Dad’s Allegations Didn’t Warrant Custody Change

The parents in this Dickson County, Tennessee, case were divorced in 2019.  The permanent parenting plan for the three children named the mother the primary residential parent, and the father was granted 110 days parenting time.  The father was also ordered to pay $970 per month in child support.

A year later, the father made a motion to modify custody, but this was denied.

One year after that, the mother asked the court to limit the father’s visitation to supervised, due to an alleged pattern of emotional abuse of the children.    The father also made a petition to modify, based on the mother’s alleged bad character.

A hearing was held.  The father testified that the mother had denied visitation for a few days after the child was diagnosed with COVID.  He also argued that the mother limited his phone contact.  He had given the children smart phones, but she did not allow them in her house.  But the mother pointed out that the children were allowed to call him.

While the father accused the mother of dishonesty, he acknowledged that it was hard to say anything bad about her parenting.  The children privately told the judge in an interview that they knew both parents loved them.

The trial court denied both petitions to modify the parenting plan.  It did, however, grant the father’s request to modify child support.  This was on the grounds that the parties’ incomes had changed significantly.

The father appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The father first argued that the trial court had made various pretrial errors, but the appeals court quickly disposed of these arguments. It then turned to the parenting plan.

The father argued that he had proven a material change of circumstances, but the lower court had disagreed.   And the appeals court agreed with the lower court.  The father had pointed out that the children had been delivered late on two occasions, and the dispute about phone usage.   But both courts found that this was outweighed by the fact that the children were generally well adjusted.  It therefore affirmed.

The father did have more success when it came to child support.  Under the guidelines, the support should have been $259, but the lower court had imposed $300, based upon the “minimum child support rule.”  But the appeals court agreed that this was error.  While the trial court had apparently completed the child support worksheets, application of the minimum rule was error.

The mother asked for her attorney’s fees in defending the appeal, but this request was denied.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed, but reversed in part and remanded the case for recalculation of child support.

No. M2023-00270-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 28, 2025).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Child Custody Laws in Tennessee and our video, How is child custody determined in Tennessee?

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