Tennessee baby custody case abstract in divorce.
Karthik Rajendran v. Mary Florence Rajendran
The mom and father on this Sumner County, Tennessee, case have been married in 2013 and had one daughter who was born in 2015. The daddy filed for divorce in 2017, and each events requested to be named major residential guardian.
The trial court docket, Decide Joe Thompson, in the end named the mom the first residential guardian. Initially, the mom was granted considerably extra parenting time. However beginning in July 2019, the events have been to have equal time on alternating weeks. The trial court docket additionally ordered that every one main selections could be made collectively. The mom appealed to the Tennessee Court docket of Appeals. She argued that equal parenting time was not within the baby’s greatest curiosity, and that the trial court docket mustn’t have granted joint choice making authority.
The appeals court docket began by noting that trial courts have broad discretion on the subject of custody issues. Nonetheless, a call might be reversed whether it is an inaccurate evaluation of proof or depends on reasoning that causes an injustice.
The mom pointed to a lot of statutory components the place she believed the decrease court docket had dominated erroneously. For instance, the trial court docket had discovered that the period of time spent by every guardian with the kid was an element that equally favored each events. The trial court docket had famous that the mom did, certainly, spend extra time with the kid, however discovered the issue to be equal because the father was in a position to maintain the kid’s wants when he did have time together with her. She additionally took subject with the issue involving love, affection, and emotional ties.
The appeals court docket famous that it was an in depth query on a few of these points. There have been no particular factual findings within the file that may make clear these rulings. Nevertheless it agreed that these components favored the mom.
The mom additionally argued that the kid had shut relationships together with her relations, and that this issue strongly favored her. Whereas it discovered that this subject wasn’t essentially dispositive, the appeals court docket discovered that this subject was related.
After sifting by way of all the statutory components, the appeals court docket in the end concluded that 5 components favored the mom, and that zero favored the daddy. Whereas 4 components have been equal, the appeals court docket discovered that the components favoring the mom ought to have been given extra weight.
After weighing the perfect pursuits of the kid, the appeals court docket in the end concluded that an equal parenting association was not acceptable. It famous that there have been problems with distrust between the events, and the trial court docket had specified the strategies of communication for the events.
Regardless that it famous that the mom was not fully with out blame, the Court docket of Appeals held {that a} joint parenting association was not workable.
For these causes, the Court docket of Appeals reversed the decrease court docket’s ruling and remanded the case. The prices of the enchantment have been assessed towards the daddy.
No. M2019-00265-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sep. 16, 2020).
See authentic opinion for actual language. Authorized citations omitted.
To be taught extra, see Child Custody Laws in Tennessee.
See additionally Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family that includes examples of parenting plans and baby help worksheets from actual instances out there on Amazon.com.
