Dad Gets Equal Parenting Time After Appeal

Tennessee child custody case summary in divorce.

Wafa Badawi Hindiyeh v. Waleed Fawzi Abed

In 2018, the Tennessee Court of Appeals tossed out a parenting plan that had given a father only 80 days per year of parenting time.  The court had held that this parenting plan was inconsistent with the Tennessee statutes, which have as their goal that parents have maximum possible involvement in their child’s life.  Therefore, the court remanded the case to the Rutherford County trial court.

The trial court held a hearing after remand and awarded both parties equal parenting time.  This also resulted in a decrease in the father’s child support obligation, from $852 per month to $194.

The mother then filed another appeal.  She argued that the award of equal time was unwarranted, especially since the trial court did not make any factual findings that this was in the child’s best interests.  She also argued that some other changes that the trial court had made to the parenting plan were inappropriate, since they had already been decided and were not part of the original appeal.

The appeals court first held that additional fact findings were not necessary.  Prior to the first appeal, the court had made findings, many of which were favorable to the father, and the appeals court had held that these supported greater parenting time.  For that reason, the trial court was within its discretion in awarding equal time based upon those earlier findings.

The mother had also appealed the trial court’s order with respect to the tax exemption.  The court had awarded this to both parents, in alternating years.  Since the parents had equal parenting time and similar incomes, the appeals court held that this was proper and affirmed.  It did hold, however, that modification of some other portions of the parenting plan were improper.  Therefore, it remanded the case for the lower court to reinstate those provisions.

No. M2018-01581-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar.  6,  2020).

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.