Elizabeth Ann Baker v. Jonathan Garrett Grace
Case Details
- Judge(s)
- Judge Frank G. Clement Jr.
- Status
- Published
- Procedural Posture
- appeal from trial court modification order in family law matter
Related Laws
No specific laws identified for this ruling.
Outcome
Trial court modified parenting plan to grant father scheduled supervised visitation, finding mother's unilateral termination of visitation was a material change in circumstance. Court also retroactively modified child support and awarded mother $7,000 arrearage judgment while denying interest due to mother's delay in proceedings.
Excerpt
This appeal arises from a post-divorce petition to modify a parenting plan, specifically the parenting schedule, and a counter-petition to modify child support. The parties were divorced in Kentucky shortly after the father was diagnosed with a mental illness in 2012. The separation agreement gave the father visitation "as agreed upon by the parties to be supervised at all times by [the father]'s parents." Over the next four years, the father enjoyed frequent and liberal visitation with the child. This arrangement continued until the grandparents took the father to the child's school performance. The mother believed the father's presence was "wildly inappropriate" due to his mental health issues. She subsequently refused the grandparents' requests to see the child, effectively depriving the father of any parenting time with the child. The father then commenced this action by petitioning to modify the parenting plan so that he would have regularly scheduled parenting time that was not subject to the mother's unilateral approval. The mother opposed the father's petition and filed a counter-petition to modify his child support obligation and to award an arrearage judgment for unpaid child support. After a trial, the court found that the mother's unilateral termination of the father's visitation was a material change in circumstance and that scheduled, supervised visitation with the father was in the child's best interest. The trial court also retroactively modified the father's child support obligation and awarded an arrearage judgment of $7,000 in favor of the mother for unpaid child support. The court denied the mother's request for pre- and postjudgment interest because the mother's "own actions . . . caused a lengthy delay to the conclusion of the[] proceedings." The mother raises several issues on appeal. She contends the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because there was no evidence that the mother, the child, and the father lived in Tennessee for s
What This Ruling Means
This summary was generated to explain the ruling in plain English and is not legal advice.
Similar Rulings
Plaintiff brought claims against Knox County and the County Clerk based on allegedly discriminatory employment practices. The trial court determined that Plaintiff committed serious discovery violations and imposed as a sanction the exclusion of certain evidence. With this evidence excluded, the trial court granted summary judgment to the Defendants. Plaintiff appeals, challenging the discovery sanction, the trial court's conclusion under the Tennessee Human Rights Act that the continuing violation doctrine did not apply, the trial court's conclusion that the Clerk was not individually liable, and the award of attorney's fees against the Plaintiff and her attorney. We affirm.
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