Mom Not Allowed to Relocate to Germany with 13 Year Old
Tennessee child custody case summary on parent relocation.
David Timothy Dungey v. Doris Anne Dungey
The child in this Montgomery County, Tennessee legal matter, was born in 2006, and the parents were divorced in 2015. The parents met in Germany where the father was stationed in the U.S. Army, and the mother and child both had dual citizenship. The mother requested permission to relocate to Germany, but this request was denied. The mother was named the primary residential parent, and the father was granted 137 days per year parenting time.
In 2019, the mother sent the father a certified letter of her intent to relocate with the child to Germany. The father filed a petition in opposition to this request, and also asked to be named primary residential parent. A hearing was held and the mother’s request was denied. Instead, the father was named primary residential parent. The mother then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Under the Tennessee parental relocation statute, which was amended in 2018, the court is required to determine whether the proposed move is in the best interests of the child. The statute lists eight factors that must be considered.
The trial court had first considered that there were more people in the child’s life at home in the United States than there were in Germany. The appeals court analyzed the evidence and agreed. In particular, the child had testified as to not really knowing anyone in Germany. For this reason, the appeals court upheld the lower court’s findings as to this factor.
Next, the court looked at the child’s development and age, and the appeals court concluded that this had been correctly applied.
In this case, since the child was 12 or older, the statute allows the court to consider the child’s preference as one of the factors. The lower court had found that the child wanted to stay in the U.S. with the father, and the appeals court upheld this finding.
The Court of Appeals, in an opinion authored by Judge Kristi M. Davis, addressed the other statutory factors and concluded that the lower court had correctly applied those as well. For that reason, it affirmed the lower court’s ruling. The appeals court denied both parties’ request for attorney fees, and assessed the costs of appeal against the mother.
No. M2020-00277-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sep. 23, 2020).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Modifying Custody & Parenting Plans.
To learn more, see Tennessee Parent Relocation Statute Law.
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.
