Tennessee Mom Wins Custody after Equal Time Fails
Tennessee law case summary on parenting time and custody in divorce and family law from the Court of Appeals.
Bridget Michelle Agee v. Jason Forest Agee – Child Support Modification
The mother, Bridget Gentry, and the father, Jason Agee, were divorced in May, 2009. Both the mother and the father were primary residential parents for their 8-year-old son, each spending 182.5 days a year with the child. In February 2010, the father filed a petition to reduce his child support payments of $38 monthly to the mother, based on his monthly income of approximately $1,800 and the mother’s monthly income of approximately $1,200. The mother filed a counter suit, arguing that her income had increased and that the father’s income should be registered as $3,300 per month.
The parents also both filed petitions to modify the parenting plan. The mother claimed in her petition that there was a “material change in circumstances.” She argued that their son was not functioning well in school because of “instability and confusion” which were caused by the equally shared parenting time. The father, in turn, argued that the real material change in circumstances was the mother’s attempts to undermine his relationship with their child. Each parent requested that they be designated the primary residential parent. After each parent submitted a modified parenting plan, as well as financial records, the court accepted the mother’s parenting plan, designating her the primary residential parent. The court also raised the father’s child support payments from $38 a month to $1,130 a month. The father then requested findings of fact and conclusions of law, arguing that the parenting plan had been wrongly modified and objected to the court’s determination of his monthly income.
Best interest of the child includes financial support
In order to modify an already existing parenting plan to change the primary residential parent, Tennessee law requires the court to determine the following: (1) a material change of circumstances occurred and; (2) a change in custody is in the best interests of the child. Both parents agreed that there was a material change in circumstances so the court only had to determine if changing the custody plan was in the best interests of the child.
Tennessee custody law requires the court to consider a list of “relevant factors” in determining the child’s best interests. In this case, some of the relevant factors included the emotional ties the child had to each parent, each parent’s inclination to provide the child with his basic needs, such as food, clothing and shelter, family stability and the character or behavior of other people who live in or frequent the home of the parent.
The trial court found that the mother’s home was “significantly more stable” than the father’s home. A major factor in this decision was the presence of a third person living in each home. The mother was re-married and in a stable relationship. The father, on the other hand, had a live-in girlfriend who told the court that on at least one occasion she moved out of the father’s home to pursue a live-in romantic relationship with one of his best friends.
The court was also bothered by the father’s “intentional and significant understating” of his income (one of the factors listed above). The court held that this demonstrated the father’s “unwillingness to properly provide” for his child. Instead, the father placed an unfair burden on the mother.
Mom wins custody weighing TN factors
The Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s rulings. The Appeals court did hold that not all factors considered by the trial court weighed in favor of the mother or the father. However, those factors dealing with the parent’s stability, the willingness of the parent to support the child and the behavior of a third person living in the parent’s home all favored the mother. The court agreed that making the mother the primary residential parent and modifying the parenting plan was in the best interests of the child.
M2011-02103-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 19, 2012).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
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