family’s participation in the sales threatened one of the judiciary’s central tenets. Judges are instructed to avoid any conduct that creates even the “appearance of impropriety” — an especially high standard intended to ensure that the public won’t doubt whether they’ll get a fair shake in court.

Jan Jacobowitz, past president of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, told the newspapers then that, “having your wife buy the properties … if that isn’t at least the appearance of impropriety, I’m not sure how else you would characterize it.”