Custody Determination Reversed When Not Clearly Court’s Independent Judgment

Tennessee case summary on the independent judgement of courts in divorce.

A custody ruling must be the court’s independent judgment.

Lisa Sykes v. Paul Cox

The father in this Tennessee case filed a petition for custody in Sullivan County, but when the mother challenged venue, the case was moved to Montgomery County. The trial court, Judge Wayne C. Shelton, granted the father custody, and the mother appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The mother raised a number of issues. The appeals court labeled one of those issues as being of particular concern, namely the final order was not the product of the court’s independent judgement. The appeals court noted that the practice of allowing the parties to prepare orders, including findings of fact and conclusions of law, was permitted, but often cautioned against.

The court cited a 2014 Tennessee Supreme Court case in which the order prepared by a party’s lawyer was essentially a restatement of their earlier arguments. In particular, the court had not given the attorney the court’s grounds for the decision.

Likewise, in this case, the appeals court stated that it was unable to discern whether the lower court had made its own independent findings. The trial court had signed the attorney’s order without any modifications. The trial court had also asked the attorney to “mimic and state” as closely as possible the relevant Tennessee statute.

Under these circumstances, the appeals court ruled that there was serious doubt as to whether the the lower court had exercised independent judgement. The case was further complicated by the fact that Judge Shelton had retired. For these reasons, the Court of Appeals remanded the case for a new trial.

No. M2022-00970-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 20, 2023).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.