TN Dad Can’t Relocate When Certified Letter Never Considered
Tennessee child custody case summary on relocation.
Johnathan Lee McDonough v. Sloan Marie McDonough
The mother and father in this Montgomery County, Tennessee, parental relocation case were divorced in 2012. Under the original parenting plan, the mother was named the primary residential parent, with the father granted 120 days of parenting time. Later the same year, the father filed a petition to modify the parenting plan, and he was ultimately granted equal parenting time and named the primary residential parent. The same day that order was filed, the father filed a petition seeking permission to move with the children to Arizona, where he had been ordered to report by the U.S. Army. The mother filed a counter-petition opposing the relocation.
The father had mailed a certified letter to the mother on September 5, which gave notice of the move, as required by the Tennessee parental relocation statute. Under the statute, objection to the move must be filed within 30 days after this notice. He called the mother the next day, at which time she told him that she wouldn’t be there to receive the letter, and that she would refuse it. The letter was returned by the Postal Service, and the court attached the date of September 25 as the date of notice, which began the 30 day period for objection. The mother’s objection was filed on October 17, which was more than 30 days after the letter was sent, but less than 30 days after the date set by the trial court.
The court denied the father’s request to move with the children, and he appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals. On appeal, he argued that the mother’s opposition was not timely, because it was made more than 30 days after he sent the notification.
The appeals court first looked at the parental relocation statute, and concluded that the 30-day time limit is mandatory. It then turned to the evidence in this case.
In this case, the father’s letter was admitted into evidence, but it was entered into the record in a sealed envelope, and was never opened. The father testified as to the contents of the sealed envelope, but the appeals court noted that the actual contents of the letter were never entered into evidence. The evidence proved that the father mailed something to the mother, but there was no proof that the notice complied with the statute. The appeals court stressed that it did not come to this conclusion flippantly. It stressed that it had no authority to open the envelope, and even if it did, it would be basing the ruling on evidence that the trial court had never considered. Since there was no evidence that the required notice was sent, the court held that the 30 day time limit had never started.
For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s ruling.
No. M2015-00027-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. May 26, 2016).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Tennessee Parent Relocation Statute Law.
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.
