Divorce Appeal Sent Back to Trial Court for More Complete Factual Findings

Tennessee case summary on divorce.

Eman Ibrahim Ahmad Alkhateeb v. Ahmad Mustafa Jamil Alhouwari

Shelby County Courthouse

The husband and wife in the Shelby County, Tennessee, case were married in Jordan in 2009 and were the parents of two children.  They relocated to Memphis and separated in 2017.  The wife filed for divorce in 2018.

After a contentious proceeding in the trial court, the wife was granted a divorce on the ground of inappropriate marital conduct.  The trial court found that the wife was responsible for her student loans and other debts in her name.  The husband was ordered to pay transitional alimony of $790 per month for 12 months.  The wife was named the primary residential parent, and the father was awarded 70 days of parenting time per year.  The question of child support was transferred to the juvenile court.

Both parties appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The court first turned to the issue raised by the husband, namely, whether the wife was guilty of so many procedural deficiencies in her appeal that the issues be deemed waived.

The wife was representing herself on appeal, and the court agreed that parties representing themselves are entitled to fair and equal treatment.  However, pro se litigants are required to abide by the same rules as other litigants.  The husband pointed out that the wife’s brief failed to properly cite the record in the court below.  But the appeals court held that it was able to proceed despite this shortcoming.

The court then turned to the first issue raised by the wife, namely, whether the husband should have been granted any parenting time at all.

The appeals court noted that, ordinarily, findings of a lower court are entitled to a presumption of correctness.  But in this case, the lower court had failed to make specific factual findings relating to the best interests of the children.  For these reasons, it vacated the parenting plan, and sent the case back to the lower court to make the required factual findings.

After finding that the issue of child support was not properly before the court, it turned to the wife’s contention that she should have been granted permanent alimony.  Once again, the appeals court held that there were inadequate factual findings, and remanded the case for a more complete record.

On the issue of one vehicle, the appeals court held that this issue was waived.  Finally, it affirmed the lower court’s decision not to award the wife attorney’s fees.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals remanded the case.

No. W2020-01582-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 16,  2022).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.