Legal Analysis and Commentary
Facts: When Mother and Father divorced in 2009, Mother was designated the primary residential parent for their child, and Father was awarded 109 days of parenting time. Father’s child-support obligation was determined to be $220 a month. In 2016, Mother petitioned to modify the parenting plan to reduce Father’s parenting time and increase his child-support […]
Read MoreWell, that didn’t take long. A few weeks ago I wrote about the sudden avalanche of appellate decisions dismissing parental-rights-termination cases because the appellant’s lawyer signed the notice of appeal on behalf of the appellant. Recently amended Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-1-124(d) requires that “[a]ny notice of appeal filed in a termination of parental rights […]
Read MoreFacts: Child was born in Guatemala 16 years ago. Child’s father abandoned the family over four years ago. Child’s mother struggled to provide for the family, which forced Child to drop out of school after the sixth grade because his mother was too poor to pay for him to continue. After dropping out of school, […]
Read MoreThe Tennessee Supreme Court released for review and comment a proposed new rule governing collaborative practice in family-law matters. The new rule is proposed by the Tennessee Bar Association, which studied the growing method of dispute resolution known as collaborative practice or collaborative divorce. The petition describes collaborative practice as one where Collaborative attorneys are […]
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As I wrote about a few weeks ago, the legislature enacted a statute last year that requires parents appealing the termination of their parental rights to personally sign the notice of appeal, instead of the customary practice of the attorney signing the notice of appeal. Because of this new procedural requirement, appeals in termination of […]
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Facts: Child was removed from the parents’ custody and determined to be dependent and neglected. Five months later, the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) petitioned to terminate Father’s parental rights. After a trial, the trial court entered a judgment terminating Father’s parental rights to Child. Father filed a notice of appeal. Notably, Father did not […]
Read MoreFacts: Husband and Wife divorced after 20 years of marriage. Husband owned three small businesses. In May 2015, husband and Wife filed with the trial court a written stipulation that they would hire Mr. Orndorff to value two of the businesses. They agreed to stipulate that whatever values Mr. Orndorff placed on the businesses would […]
Read MoreFacts: Mother and Father are the divorced parents of four children. They lived in Texas until, according to Father, Mother moved the children to Tennessee in 1998 without his knowledge or consent. He admitted traveling to Tennessee on one occasion in 1999 or 2000 to visit with the children for approximately two hours. Aside from […]
Read MoreFacts: Mother and Father had a five-year relationship. By the time it ended, Father lived in Illinois and Mother in Tennessee. Mother got pregnant. After Child was born, Father visited Mother and Child in Tennessee on several occasions. Father also voluntarily paid two child support payments of $400 each. When Child was 14 years old, the […]
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Hello, friends! It’s that time of year again—time to review how our legislators made Tennessee family law worse than it was this time last year. First, let’s all take a minute to chug a jar of East Tennessee moonshine to prepare ourselves for what’s to come. OK, now that we’re sufficiently numb, let’s get started. Hit us with your best shot, […]
Read MoreFacts: After 15 years of marriage, Husband and Wife divorced. Wife was awarded a mixture of rehabilitative alimony, transitional alimony, and alimony in solido. The alimony in solido award was for Wife’s attorney’s fees and totaled $12,239.29. The trial court granted Husband’s request to pay the alimony in solido in monthly installments of $203.99 over […]
Read MoreFacts: Husband and Wife divorced in 2014. Nearly a year later, Wife petition for civil and criminal contempt. She alleged that Husband failed to pay the full amount of spousal support required by their marital dissolution agreement. After Wife’s counsel completed the direct examination of Wife, Husband’s counsel moved to dismiss on the grounds that […]
Read MoreFacts: Mother and Father are the parents of Child. They entered an agreed parenting plan designating Mother as the primary residential parent and granting Father 74 days of parenting time. A few years later, Mother petitioned for an ex parte restraining order and modification of the parenting plan because Father had incurred criminal charges for […]
Read MoreFacts: Husband and Wife were divorced after 12 years of marriage. The trial court divided 68 acres of marital property into three separate tracts. Wife was awarded the marital home with three acres. Because Wife’s mother occupied a mobile home located on the 68-acre tract, Wife was also awarded 10 acres where the mobile home […]
Read MoreFacts: Husband and Wife are residents of Bradley County, Tennessee. In September 2015, Husband and Wife met with Lawyer to discuss the preparation of documents necessary to dissolve their marriage. Shortly thereafter, Husband, acting through Lawyer, filed a complaint for divorce nearby in Rhea County. With Husband’s filing was a sworn Answer executed by Wife […]
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