Facts: Father and Stepmother petitioned for Stepmother to adopt Child and the termination of Mother’s parental rights.

At the close of trial in 2017, the trial court asked both parties to send proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, and both did so.

The case then went untouched for two years. In 2019, Father and Stepmother moved for a status conference. The following month, Mother moved for visitation.

The trial court did not act on either motion. Instead, it issued a final judgment three months later terminating Mother’s parental rights.

Mother appealed.

On Appeal: The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court.

Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-1-113(k) requires a trial court to enter an order making specific findings of fact and conclusions of law within 30 days of the conclusion of the trial. If the case has not been completed within six months from the date the petition was served, either party may ask that the Court of Appeals grant an order expediting the case at the trial level.

These statutory deadlines show the importance of permanently placing children, the just and speedy resolution of cases, and the Legislature’s mandate that parental termination cases be decided quickly.

Despite the explicit policy of timely decisions in termination cases, if a court violates the 30-day requirement, the case may proceed on appeal if remanding it to the trial court would not promote the just and speedy resolution.

Here, the Court found the trial court’s delay improper, but did not vacate the trial court’s order because of it:

Needless to say, the final order in this case was not filed within the requisite 30 days.

* * * * *

In this case, no party filed a request to expedite the case. To the contrary, it appears the case was woefully dormant until Father and Stepmother filed a motion for a status conference nearly two years after trial. It was only after this motion that Mother and the trial court spurred into action. In any event, we find that vacating the trial court’s order and remanding would only add to the extreme delay that has occurred in this case. Thus, we decline to do so and find the order to be valid.

We would be remiss if we did not reiterate [that] compliance with the explicit requirements regarding written findings of fact and conclusions of law in termination cases [is viewed] with great seriousness, and the urgency of parental termination actions [should] urge the trial courts to enter their final orders, including written findings of fact and conclusions of law, within the 30-day period prescribed by § 36-1-113(k).

The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s ultimate decision to terminate Mother’s parental rights.

In re Madison J. (Tennessee Court of Appeals, Middle Section, July 24, 2020).