Dad Held in Contempt After Teen Daughter’s Dispute With Mom
Tennessee child custody case summary on after divorce.
Cheryle Luane Levoy v. Jason Hunter Levoy
The mother and father in this Overton County, Tennessee, case divorced in 2013. The parenting plan eventually named the mother the primary residential parent, with the father having 125 days per year of parenting time.
A dispute arose when the mother discovered that the 13 year old daughter was communicating with a boy who was almost 18. The mother grounded the daughter. After spending the next weekend with the father, the daughter announced that she didn’t want to return to her mother, and the father went along with this request.
About a week later, the mother made a motion to find the father in criminal contempt. The school principal eventually stepped in and sent a letter stating that the daughter would be released in accordance with the custody order, and the non-custodial parent was not supposed to be present at dismissal. After receiving this notice, the father decided not to send the daughter to school. The father also filed a petition for emergency custody. The court granted this petition and held a hearing on the various motions.
The father testified that the daughter threatened to run away if forced to go back with the mother. He also testified that she was engaging in self-harm due to alleged abuse by the mother. The mother denied abuse, but acknowledged that the daughter was upset about being disciplined for the inappropriate relationship.
The court found the father guilty of 12 counts of criminal contempt and sentenced him to 120 days in jail, with all but 10 days suspended. Dissatisfied with this outcome, the father appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The appeals court noted that for there to be criminal contempt, two elements must be proven. The first two are that the conduct be intentional, which the father admitted, and with a culpable state of mind.
The court found that there was sufficient evidence of the second element of culpability. The father asserted that he was motivated by the daughter’s safety and well being, but the evidence tended to show that his actions were willful.
For that reason, the appeals court agreed with the lower court that there was sufficient evidence to find the father guilty of criminal contempt. For that reason, it affirmed the lower court’s judgment.
No. M2018-01276-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 26, 2019).
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.
