In Tennessee, every divorce decree must include a parenting plan if there are minor children. Parenting plans need to address many issues, including decisions about physical and legal custody. The plans should: Be drafted to minimize the need for modifications Set forth the basic legal and physical custody requirements Minimize the risk of “harmful parental [...]
Split custody arrangements essentially mean that siblings are separated so the one or more children live with one parent and the siblings live with another parent. Split custody is not the same as joint custody. In joint custody arrangements, the children spend time with both parents. Typically, the parent who has joint custody will have [...]
Tennessee, like most states, is trying to make shared custody of children the norm. There are two types of custody in Tennessee: Physical custody provides for where the child will live and sleep. It provides for the daily and weekly needs of the child such as feeding the child, seeing that the child goes to [...]
In Tennessee, the fitness of a parent is a factor in custody decisions. It is also a factor in termination of a parent’s rights altogether. Termination of a parent’s rights usually arises in adoption proceedings. At the core, the Tennessee courts will hesitate to declare a parent unfit to take care of their child. They [...]
On July 1, 2018, Tennessee’s new parental relocation statute became law. The main difference from prior law is that prior law made it easier for a parent to relocate if the parent who was relocating was spending comparatively equal time with a child as the parent who wasn’t moving. Prior law made it harder for [...]
In deciding how to assign legal and physical custody, judges always focus on what is in the best interests of the child. Generally, courts like to have parents share legal custody unless there are strong reasons why only parent shouldn’t have any legal custody. One parent is usually granted (primary) residential custody, and the other [...]
Child custody cases are among the toughest cases to handle. Asset division and support cases involve accounting for the appropriate assets, income, and debts – and then assigning a value/sum that must be paid. Custody disputes go the heart of relationships. There’s no way to split a child in half. At every level, courts and [...]
Custody battles can bring out the worst character traits in people who are supposed to be fighting for the best interests of the child. Sometimes, parents get so caught up in their desire to win that they lose sight of the facts of what "winning" a custody battle really means. Are you sure that you [...]
One of the more complex points of your Tennessee divorce was probably determining your child custody schedule. Coming to agreement on something that works for both parents, and is also in best interest of your child or children, isn't easy, and sometimes requires the help of a mediator or a divorce court. Typically, visitation schedules [...]
One of the most important and difficult issues that come up during a divorce is child custody. Divorcing parents must decide the terms for custody, whether it will be joint or sole custody, a schedule for parenting time, and they need to do it in a way that disrupts their children's lives as little as [...]
Not being awarded custody of your children, or losing custody of them, is easier than you think. The court's priority is to make decisions in the best interest if the child. As a parent who desires to get custody of their child in a divorce, if you keep the child's best interests – not your [...]
This past May, a woman from Memphis temporarily lost custody of her young toddler son during a difficult divorce. In June, the woman was arrested in Michigan for kidnapping. But it gets worse. When she was found in a Dearborn, Michigan hotel room, not only was her son kidnapped, but so was the boy’s 30-year-old [...]
Families can be complicated and, often, parents are not the sole caregivers to their children. Grandparents often have a special relationship with their grandchildren and, in many cases, might function as a parent or legal guardian to a child for some or most of their lives. In Tennessee, there are three specific statutes of family [...]
If you are the non-custodial parent in a Tennessee divorce case, you do have rights when it comes to the welfare of your kids. At the outset of your divorce, Tennessee Code Annotated Section 36-6-106 governs which parents will play what role. A parenting plan written and agreed to in good faith should be established [...]
Child custody disputes where neither side is willing to give an inch, and the child is caught in the middle are almost always counter-productive and the child ends up losing the most. When a contentious divorce includes a custody battle, it can have far-reaching, negative implications for all concerned. If you think that you would [...]
Parents who are going through a difficult divorce might think it preposterous that there might be a way for them to forge an effective co-parenting relationship after the divorce is final. You might wonder how you will be able to deal with your former spouse any better after the divorce than you did during the [...]
When it comes to making decisions about child custody in Tennessee, as in every state in the United States, the best interests of the child is the prevailing consideration. When a couple who have a child is divorcing, the court must decide which parent will be the primary residential parent, and which parent will have [...]
As our society shifts the traditional role of the father is shifting and changing, which is having an impact on divorce and child custody decisions. As fathers take a more active role in nurturing and caring for their children and the household, and as more women take on the role of primary income earner for [...]
During the divorce process you and your former spouse sat down and ironed out a parenting plan agreement, which contains a schedule for visitation for the parent who did not get primary residential custody. The Court reviews this document and refers to it when it issues the final custody order. The Tennessee Court as with [...]
When David and Kim Hodgins agreed to foster a one-year old Sonya McCaul back in 2005, they could not have known how long she would stay. After all, young Sonya had been brought across state lines from Nebraska by her babysitter, and her father was in and out of jail. But even though the Hodgins [...]
