Under UCCJA, TN Court Defers to KY’s Emergency Order Regarding Child in TN

Tennessee child custody case summary on jurisdiction.

In Re Serenity W.M.

The child in this case was born in Campbell County, Tennessee, in 2014 to unmarried parents.  While the birth certificate stated that both parents were born in Kentucky, it listed the mother’s residence in Jellico, Tennessee, in Campbell County.  In June, a court in Kentucky granted temporary custody to the child’s maternal uncle.  That court’s order authorized any peace officer to accompany the uncle and his wife to obtain custody of the child.  The uncle then went to court in Tennessee to enforce the order.  The Tennessee court granted an emergency order enforcing the Kentucky order, and authorized any law enforcement officer in Campbell County to accompany the uncle and his wife.  The Tennessee court also issued a restraining order prohibiting the father and mother from interfering with the uncle’s custody.  The child was then removed from the custody of the mother and father and taken to Kentucky.  The Tennessee court further held that the Kentucky court had jurisdiction and held that all further proceedings should take place in Kentucky.  The mother and father then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  On appeal, they argued that the Kentucky court lacked jurisdiction.

Because there was very little record present from the Kentucky case, the Tennessee judge had called the Kentucky judge on the phone, and the Kentucky judge stated that Kentucky had home state jurisdiction under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA).  Based upon this, the Tennessee judge had told the litigants, “you are going to have to litigate it in Kentucky where it was issued.”

The Tennessee court did not make any factual findings, and did not inquire as to the jurisdictional facts.

The Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court that the jurisdictional issues would have to be sorted out in Kentucky.  It noted that this was an emergency order, based upon the mother’s previous loss of custody of three other children, and the father’s history of substance abuse.  Because it was an emergency order, it was only temporary, and the Tennessee appeals court believed that under the UCCJA, the underlying jurisdictional issues should be addressed by the court that first heard the matter.  However, the Tennessee trial court’s order did not specify any ending date.  Since the Kentucky jurisdiction was only temporary, the Court of Appeals remanded the case, and directed the court to state that the temporary Kentucky jurisdiction would end in thirty days.  But the underlying jurisdictional issues would need to be addressed in Kentucky.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the decision, but remanded it for modification.

No. E2014-01802-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 23, 2015).

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.