TN Dad Must Pay Child Support After Lost Job from Criminal Act

Tennessee child support law case law summary on imputed income and unemployment from the Court of Appeals.

Kimberly Meeks v. Bryant Leo Meeks – Tennessee divorce child support modification.

Kimberly and Bryant Meeks were married and divorced when they remarried in 2010.  In 2011, however, they were divorced a second time in Montgomery County, Tennessee.  A hearing was held before Judge Michael R. Jones, and the mother was named the primary residential parent of the two minor children.  The father, who was employed as a mortgage originator, was ordered to pay child support of $992 per month.

In March 2012, the father was terminated from his employment for allegedly recording a conversation with his district manager.  He went to court a few weeks later seeking relief from his support obligation.  In a later hearing, he offered evidence showing that his former employer wouldn’t hire him due to a criminal record involving a felony forged check.  Judge Jones wasn’t impressed with the plea of poverty, and held that the father was willfully underemployed.  In so holding, the court noted that the father was eligible for a mortgage originator’s license, but had to pass certain tests before receiving his license.  Since Judge Jones had also taken part in the criminal proceeding, he ruled that the father was underemployed because of the criminal activity of forging a check.  For that reason, he refused to alter the child support obligation.

The father then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  He first argued that the lower court had improperly considered information learned during the course of the criminal case.

But even though the Judge might have learned some facts from presiding over the criminal case, the appeals court found that the record supported the finding, and there was ample evidence in the record of the divorce case showing the criminal record.

The Tennessee child support guidelines make clear that a parent cannot reduce their child support obligations by committing a criminal act, even if that criminal act makes them unemployable.  In this case, the father was unemployable because of the criminal conviction, and the unemployment cannot be used as grounds for reducing the support.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s ruling in all respects.  In addition, it assessed the costs of the appeal against the father.

No. M2013-01203-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 6, 2014).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

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