The Basics for Your Child Custody Case

Nothing sparks more expensive and heart-rending litigation than a fight over your time with the kids. Nothing requires more creative problem solving, and reference to your highest and best self than the effort required to make that decision. Our job is to not only advise you as to what we think the Court would do, but also about different custody arrangements that have worked for other families.

All courts will require you to file a Parenting Plan. The form is available online at www.state.tn.us. Before you meet your attorney, print and fill out the form with the schedule you think is best for your children. Your lawyer will then be able to tell you if this arrangement is realistic, or how to make it work better. The form is long, and a little confusing for some people. But even if you can’t fill it out completely, your attempt will save you hundreds of dollars and weeks of delays if you take it with you to your first appointment.

After you’ve figured out a good custody arrangement, you can get a good estimate on what child support to expect to pay or receive by going to www.state.tn.us/humanserv/. We recommend using the Excel version. The child support worksheet must be attached to the Parenting Plan.

Expect your lawyer and your X’s lawyer to tinker with the Plan in those first few weeks. (If this isn’t happening, get another lawyer who will take your case seriously.) If you and your X can’t reach a compromise during that time, you’ll have to go to mediation, which is a meeting with a neutral third party to try to settle the case. If that doesn’t work, then you are going to need to be prepared to go to a hearing.

At a custody hearing, the Judge is required by law to consider the following:

1. Love, affection and emotional ties between parent and child.
2. Disposition of parent to provide child with food, clothing, medical care, education and other necessary care.
3. The degree to which the parent has been the primary care-giver.
4. Importance of continuity in the child’s life, including the length of time the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment.
5. Stability of family unit of the parties.
6. Mental and physical health of the parent.
7. Home, school and community record of the child.
8. Reasonable preference of a child 12 years or older.
9. Evidence of physical or emotional abuse of the child.
10. Character and behavior of any other person who resides in or frequents the home of a parent, and such person’s interactions with the child.
11. Each parent’s past and potential for future performance of parenting responsibilities, including the willingness and ability of each parent to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing parent-child relationship between the child and the other parent.

If you want custody, your job is to be the better parent, using these considerations as a guide. Our job is to make sure the Judge sees it.