Parenting Plan Determinations Require Entire Relevant Time Period Be Considered

Tennessee law case summary on custody and jurisdiction in family law from the Court of Appeals.

Ramon Williams v. Dana Randolph – Tennessee custody and family law

The father and mother were the parents of a daughter.  The father was an engineer with Tennessee Valley Authority and lived in Cleveland, Tennessee, and the mother worked for Ranstad Technologies and lived in Nashville.  In 2011, the trial court had named the father the primary residential parent, but the Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case.  Upon remand, the trial court then made detailed findings, and held that there had been no material change of circumstances.  It based its findings on the facts as they had appeared after the remand, and did not consider the situation as it had existed from 2009-2011.  After a review of the evidence from this time period, it denied the father’s request to modify the parenting plan, and the mother remained the primary residential parent.  Dissatisfied, the father appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The father first argued that the trial court should not have considered any events that took place after the first appeal.  Instead, he argued that he should have been named the primary residential parent.  The Court of Appeals first noted that the trial court has a duty to exercise continuing supervision of the child’s welfare.  Therefore, it was proper to consider those post-remand circumstances.  However, the Court of Appeals agreed that the relevant time period for this case started when the petition was originally filed.  Therefore, it concluded that the lower court should have also considered the earlier circumstances, in addition to those taking place after the appeal.  Therefore, it reversed the holding of the lower court.

The Court of Appeals also held that it was proper to transfer the case to Davidson County, since that was the child’s location at the time of the hearing.  Therefore, it remanded the case with directions to transfer it to Davidson County, where all of the relevant time period would need to be considered.

No. E2012-02110-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 16, 2013).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

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