Mom gets jail time for contempt but is allowed to relocate child
Tennessee child custody case summary on relocation in divorce and family law.
Mom is allowed to relocate with child, after serving jail time for not giving notice.
Jonathan Garrett Grace et al., v. Elizabeth Ann Baker Grace
The parents in this were married in 2010 and had one child. They divorced when the child was a year old in Kentucky. The judgment was subsequently registered in Montgomery County, Tennessee.
From 2017 through 2021, the father’s parenting time was limited to three six-hour blocks per month, but that was modified in 2021 to give him a total of 90 days per year. The visitation was to have been supervised by the father’s parents.
In the summer of that year, after a week-long vacation, the father returned his child to the mother. The mother and her husband moved to Delaware the next day with the child. The mother cited reasons outside her control for not allowing the next visitation. In August, the father went into court to modify the parenting agreement and object to the relocation. The mother didn’t ask for permission to move until December. Judge Adrienne Fry was critical of her, stating that she had omitted the father from knowing the child’s current location and dragged out the process as much as possible. She ultimately decided that the relocation to Delaware was best for the child. The court ordered that the mother pay for transportation costs. The court found her guilty of contempt and sentenced to 30 days in prison. The mother was given ten days suspended on condition that she fully comply with all court orders over the next five-year period. The father appealed the Tennessee Parental Relocation Statute to the Tennessee Court of Appeals after some post-trial proceedings.
The court cited that the mother had not complied with the
Tennessee Parental Relocation Statute.
The father argued compliance with the notice requirements is a prerequisite for a parent to get the right to move. The appeals court agreed with the lower court that she had failed to comply.
But, the appeals noted that even if she did not comply, the court still needed to determine if relocation was in her child’s best interests. It found that adding a condition to the statute that the best interest analysis be contingent on notice was a new addition. The appeals court therefore affirmed the modification to the parenting plan. The appeals court agreed with the father that the mother’s actions showed a flagrant disregard of the notice requirements in the statute. It also noted that the mother did face consequences, namely being jailed for contempt for twenty days. It also noted that there were consequences for the mother, namely being jailed for 20 days for contempt.
