TN Dad Gets Equal Time After Mom Relocates to MN

Tennessee child custody case summary on relocation in divorce.

In Re: Lukas S.-M.

The child in this Putnam County, Tennessee, parental relocation case was born out of wedlock in 2014.  At the time of his birth, the parents were no longer in a relationship.  The mother filed a petition, and the court set support but did not set any visitation schedule.

Later that year, the mother took the child to Minnesota for an extended visit, since she had family there.  A couple of months later, she sent a text message to the father that she and the child would not be returning to Tennessee.  The father then filed a petition requesting equal visitation, and alleged that the mother had violated the Tennessee parental relocation statute.

Meanwhile, the mother had attempted to have a Minnesota court exercise jurisdiction, but the Tennessee court made an order finding that Tennessee was the home state of the child under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA).

The trial court’s final order found that the mother had violated the parental relocation statute, and ordered her and the child back to Putnam County, Tennessee.  The mother was to remain the primary residential parent, but the father was given equal parenting time of 182.5 days per year.  The mother then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The mother argued that the parental relocation statute did not apply, because it applied only to cases where a custody determination had already been made.  She argued that it did not apply to the initial determination.  The appeals court agreed, and vacated the lower court’s order to the extent that it had relied on the relocation statute.

However, after analyzing the lower court’s order, the appeals court determined that the lower court had actually applied the best interests of the child—the correct standard.  The mother’s relocation was only one factor that the lower court considered.

The appeals court was limited in its review, since the mother had not ordered a full transcript of the hearing, as required by the rules of appellate procedure.  Since she did not do this, nor prepare a summary of the testimony, further review was not possible.  Since the lower court had applied the correct standard, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment, but vacated the portion that relied on the parental relocation statute.

No. M2015-01367-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. June 30, 2016).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Tennessee Parent Relocation Statute Law.

See also 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 available on Amazon.com.