October 1, 2023

Tennessee little one custody modification case abstract.

Katherine Sanko v. Clinton Sanko

The mother and father of 4 on this Hamilton County, Tennessee, case have been married in Pennsylvania in 2001 and have been divorced in 2014.  Quickly after the divorce, the mom requested permission to relocate to Pennsylvania with the youngsters.  The case was in the end heard by the Tennessee Courtroom of Appeals.  Finally, the mom moved to Pennsylvania with the youngsters, though a brand new parenting plan was by no means entered.  The daddy continued to take pleasure in 125 days per 12 months of parenting time.

In 2021, the daddy made a petition to switch, and the decrease court docket concluded that he had confirmed a fabric change of circumstances, based mostly upon the transfer to Pennsylvania.  The daddy was given main custody, with the mom having 69 days per 12 months parenting time.  The mom then introduced a second enchantment to the Tennessee Courtroom of Appeals.  She argued that there had been no materials change of circumstances.  She relied upon the primary opinion of the Courtroom of Appeals, which held that relocation was correct.  She argued that the trial court docket ignored the opinion, and did not enter a parenting plan authorizing the relocation.  Due to this fact, the transfer, as licensed by the Courtroom of Appeals, was hardly a change of circumstances.

In his movement to switch, the daddy’s main argument was that the transfer to Pennsylvania would end in a discount of his parenting time.  However the Courtroom of Appeals had beforehand acknowledged that this is able to naturally be the case.  Due to this fact, that discount was hardly a change of circumstances.

The daddy additionally pointed to different alleged adjustments of circumstances, corresponding to the youngsters’s robust choice to reside in Tennessee.  However the decrease court docket had did not make ample findings as to those different grounds.

For these causes, the Courtroom of Appeals reversed the decrease court docket’s ruling.  It did, nevertheless, remand the case to provide the daddy one other probability to point out that these different grounds utilized.

No. E2022-00742-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 6, 2023).

See unique opinion for actual language.  Authorized citations omitted.

To study extra, see Modifying Custody & Parenting Plans 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 circumstances out there on Amazon.com.