Home For The Holidays

A new opinion from the South Carolina Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee

OPINION NO. 12 – 2018

RE: Propriety of a full-time municipal judge allowing the judge’s residence to be featured in a tour of homes.

FACTS

A full-time municipal judge seeks an opinion regarding the use of the judge’s residence in a tour of homes. The local Symphony Guild presents a Holiday Tour of Homes each December as a fund raiser. The Guild expects to sell several hundred tickets (the judge would not have to sell any tickets herself or himself). The judge and the judge’s spouse reside in a condominium in the revitalized downtown area and the Guild has asked to showcase their residential property on the tour. The Guild produces a brochure that showcases the homes on the tour. The judge inquires as to whether the judge may: 1) consent to the use of their home; 2) be in the home during the tour; and 3) consent to the judge’s name being listed along with the judge’s spouse’s name in the brochure.

CONCLUSION

A municipal judge may allow his or her property to be featured in a tour of homes provided that the judge’s title is not used in any materials publicizing the event.