Disengaged TN Dad Will get Solely Restricted Parenting Time

Tennessee little one custody case abstract in divorce.

Evon Kay Creger v. Daniel William Creger

The mom on this Rutherford County, Tennessee, case filed for divorce in 2019.  The events have been married in 2005 and had two daughters.  She requested to be named main residential guardian.  She later sought an order for defense.

The daddy filed a solution during which he requested to be named main residential guardian.

After many pretrial disputes, the case lastly went to trial in 2022.  The trial court docket made findings as to the daddy’s conduct, resembling that he had chased the mom and kids down the freeway together with his car, and that he had violated pretrial orders by texting the youngsters.  It additionally discovered that he had violated court docket orders by shopping for a car, withdrawing $100,000 in marital funds, and interfering with an ordered sale of property.

The trial court docket dominated that the mom needs to be named main residential guardian, with the daddy having 55 days of parenting time.  It additionally discovered that he was voluntarily unemployed and set his incomes capability at $92,000, leading to a baby assist obligation of $1005 per thirty days.

The daddy then appealed to the Tennessee Court docket of Appeals.  After addressing property points, the appeals court docket turned to the difficulty of custody.

The appeals court docket, just like the decrease court docket, regarded on the statutory elements, and the way they utilized to the case.  Each courts positioned a lot weight on the testimony of counselors who had labored with the daddy and the youngsters.  In response to considered one of them, the daddy had made disparaging remarks to the youngsters concerning the mom.  The counselor additionally testified that the youngsters felt fearful and threatened by the daddy.    The opposite counselor agreed, and famous that the daddy’s bond with the youngsters was very weak.

The mom had additionally testified that for a few years, the daddy was disengaged from the youngsters, appeared depressed and indignant, and destroyed property in the home.

After reviewing the proof, the Court docket of Appeals agreed that the decrease court docket had acted inside its discretion in making use of the statutory elements.  Subsequently, it affirmed the decrease court docket’s ruling.

After addressing some evidentiary points, the Court docket of Appeals went on to award the mom her legal professional’s charges for the enchantment, and remanded the case for functions of computing the quantity.

No. M2022-00558-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 16, 2023).

See authentic opinion for actual language.  Authorized citations omitted.

To study extra, see Youngster Custody Legal guidelines in Tennessee and our video, How is little one custody decided 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 little one assist worksheets from actual instances accessible on Amazon.com.