Tennessee Mom Gets Jail for Continual Disregard of Court Orders

Tennessee law case summary on contempt in divorce and family law from the Court of Appeals.

S.A.M.D. v. J.P.D. – Tennessee divorce contempt.

The mother and father were married in 2001 and had a son who was born in 2003.  They were divorced in 2010 and the mother was named the primary residential parent, with the father receiving six days per month parenting time when his work schedule permitted.  Later that year, the father filed a contempt petition alleging that the mother had violated the plan.  The trial court found that the mother’s mental condition was in controversy and ordered a psychiatric evaluation.  The trial court eventually sentenced her to 50 days in jail, but stayed the sentence, and the parenting rights were laid out in more detail.

The father filed another contempt petition in 2010, in which he alleged that the mother was still not following the court’s orders.  The trial court partially lifted the suspension of the jail sentence, and ordered the mother to jail for three days.  It also named the father the primary residential parent.  The mother then made an unsuccessful first appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

After the first appeal, she went back to the trial court and filed her own contempt petition.  She asked for a change of custody.  She alleged a change of circumstances based upon the fact that the father had enrolled the son in an “unaccredited home school program”, sent harassing text messages, and delayed medical attention.

The trial court held a hearing over three days, and determined that there had been no change of circumstances, and that the father was not in contempt.  It did find, on the other hand, that the mother was once again in contempt.  It also modified the child support obligation and ordered the mother to pay $15,000 for the father’s attorney fees.

The trial court sentenced the mother to a total of 370 days in jail, and ordered that she should serve 30 days, followed by an additional 26 consecutive weekends.  Dissatisfied with this turn of events, the mother brought a second appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  She argued that her conduct did not constitute contempt, that the sentence was excessive, and that the trial court erred in modifying the child support obligation.

The Court first noted that on appeal, once the trial judge has made a finding of contempt, that there is a presumption of guilt, and that the mother bore the burden of proof showing that the trial court had erred.

The Court of Appeals took a close look at the evidence.  It first examined the allegations that the mother had failed to ensure that the son had completed his school work.  The Court of Appeals identified 58 times when this had happened, and concluded that the evidence was sufficient on this count.

Next, the Court looked at the allegations that the mother had failed to return school books as required by the parenting plan.  Again, there was evidence of an unreturned book, and the Court of Appeals deemed this sufficient.

The Court also found evidence that the mother had failed to cooperate with the son’s speech therapy on numerous occasions, in violation of the parenting plan.  The court also found considerable evidence of the mother’s failure to allow telephone contact, and violation of the life insurance provision of the decree.

As to the sentence, the Court of Appeals noted that there had been continued disregard of court orders.  In fact, the Court of Appeals noted that the sentence was actually quite lenient given the circumstances.

The Court of Appeals did note that the child support modification would need to be reversed, since there had not been a proper petition made for this type of relief.  It noted, however, that the father was free to file such a petition.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the contempt conviction, and only modified the portion of the trial court’s order regarding child support.

No. W2013-00314-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sep. 30, 2013).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

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