Court to Correct Math Error After Second Appeal in Divorce Case
Tennessee child custody case summary in divorce.
Larry Mark Mangum v. Laney Celeste Mangum
The husband filed for divorce in this Hamblen County, Tennessee, case, and the case went to trial in 2017. The wife brought an appeal, which was heard by the Tennessee Court of Appeals in 2019. In that first appeal, the Court of Appeals held that the lower court had made insufficient factual findings, and it remanded the case. On remand, the trial court made extensive factual findings, and based upon those findings, it named the father the primary residential parent, and expressed its intent to award the wife more than half of the marital estate. The wife then brought a second appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The wife first argued that the trial court erred in adopting a parenting plan naming the father primary residential parent. The appeals court listed the statutory factors and discussed them. The wife’s first contention on custody was that there were concerns about the father’s use of corporal punishment, and that the trial court should have considered her allegations of domestic violence against her. But after examining the evidence, the Court of Appeals found that the trial court had found that the husband had greater credibility. Therefore, this factor did not weigh in favor of the wife.
The Court of Appeals then reviewed the property division, in which the trial court had stated that it would award the wife a greater percentage of the property. It again listed the relevant statutory factors, and examined the evidence. It found no error in the trial court’s conclusions, but it did see a mathematical error. The appeals court noted that it had no authority to substitute its judgment for that of the trial court, but it did have the authority to correct what it called a clear mathematical error. For these reasons, it remanded the case to correct that error.
Finally, the appeals court held that neither party was entitled to attorney’s fees on appeal, and it taxed the costs of appeal equally on both parties. It then remanded the case.
No. E2021-00285-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 7, 2022).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Child Custody Laws in Tennessee and our video, How is child custody determined in Tennessee?
See also Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family featuring examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.
