Tennessee Order for Protection Must Have Fixed Time Limit

Tennessee case summary on orders of protection.

Tambra Jo Swonger v. James Henry Swonger

The wife in this Tennessee divorce case was hospitalized for several days in 2013 after an incident of domestic abuse.  She went to court for an order of protection against her husband, and she was granted a one-year order of protection.  The husband was ordered not to have any contact with her, and he was also ordered to attend weekly domestic violence intervention meetings.  At a hearing in that case, the husband was also served with a complaint for divorce.

The husband, who was by then incarcerated, never answered, and the wife was granted a default divorce on the grounds of inappropriate marital conduct.  Among other things, the order for protection was made permanent, with no expiration date.  The husband later made a motion to set aside that portion of the judgment, but the request was denied.  Through his appointed attorney, he then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

In the appeal, the husband argued that there was no statutory authority for a permanent order of protection to be made in a divorce proceeding.  In particular, he noted that the Tennessee statutes allow orders for protection to be made only for particular time periods, and do not authorize a permanent open-ended order.  The lower court had reasoned that a divorce court, as opposed to the court initially entering the order for protection, has broader authority.

The appeals court, however, agreed with the husband.  It noted that the statutes governing orders for protection were very specific, and that these specific provisions should take precedence over more general provisions relating to divorce actions.  Since the order for protection did not provide for permanent orders, the appeals court agreed with the husband that the lower court lacked authority to enter a permanent order.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals vacated the permanent order.  However, it did reinstate a temporary order of protection, and remanded the case to set a time limit on the order in accordance with the Tennessee statute.  It also directed the lower court to make written findings of fact and conclusions of law in support of the order.  Finally, even though the husband prevailed in part, the appeals court assessed the costs of appeal against him.

No. E2015-01130-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 28, 2016).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Domestic Violence in Tennessee.