Ruth L. Cate

Meet Ruth L. Cate, retired

Attorney Ruth Cate is the founder of Cate & Brough, a Spartanburg law practice focused exclusively in the area of family law, including divorce, adoption, paternity, custody and related matters in Spartanburg, Cherokee, Greenville and Union counties.

Ruth was born in Nashville, Tennessee and raised in Aiken, South Carolina. She obtained both her B.A. and law degrees in just four and a half years from the University of South Carolina. As an undergraduate at USC’s Honor College, she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, graduating magna cum laude. While attending law school at the University of South Carolina School of Law, Ruth became the second female page hired by the South Carolina House of Representatives and the House’s first female research assistant.

Ruth began the practice of law after moving to Spartanburg in 1977. She amassed a wide variety of legal experience before founding Cate & Brough in 1995 and devoting her practice exclusively to family law. With over 40 years in Spartanburg, Ruth has developed deep ties to the community. She has taken on several major leadership roles in the community, including over ten years on the Board of the Spartanburg Chamber of Commerce; two terms on the Board of Governors for the University of South Carolina Alumni Association; and eight and a half years on the Board of Trustees for the Mary Black Foundation, including two years as chair.  She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the USC Upstate Foundation as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the Girl Scouts Mountains to Midlands SC.

Ruth was recently named a Woman of Distinction by the Girls Scouts – Mountains to Midlands, and was one of only seven honorees in Greenville Business Magazine’s 2014 and 2015 Legal Elite of the Upstate in the area of Family Law. She was named 2015 Junior League Sustainer of the Year and was honored in 2016 with the distinguished Morgan Award by the United Way of the Piedmont.  She has also received the preeminent AV rating for over 10 years.

Ruth is married and the mother of two grown daughters. She loves working with her clients to analyze a problem, determine options, formulate a plan and then work to achieve it. She personally knows the trauma that can be caused by divorce and works to resolve matters in a manner that clears the path for healing for her clients and their families.

Her published cases in the Court of Appeals of South Carolina and the South Carolina Supreme Court include Doe v. Queen, D.S.S. v. Phillips, and Susan R. v. Donald R.

Contact Cate & Brough today for help with your family law situation!