Dad Has Parenting Time Reduced Based Upon Abuse of Other Women

The reduction of parenting time was in the child’s best interest. The statute focuses on the acts of abuse, and not merely on the affect on the child.

Tennessee child custody modification case summary.

Maryclair McDonald v. Kaleb Coffel

A Tennessee statute allows for parenting time to be restricted if the parent is found to have committed domestic abuse.  That statute was at issue in this Bradley County, Tennessee, case.  In 2018, the mother of a five year old girl file a petition to modify the father’s parenting time based upon allegations that the father had been arrested and incarcerated for domestic violence against his then girlfriend.  She alleged that the violence had taken place in the presence of the child.  The trial court concluded that the father had control problems, and ordered the child to live primarily with the mother.

In 2020, the mother filed a motion for emergency relief, in which she alleged that the father had burglarized and domestically assaulted a woman.  The trial court made an emergency order barring the father from contact with the child.  The parties ultimately agreed to allow visitation at the father’s brother’s house, along with some contact online.  After one premature appeal by the father, the trial court made its final order, and the father brought a second appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The father argued that the statute did not allow the court to limit his co-parenting time.  The court cited an earlier decision holding that the statute sets a very low threshold for material change of circumstances.  The father argued that that threshold hadn’t been met, because the child wasn’t affected by something of which she wasn’t aware.  The appeals court, however, wasn’t persuaded.  It pointed out that the father had three undisputed incidents of domestic violence, and the lower court had found that they were escalating in severity.  The lower court had also ordered the father to seek psychiatric care, but these orders were ignored.

The appeals court went on to hold that the reduction of parenting time was in the child’s best interest.  On this point, the court found the statute squarely on point.  And it pointed out that the statute focuses on the acts of abuse, and not merely on the affect on the child.

For these reasons, the appeals court held that the lower court had acted properly in limiting parenting time based upon the statute.  For these reasons, it affirmed the lower court’s ruling and remanded the case for enforcement.  It also assessed the costs of appeal against the father.

No. E2022-01569-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 9, 2024).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Modifying Custody & Parenting Plans and our video, How is child custody determined in Tennessee?