Raymond William Godwin

PRO

Raymond William Godwin

4.8
65 reviews
This is an aggregated review score of Avvo and Lawyers.com reviews.
Rating: 8.9

Licensed for 43 years

Adoption Lawyer at Greenville, SC
Practice Areas: Adoption, Family, Child Custody

1212 Haywood Road, Ste. 400A, Greenville, SC

Virtual Consultation Available

About Raymond

Biography

Building Families Through Adoption For More Than 30 Years. Contact Us Today

Experienced & Compassionate Child Custody Attorney Protecting Your Parental Rights

Practice Areas

3

Practice Areas

Adoption 85%

Our mission is to provide legal counsel to prospective birth mothers and adoptive parents in all manner of adoption categories. We assist in newborn, step-parent, adult, and foster care adoptions as well as domestications and re-adoptions.

36 years

85%
Family 10%

10%
Child Custody 5%

Attorney Raymond Godwin's former experience as a contract attorney for the Department of Social Services and his involvement in many state and foster adoption cases give him the legal knowledge you need to complete your adoption.

36 years

5%

Fees and Rates

Cost

Retainer

Always


Payment Methods

  • Cash
  • Check
  • Credit Card

Awards

Client's Choice
Client's Choice
2024 2023 2022
...
+ 3
AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating

Licenses

Licensed in South Carolina for 43 years

State: South Carolina

Acquired: 1982

Good Standing

No misconduct found

Location

Raymond W. Godwin, Attorney at Law, PC

1212 Haywood Road, Ste. 400A, Greenville, SC, 29615

scadopt.net

Online Presence

Other places you can find Raymond online.

Raymond William Godwin's Reviews

Filter Avvo Reviews (63) Refine reviews to match your needs. Use the filters to quickly surface reviews that align with your case or priorities.

Showing 1 - 5 of 12 reviews | Communication Style

Posted by Katie | September 06, 2024 | Hired Attorney | Adoption

Best adoption attorney!

Ray has now helped us with two adoptions. He and his staff are so professional and hands on through the entire process. I always knew what was going on and anytime I had questions there was someone who got me an answer quickly!

Posted by Julia | May 24, 2023 | Hired Attorney | Adoption

Newborn adoption

We hired Ray Godwin and his fabulous team to help us adopt a newborn. They worked day and night for us, to get us prepared and ready through the process. They responded quickly and were ready for whatever questions we may have. Adoptions invoke a lot of questions, but Ray's team were very helpful in ...answering those, and were supportive through the whole process. We appreciate their support in prayers as well, knowing that faith in God is primary in our situation. You can trust that this team will provide the results that they promise and will work as hard as they can. We would recommend Ray Godwin to anyone looking to adopt newborns.

Posted by Jessica | December 02, 2022 | Hired Attorney | Adoption

Very Pleased! Adoption successful.

We are pleased with our adoption. The process began with a consultation on Jan 12, retained Ray Godwin on Feb 3, matched with a birth mother on Feb 19, our baby was born and in our arms on May 19th, we brought her back to SC on May 27th and our finalization for our adoption was Nov 28th. Our daughter... is perfectly healthy, she is Native American and although it was a complex and lengthy wait to finalize everything, we are pleased. Now we can proceed with our lives raising our precious gift. I will say I was unpleased with a few of the unknowns, the things I didn’t foresee happening. I don’t agree with the birth mother being allowed to request more money after contract was sent to me with detailed budget, comparing funds received in our adoption to her previous adoption. I don’t know why my case was compared to her previous case. The lack of communication from the adoption agency case manager Flossie was frustrating, most the the time I knew more about what was going on with the birth mother than she did. Communication with my birth mother was key for me in my successful adoption.

Posted by Kristin | November 17, 2022 | Hired Attorney | Adoption

Kristin

Our lawyer was super responsive and prepared us very well for the adoption process. He ensured his staff were also the best to deal with and they left no stone unturned in the process for us. They all took the time to answer any and all questions we had as this was the first time we had been through ...this. They were caring and warm and you felt that they do this from their hearts… it’s not just a job.

Posted by Bailey | September 28, 2021 | Hired Attorney | Adoption

Great Experience!

Our adoption was a very fast one.. from finding out there was a baby to adopt and starting the whole adoption process, we had 40 hours to get ready! Mr. Godwin and his staff worked around the clock for us, and always answered our texts, emails, and calls very fast. I knew I’d always have answer, even... if it was later in the evening. They were all very personable and asked how we were with everything. We were always in the know of what was going on with our adoption. I never worried about the process because I knew they were right on track with everything and if they needed something from us they let us know. Thank you so much for helping us bring our son home!

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Raymond William Godwin's Lawyer Endorsements

Endorse Raymond
Philip James Temple headshot
Philip Temple

Adoption lawyer | Dec 07

Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community

"I have known Mr. Godwin for 30 plus years and have worked with him on numerous cases. I have known him to be extremely knowledgeable and proficient in his area of practice and a man of great integrity."

Jeffrey Dean Ezell headshot
Jeffrey Ezell

Adoption lawyer | Sep 06

Relationship: Opposing Counsel on matter

"I endorse this lawyer. Ray is skilled, ethical, and fair."

Regina M. Taylor headshot
Regina Taylor

Adoption lawyer | Mar 24

Relationship: Opposing Counsel on matter

"I endorse this lawyer. I have worked with Ray in adoptions in the past 14 years. He is extremely knowledgeable and very professional."

Michael S. Waddington headshot
Michael Waddington

Family lawyer | Oct 15

Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community

"I endorse Raymond. He is a highly skilled attorney that is well respected in the legal community."

Steve Wayne Sumner headshot
Steve Sumner

Adoption lawyer | Feb 28

Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community

"Raymond Godwin is an attorney with integrity. The area of law he has chosen to concentrate on must be handled with great care and he has proven time and again that he is the attorney to do it. His books are amazing resources for anyone considering going down the adoption path. I highly recommend Mr. Godwin."

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Experience

Rating:  8.9 (Excellent)

Honors

2020

AV Preeminent Rated, Martindale-Hubbell

2019

Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell®

2019

South Carolina Lawyers Hall of Fame, Lawyers Weekly

2010

Angels in Adoption, Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute

Work Experience

1989 - Present

Owner, Raymond W. Godwin Attorney at Law PC

1994 - 1998

Attorney, Department Of Social Services, Division Of Legal Services

1994 - 1998

Attorney, Guardian Ad Litem Office Of The Governor

Associations

2000 - Present

Christian Legal Society

Member

2000 - Present

American Bar Association

Member

1982 - Present

South Carolina Bar Association

Member

2011 - 2014

Children's Law Committee-SC Bar Association

Member

2000 - 2006

Compass of Carolina

Chairman

Sample of Legal Cases

Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (S.C. 2013) 404 S.C. 483, 746, S.E.2d 51 (aka Baby Girl Veronica Case)

Custody Awarded to Clients

Doe v. Baby Girl (S.C. 2008) 376 S.C. 267, 657 S.E.2d 455

Custody Awarded to Clients

See More Legal Cases

Education

1981

University of South Carolina School of Law

JD - Juris Doctor

1979

Bob Jones University

BA - Bachelor of Arts

Speaking Engagements

2016

South Carolina Bar Association

Adoption Matters

2016

B-annual Conference

Children's Records

2015

Yearly Conference

Adoption Law

2014

quarterly conference

Adoption

Publications

2005

Adams Media The Complete Adoption Book

Languages

English

Avvo Rating

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Avvo Rating Levels
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