Mom Retains Custody Despite Work as Legal Prostitute

Tennessee child custody case summary.

This juvenile case from Hamilton County, Tennessee, came before the Tennessee Court of Appeals two times. The father had asked for an emergency change of custody after learning that the mother had been working as a licensed prostitute in Nevada. The trial court modified the parenting plan and named the father the primary residential parent. The mother appealed, and in the first appeal, the appeals court remanded the case. It held that the lower court should have followed a two-step process, and that the trial court had neglected to make any explicit findings as to the best interests of the children.

On remand, the lower court made the required findings, and held that a change of custody was in the children’s best interests. It therefore modified the parenting plan. The mother then filed a second appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The appeals court first noted that it reviewed the findings of a lower court with a presumption of correctness, and that factual findings will not be reversed unless the evidence preoponderates against them.

In this case, the trial court had based its decision on the fact that the mother had deceived the father as to her occupation. At a settlement conference, she had disclosed that she worked as an “independent contractor,” but did not further elaborate as to her exact job duties. The father testified that he understood the mother to mean that she was working as a social worker, her previous occupation. The trial judge noted that the job description didn’t pass “the straight face test.”

But the appeals court held that this deceit, even if proved, was not shown to have had an effect on the children, which was critical to a finding as to their best interests.

The appeals court noted that Tennessee has a public policy against prostitution, even though it was legal in Nevada. However, the trial court’s findings seemed to indicate that it believed that the mother was still working as a prostitute, even though the evidence showed that the mother, while a former prostitute, was now working as a social worker.

Specifically, the lower court’s findings as to the best interest of the children presumed that the mother was still working in prostitution. The appeals court held that this finding was erroneous. For example, the record contained evidence such as the mother’s social worker license, and indicated that she was now working as a social worker. Furthermore, the mother had explained that her work as a prostitute had been a “sacrifice” in order to cover medical bills.

After carefully analyzing the evidence, and after noting that both parents at times had acted contrary to the children’s best interests, the appeals court concluded that the lower court had erred. The lower court had based its ruling entirely on the mother’s prostitution, and had neglected the fact that the mother was no longer working as a prostitute. Therefore, it found that the evidence preponderated against the lower court’s findings.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s ruling naming the father as the primary residential parent. The mother was reinstated as the primary residential parent, and the case was remanded.

No. E2015-01498-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 31, 2016).

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 actual examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.