Dad Gets Custody After Moving Kids from KY to TN

Tennessee child custody case summary in divorce.

Kristina Marie Bolin v. Jeffrey Michael Bolin

The mother and father in this Sumner County, Tennessee, case were married in 2007 and had two children, who were born in 2010 and 2013.  They lived in Kentucky, where the mother worked full time, and the father stayed at home to care for the children.

While the mother was working on her MBA, the marriage deteriorated.  In 2014, the mother got home from a class and found a letter from the father stating that he had taken the children to stay with his parents in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Initially, the mother filed a divorce action in Kentucky, but she later re-filed in Tennessee.  She asked for a divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences and inappropriate marital conduct.  The count made a temporary order granting the father custody, with the mother paying child support.

After trial, the father was named the primary residential parent, with the mother having parenting time.  She was allowed time in Kentucky and had the option of exercising additional visitation time in Tennessee.  The mother appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  She argued that the trial court had given inadequate consideration to the fact that the father had taken the children to Tennessee.

The mother had viewed the removal as the father “absconding” with the children, but the lower court ruled that the father’s motive had been proper.

The appeals court began by noting that the ultimate issue in a custody case is to determine the best interests of the children.  The lower court had examined all of the relevant statutory factors and concluded that custody with the father was in the children’s best interests.

The mother argued that the lower court hadn’t considered the move to Tennessee.  However, the appeals court reviewed the lower court’s findings and found that this factor had been extensively discussed.  The lower court had looked at the reasoning behind the move, and the fact that the parties had discussed it.  It even noted that the mother took away all of the car keys in order to prevent the father from taking such a step.

The mother had cited a number of precedents, but the appeals court concluded that the fact situations in those cases had been quite different.

Ultimately, after examining the record, the Court of Appeals concluded that the evidence supported the lower court’s rulings and affirmed the lower court’s order.

No. M2017-01079-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 26, 2018).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Child Custody Laws in Tennessee.

See also Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family featuring examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.