Event Information

Jacqueline D. Belton has served as an Associate Probate Judge for the Richland County Probate Court since 1999. The majority of the cases Judge Belton currently hears are guardianship and conservatorship cases.   In addition, she also hears civil commitment and estate cases, and recently rotated from the role of primary to back up judge for the Richland County Mental Health Court.

Before coming to the Probate Court, Judge Belton was staff counsel in the Office of General Counsel, S.C. Department of Mental Health (SCDMH).  Her areas of practice there were primarily in employment law, probate law, and administrative law.  Judge Belton also rotated with other SCDMH attorneys as a Clinical Instructor for the University of S.C. School of Medicine, for a seminar covering landmark legal cases in the area of mental health law for fellows in the Medical School's Forensic Psychiatry Program.   Prior to her employment at SCDMH, Judge Belton was an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of S.C. School of Law, and prior to that she was a legal services attorney.

Judge Belton and her husband, David E. Belton, were honored as the S.C. Bar Young Lawyers of the Year in 1991, the only husband and wife to have jointly received that honor.  She is a past board member, board chair, and Volunteer of the Year of Mental Health America in Mid-Carolina, and a past member of the board of Mental Health America of South Carolina. Judge Belton has made over 25 CLE and Bridge the Gap presentations, has presented several times at the School for New Probate Judges, and was a member of the faculty of the National Judicial College from 2005 to 2008, where she co­ taught the course "Managing Cases Involving Persons with Mental Disabilities."   Judge Belton has been a member of the S.C. Bar's Elder Law Committee since 2008.   She was a member of the S.C. Bar's Article 5 Task Force and the S.C. Association of Probate Judges' (SCAPJ) Article 5 Workgroup, regarding guardianship and conservatorship amendments to Article 5 of the S.C. Probate Code.  Judge Belton worked with other judges and attorneys on revisions to the statutory law, Reporter's Comments, and the applicable forms, serving on the drafting committee, comments committee, and the forms committee.   She is a member of the S.C. Association of Probate Judges and the National College of Probate Judges, and currently co-chairs the Mental Health Committee of the SCAPJ.

Judge Belton currently teaches a segment on civil commitment for the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) offered to local law enforcement officers by S.C. NAMI.  She is also part of the S.C. Judicial Department's S.C. Courts Mental Health Initiative Workgroup, which was created by Chief Justice Donald Beatty to address the need for courts at every level of the State's court system to address issues concerning individuals experiencing mental illness.  Judge Belton is from a military family, and proudly describes herself as an "Army Brat." She graduated from Wurzburg American High  School,  in  Wllrzburg,  Germany,  and  received  her  A.B.  degree  in  Sociology from  Duke University and her J.D. from Antioch School of Law, in Washington, D.C.