Kids Unexcused Absences Not Enough to Change Custody

Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets book by Miles Mason, Sr. available on Amazon

Tennessee child custody case summary on what are grounds to modify custody.

Jason Price v. Brandi Price Carter

The mother and father in this Dyer County, Tennessee, were the parents of two minor children at the time of their 2009 divorce.  In 2012, the parties agreed to a permanent parenting plan naming the mother as the primary residential parent.

In 2017, the father came back to court asking for a modification of the parenting plan.  In particular, he asked to be named primary residential parent.  He cited a material change of circumstances, namely, the children’s excessive absenteeism from school.

The school record keeper testified that during the 2015-16 school year, one child had 19 absences, 10 of which were unexcused.  In addition, there were 9 tardies, 8 of which were unexcused.  The other child had a similar record.

A hearing was held in late 2017, and the lower court issued its final order in February 2018.  The court found that the father had established a material change of circumstances.  The mother then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The appeals court first addressed whether these facts constituted a material change of circumstances.  It agreed with the mother that they did not.  It noted that most of the absences took place in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years, and were caused by the mother’s travel schedule to be with her new husband.

But in this case, there was no evidence that the children had fallen behind academically.  The principal testified that the children were progressing and mastering their subjects.  For this reason, it concluded that the change of circumstances had not been material.

In addition, the court noted that during the 2017-18 school year, the unexcused absences were greatly reduced.  In recent months, they had not had any.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals held that there had been no material change of circumstances.  For that reason, it reversed the lower courts order.

No. W2018-00229-COA-R3-CV  (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 31, 2018).

TN unexcused absences did not warrant change of custody.

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Modifying Custody & Parenting Plans.

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.