Disabled Daughter Entitled to Child Support After Age 19

Tennessee case summary on child support and property division and classification in divorce and family law.

Disabled daughter entitled to child support after age 18.

Angela Louine Niemeyer v. Glenn Paul Niemeyer

The husband and wife in this Hamilton County, Tennessee, case had been married in 1992 and had two children.  The wife worked for her parents’ family business and had a law degree.  She had an income of about $85,000 and was the primary breadwinner of the family.  The wife filed for divorce in 2017 and made a request for an order for protection.  A neighbor testified that there was often angry screaming and profanity from the husband, with the wife’s voice being in distress.

The trial court entered an order for protection prohibiting the husband from having contact with the wife and children for a year.  A mediated agreement was later reached under which the husband was to attend family counseling with the children and pay $600 per month child support.  His stated income at that time was about $3400 per month.

She later amended the complaint seeking child support for child support past the age of 18 for an adult handicapped child.

According to expert testimony, that child, a girl had an IQ of about 60, with very limited math skills, such as involving money.  The expert described her as very disabled.

While the husband agreed that the child would require care for the rest of her life, he denied that it was a severe disability.

There was also testimony at trial concerning the wife’s separate property, an interest in her parents’ family business which she had been gifted.  The wife’s expert witness was accountant Matthew Stelzman, and the husband’s was CPA Shannon Farr.  The court largely accepted the husband’s expert opinion that the value of her interest was $444,000, but that it was not liquid.  Upon final judgment, the husband appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, raising a number of issues.

The husband first argued that the daughter was not severely disabled, thus being entitled to child support after 18.  The husband had been ordered to pay $806 per month child support.

But after reviewing the lower court’s evidence, particularly the daughter’s inability to manage financial affairs, it agreed with the trial court’s ruling.  In fact, it cited the husband’s testimony that he would not be comfortable with her living on her own, or even crossing the street by herself.  For this reason, the child support award was affirmed.  It also affirmed an award of arrearages in child support.

After discussing visitation issues, the appeals court turned to the classification and valuation of the wife’s separate property.  The husband attacked the finding of separate property by pointing out that he had signed a personal guaranty for a business loan relating to that interest.  But since no marital funds were used to repay that loan, the appeals court found this to be of limited relevance.  Therefore, it affirmed the finding that this property was the wife’s separate property.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s ruling.  It also awarded the wife her attorney’s fees on appeal.

No. E2022-01690-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 17, 2024).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Child Support Laws in Tennessee.

To learn more, see Property Division in Tennessee Divorce and view our video Is Tennessee a 50 50 divorce state?