Guy J. Vitetta

Guy J. Vitetta has been a practicing trial lawyer since 1991 and has practiced exclusively family and divorce law in Charleston since 2002.   He has earned a reputation for excellence in Family law representation and continues to hold an AV® Peer Rating*, the highest given by Martindale–Hubbell, which was awarded in 2005. This award is given to an attorney by his/her colleagues to honor their high regard for his or her professional and ethical skills.

Guy has represented hundreds of clients in all types of Family Law matters, including:

• divorce
• custody
• child support
• modification of prior orders and
• adoptions

Eleven years as a public defender made Guy an effective and decisive litigator.  His trial and litigation skills are critical to the evaluation of and strategic planning in any legal case and when a Family Law case goes to trial, Guy employs all of those skills.

But a majority of cases involving families are settled before going to trial.  To conduct the process most appropriate to a client’s particular situation, Guy draws on extensive experience with all available tools, including:

• litigation
• mediation
• arbitration
• collaborative practice and
• negotiated settlements

Upon seeing the reality of domestic relations law, Guy saw room for improvement in how family disputes were handled in South Carolina. He sought alternatives and in 2003 became the first attorney in South Carolina trained in Collaborative Law. He is a founding member and past president of the South Carolina Collaborative Law Institute.  He is also a Certified Family Court Mediator in South Carolina and co-founded the Mediation and Meeting Center of Charleston.  Guy is seen as a leader in Family Law and has mentored many new lawyers.  Guy currently serves on the Practice and Procedures Committee of the South Carolina Bar.

Another example of Guy’s leadership is his dedicated effort to improve the options for managing the financial aspects of Family Law matters.  In early 2016, Guy and colleague Sean Keefer, released an innovative software program, called , for Judges and attorneys in South Carolina to assist in the organization and secure management of client financial data.  Settlyd improves greatly the collection, calculation, and secure storage of the complex financial data, which are central to all family legal matters.

Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Guy graduated from Ohio’s Kenyon College with a B.A. in history and religion. As a community activist addressing consumer and environmental issues, Guy decided his most influential avenue for making a difference in the community was in the practice of law.  He graduated from Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio in 1991.  He worked on appeals for Death Row inmates while clerking in the Death Penalty Section of the Ohio Public Defender Commission during Law School. He then served as a Public Defender in Columbus, Ohio for two years and then in Charleston County, South Carolina for nine years before opening his private practice in Charleston, South Carolina.