Mom has the right to discover dad’s inheritance in a child support dispute

Lisa L. Collins. V. Sean R. Harrison

The unwed parents in this Davidson County, Tennessee child support case were Lisa L. Collins and Sean R. Harrison. The father was a pharmacist and the mother was an attorney. There were ongoing disputes regarding parenting time and child maintenance. According to a parenting plan from 2015, the mother was designated as the primary residential parent. The plan set the father’s income at approximately $8000 and the mother’s at approximately $12,000. The child support for the father was set at $670. The father filed a motion for modification, and in 2017, the parties agreed on an order that kept it at $670. The order prohibited the father from requesting another modification for a period of three years. After three years, both the father and mother made a motion to modify the parenting plan. She requested an ex parte restraining to prevent the father from exercising his parenting time pending an investigation by Child Protective Service (CPS) and the police department. The trial court granted this request and appointed a Guardian ad Litem. The trial court denied the mother’s request and ruled against her in general. Therefore, she appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

After addressing some procedural matters, the appeals court turned to the discovery issues. The appeals court noted in its decision that inheritance money can be used to calculate child support. The mother requested discovery regarding capital gains, which are included in income

. The trial court reviewed the documents under oath before concluding the mother did not have a right to them. The appeals court ruled that

this was an error and that the requested documentation should have been provided.

The court also assessed the Guardian ad Litem’s costs against the mother. The appeals court reversed this decision. The appeals court held that the appointment of the guardian was necessary for this outcome, and that the fees should have been assessed against the father.

The appeals court held that the appointment of the guardian was necessary for this outcome, and that the fees should have been assessed against the father.Because these issues were reversed, the appeals court remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings in light of whether the mother could make a case for additional child support, based upon her access to the discovery.

The costs of appeal were also assessed against the father.