TN Dad Responsible for Extra Child Support Despite Deployment to Afghanistan

Tennessee child support case summary on determining parenting days.

Richard Lee Hibbens v. Ashley Elizabeth Rue  – Tennessee child support actual parenting time

The child in this Tennessee child support case was born in 2010 to unmarried parents.  The 2010 permanent parenting plan adopted by the Bradley County chancery court named the mother the primary residential parent, with the father being the alternate residential parent, with 115 days of parenting time.  At that time, the father was in the U.S. Marine Corps, but both parents resided in Tennessee.  Based upon the split of 250 days for the mother and 115 days for the father, the father’s child support obligation was set at $300 per month.

At some point, the father was deployed to Afghanistan until 2013.

Shortly before the father’s return to the United States, the mother filed a petition asking for child support to be set retroactively.  In making the computation, the court used the actual day count of the number of days the child had resided with the father, rather than the number of days that he had been entitled to visit.  Obviously, since the father had been in Afghanistan, his actual visitation was less than what he was entitled to.  The result was that the mother was awarded almost $4,000 in retroactive child support.  The father then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

On appeal, the father raised a number of procedural issues, and also argued that the trial court had erred in basing support on actual days, since it was impossible for him to visit due to his military service.

The Court of Appeals began by citing a case holding that the actual number of days is the relevant factor.  However, the father argued that an exception should apply in his case due to impossibility caused by his military status.

The Court of Appeals held, however, that there was no authority for such an exception.  The court noted that the father was still financially responsible for the child, and that the mother had been required to provide care and financial support while the father was overseas.

Because of some of the procedural issues in the case, the Court of Appeals remanded the case for further proceedings.

No. E2014-00829-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. June 12, 2015).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Child Support Laws in Tennessee.