TN Mom Allowed to Relocate with Child Over Father’s Objection
Tennessee law case summary on parental relocation in Tennessee divorce and family law from the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Tennessee Relocation Law
Christa Goddard v Thomas Goddard – Tennessee Relocation Law
In the divorce case of Thomas Goddard, father and Christa Goddard, mother, the trial court granted the mother the ability to move to Florida with the parties’ minor child. The father appealed this decision. The parties divorced in April of 2009 after a 12 year marriage. The divorce decree provided a temporary parenting plan that provided that both parties that the mother would be seeking permission to move at a later date. There was no judgment on whether this would be allowed at the time.
In August of 2009, the court approved a permanent parenting plan that mirrored the temporary plan. It did not designate the primary residential parent but noted the mother was responsible for the day-to-day care of the child except when the father had the child, which was every other weekend from 7 am Friday through 6 pm Sunday, as well as other stipulations.
In May of 2010, the mother filed a petition to amend the parenting plan to allow her to move to Florida. In June of 2010, she filed a formal motion to relocate. She cited job opportunities and the proximity of her family to provide help. The father opposed the decision. The mother claimed she was seeking to better her financial situation after having to pay thousands of dollars in back taxes from a tax fraud situation caused by the husband and the husband’s previous business. As such, she was at risk of losing the marital home to foreclosure.
The trial court stated that the mother was entitled to relocate with the child due to the mother’s financial condition, family support, desire to relocate and employment situation and that the move did not pose a threat of specific harm to the child.
The father filed an appeal. The father stated that he does spend substantially equal intervals of time with his child noting that he sees his daughter 11 out of every 14 days, while not for the same number of hours. The appeals court noted that this does not equal the parenting time provided by the mother. It rejected the father’s argument as such.
The appeals court then considered if the relocation was for reasonable purposes. The mother noted numerous facilities where she had a viable job prospect due to multiple interviews. She stated all four provided her with better pay with a flexible schedule. The mother also had taken into consideration transportation, a home and planned to enroll the child into a private, church-based elementary school. The father stated that the financial condition and employment situation as not a reasonable purpose necessary to allow her to relocate the child. The appeals court ruled that there was no error by the lower court in allowing this move for these reasons.
The father also believed that the child moving from him would cause specific and serious harm. The father believed it was in the best interest of the child for the father to serve as the primary residential parent rather than allowing her to relocate to Florida. The appeals court again said that it could not find any specific claim of harm to warrant this.
The appeals court affirmed all decisions of the lower court to allow the relocation.
NO E2011-00777-COA-R3-CV, February 24, 2012.
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
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Memphis divorce lawyer, Miles Mason, Sr., JD, CPA practices family law exclusively and is founder of the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC, which handles Tennessee family law matters including divorce, child support, alimony, prenuptial agreements, child custody, parental relocation, child support modification, alimony modification, and divorces including business valuation and forensic accounting issues.
