Dad Granted Custody After Mom Denied Him Access to Child

Tennessee child custody case summary on primary residential parent and frustrating access to child.

The child in this Hamilton County, Tennessee, case was born to unwed parents in 2009. The parties separated after the child was ten months old. In 2011, the mother was named the primary residential parent, with the father having the child every other weekend.

At some point, the mother relocated to North Carolina with the child, and the father filed a petition in opposition, in which he asked for custody. A trial was held in 2016 before Judge Robert D. Philyaw.

After hearing extensive testimony by the parties and a police officer, Judge Philyaw made a ruling in the case. He named the father the primary residential parent and awarded him 183 days parenting time. The mother was awarded 182 days parenting time.

The trial court’s order summarized the testimony. The child was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis as an infant. During that time, the mother and father lived together, and the father attended doctor’s appointments and saw the child every day. When the mother left, the father was denied access. When the mother moved to North Carolina with her new husband, she did not give timely notice of the intended move.

The trial judge noted that the mother had a “lack of appreciation for the tone of the proceedings” and that she did not want the father to have a relationship with the child.

The court found that these facts constituted a material change of circumstances justifying the change of custody. The mother then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The appeals court first noted that the trial court’s findings have a presumption of correctness and should not be set aside unless the evidence preponderates against them. It noted that the first step in the analysis was determining whether there had been a material change of circumstances, and looked at the statutory factors.

The appeals court agreed with the lower court’s findings that the mother had denied the father access to the child. The lower court had credited the father’s testimony, but had questioned the credibility of the mother’s.

The appeals court agreed that even though neither parent had behaved perfectly, the mother’s failure to adhere to the parenting plan had a major impact on the child’s well-being.

Because the appeals court agreed that there had been a material change of circumstances in the case, it affirmed the lower court’s ruling. It also assessed the costs of appeal against the mother.

No. E2016-02116-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jul. 26, 2017).

See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Child Custody Laws in Tennessee.

See also Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family featuring examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.