If you are a parent, just the thought of having your parental rights terminated could be a frightening thing, but in other cases it could be the first step to a whole new life for a child who has not had the love and care they deserve from their birth parents. Terminating a parent's rights [...]
As we have said so many times, divorce is basically the breaking of a contract. If there were a way to separate the high level of emotion that the divorce transaction stirs up, it would probably be a faster, easier process to work through. But divorce is not just about breaking a contract. Marriage represents [...]
There are many ways in which the payment of child support can be enforced, and federal law has created some uniform guidelines for enforcing child support payments. Tennessee's statutes for child support enforcement can be found here: T.C.A. § 36-5-901, and the Department of Human Services (DHS) is the state agency that is responsible for [...]
- Your divorce may have ended your marriage, but it did not end your relationship with your former spouse if you have young children together. The nature of your relationship will change, of course because now you are only partners in parenting your children. Family courts use the, "best interests of the child" [...]
Family law evolves and changes as families in the United States evolve and change – albeit at a much slower pace. In the past, judges leaned more toward granting sole custody of the child to the mother and visitation to the father. As times change and the way families are structured with regard to [...]
Telling your child’s teacher that you are going through a divorce might not be high on your list of priorities, but it should be. Whatever happens in your home has an impact on your child. If your family is going through a rough patch, your child may display behavior at school that is inconsistent with [...]
Couples who marry today have a roughly 40 to 50 percent chance of getting divorced, (for first marriages) so while divorce seems like something that happens to other people, many who are married may face it at some point. While going through a divorce is usually more traumatic than you think it will be and [...]
There will come a time when divorce gets real for you and things might be a bit more challenging than you had bargained for. Divorce can be adversarial and it will bring out aspects of your spouse’s character that you may not have seen before. When you agree to divorce and you set off on [...]
Adversarial, chaotic divorces are the stuff of legend these days. The sacred contract between two people is also a civil contract, which could be ended in a business-like manner, but that is rarely what happens. People’s emotions tend to rule the day in divorce unless the two decide to try a different approach. There are [...]
Summer time is when the predictable schedule during the school year floats away and chaos can break out, if you do not already have a parenting plan in place. Now that you are in separate households, it will virtually impossible to decide to take a spur-of-the-moment trip if you plan to bring the children along. [...]
This is the time of year when parents start planning vacations and make plans for the summer months. When you are going through a divorce, or after the divorce is finalized, the parenting plan agreement is an important document that will govern the communications between the two co-parents. Even when the co-parents have a relatively [...]
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 [...]
The adversarial divorce is over and your former spouse has been ordered to pay child support for the child you have together; however, you believe that they are not making an effort to find a job because they want to avoid paying child support. What can a primary residential parent do when the alternate residential [...]
Although you might think your marriage is over when you and your spouse decide to divorce, it is not over in the eyes of the law until the final divorce decree has been signed by the judge. A divorce can be an emotionally tumultuous experience, and once you have decided in your mind that you [...]
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 [...]
Paying for college tuition can be a controversial topic. Depending on the child's age when their parents get a divorce, the question of how parents will cover their child's college expenses or even if they will help their child pay for their college tuition is an issue that should be included in divorce negotiations regardless [...]
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 [...]
You are the favorite nephew of your beloved aunt Thelma, who left you a nice inheritance when she passed away a few months ago. Now you have been served with divorce papers quite out of the blue and you are wondering what happens next. You and your soon-to-be-ex-wife were married when you received the sizable [...]
Alimony, sometimes called spousal support, is awarded to a spouse by a judge. Unless you and your spouse have worked out a plan in your Marital Dissolution Agreement, the process of awarding alimony is an entirely subjective one: a judge is not forced to award alimony to anyone. However, if you file under certain grounds, [...]
