Mom Must Pay Attorney Fees After Appeal Deemed Frivolous
Tennessee case summary on attorney’s fees on appeal in divorce.
Christopher James Terrazzano v. Alecia Ann Terrazzano
Fayette County, Tennessee
At the time of their marriage in 2013, the father in this Putnam County, Tennessee, case was in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Cookeville, Tennessee. Six months later, he was transferred to Hawaii. The mother, however, was unable to move because she had joint custody of two children from a previous marriage. A child was born in 2015, and the father was able to return to Tennessee only a few times for two weeks. In 2017, he was transferred to Virginia. When the father returned home on leave, the relationship deteriorated, and he filed for divorce in 2017.
Trial was held before Judge Amy V. Hollars, who divided the property and liabilities. The father ws named the primary residential parent, with the mother receiving 81 days of co-parenting time. The mother then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The mother first argued that the trial court should have excluded much of the father’s evidence, since he had failed to provide a witness list on time. However, the appeals court noted that this defect did not prevent the mother from mounting a defense. In addition, the appeals court noted that the mother hadn’t properly preserved the issue for appeal. Therefore, it affirmed this portion of the lower court’s ruling.
The mother next argued that the allocation of marital debt had been improper. Again, however, the appeals court noted that the issue hadn’t been properly preserved for appeal.
Because of the mother’s failure to support her appeal, the Court of Appeals deemed the appeal frivolous, and awarded the father his attorney fees. It therefore affirmed the lower court’s ruling, but remanded the case for the trial court to calculate the amount of attorney fees. It also taxed the costs of the appeal against the mother.
No. M2019-00400-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 26, 2019).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.
