Facts: Paternal Grandparents petitioned to terminate Mother’s parental rights. The petition alleged abandonment for failure to visit and support using this language:

24. Pursuant to T.C.A. § 37-1-113, the Mother has abandoned the child by her willful failure to support the child for four months immediately preceding the filing of this petition or the support paid in the four months immediately preceding the filing of this petition was token support. Mother has not contributed to the support of the child since October 2016. Mother is able-bodied and capable of working and supporting the child and she has made no attempts to support the child and has provided no justifiable excuse for failing to support the child.

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26. The Mother has abandoned the child in that she has failed to seek reasonable visitation with the child for four months immediately preceding the filing of this petition and has failed to visit or the visits in the four months immediately preceding the filing of this petition were token visits merely to maintain minimal contact, as defined in T.C.A. § 36-1-102.

Mother argued the petition did not sufficiently plead the statutory grounds for termination.

The trial court disagreed.

After hearing all the proof, the trial court terminated Mother’s parental rights.

Mother appealed.

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

Parental rights can be terminated only on grounds alleged in the termination petition.

Notice is a fundamental component of due process. Pleadings must give the opposing party enough notice of the issues to prepare a defense. In the context of parental termination, due process requires that the parent be notified of the alleged grounds for termination.

Rule 8.05(1) of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure says:

Each averment of a pleading shall be simple, concise, and direct. No technical forms of pleading or motions are required. Every pleading stating a claim or defense relying upon the violation of a statute shall, in a separate count or paragraph, either specifically refer to the statute or state all the facts necessary to constitute such breach so that the other party can be duly apprised of the statutory violation charged.

The Court found the grounds for terminating her parental rights were sufficiently pleaded:

Mother complains that the statutory grounds for termination are listed in Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-1-113(g), not “T.C.A. § 37-1-113” or “T.C.A. § 36-1-102.” That may be true, but these citations did not deprive Mother of adequate notice. The petition alleged that Mother abandoned her child, one of the statutory grounds for termination. And it alleged all of the facts necessary to satisfy the first definition of abandonment.

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While the petition is not perfect, the allegations were sufficient to put Mother on notice of the grounds at issue.

After finding that Mother had sufficient notice of the grounds for termination of parental rights, the Court found clear and convincing evidence of grounds and that termination is in the child’s best interests. The Court affirmed the trial court’s judgment.

In re Rommie H. (Tennessee Court of Appeals, Middle Section, October 30, 2020).