Tennessee Trial Court Must Fix Inconsistent Child Support Orders

Tennessee child support case law summary from the Court of Appeals.

In re Jewel M.  – Tennessee child support – retroactive support

James and Tina were the parents of Jewel, who was four years old when the father filed a petition to establish paternity and set a schedule for parenting time.  The case was continued a number of times, and in 2011, the mother made a motion asking for child support, including retroactive child support back to the date of the girl’s birth.  In September 2011, the trial court made an order granting retroactive child support, but did not compute the amount at that time.

In October 2012, the trial court entered a final an order in the case.  The mother was named primary residential parent, and father was granted a visitation schedule.  That order stated that the prior order regarding arrearage was reversed, and that the arrearage would date back only to the date of the petition, rather than to the date of the child’s birth.  But another order, made the same date, was inconsistent, and included child support dating back to the girl’s birth in 2005.  The father then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, and argued that the final order should control, rather than the inconsistent language calling for retroactive support going back to 2005.

The Court of Appeals first noted that the Tennessee statute requires that child support normally goes back to the date of birth, and that a departure from this rule requires written findings by the trial court, which were absent in this case.

It concluded that there was only one way to resolve the ambiguity presented by the two conflicting orders, and that was to send the case back to the lower court for a resolution.  It directed the trial court to include written findings supporting the decision, in case the court decided that non-retroactivity was appropriate.

Therefore, it vacated the two inconsistent orders and remanded the case.  The costs of appeal were assessed equally against both parties.

No. M2012-02625-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 10, 2014).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

For more information, see Tennessee Child Support Laws.  See also Miles Mason’s book available on Amazon.com 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.