Primary Residential Parent and Parenting Time
As divorce and custody attorneys, we find it prudent for you to understand certain terms regarding Tennessee Divorce and Custody Law. A few years ago, our legislature changed the wording of “custody,” “joint custody,” and “visitation.” It is now called Primary Residential Parent and Shared Parenting and Parenting Time. However, we find most everyone still refers to these matters as custody and visitation.
The court can award sole custody or joint custody. Each Judge has their preference and the way in which they usually award visitation and custody. Disagreements over custody will put you in the middle of a contested and expensive divorce.
The legal standard in deciding who will be named Primary Residential Parent is what is in the best interest of the children.
After determining who will be the Primary Residential Parent or if this will be a Shared Parenting arrangement, the court will determine the other party’s parenting time or visitation.
Children
If you have children, by law, you and your spouse must attend a parenting class or take a class online. THIS IS FOR BOTH CONTESTED AND UNCONTESTED CASES. We do not recommend that you attend together.
Child Support
Once parenting time is determined, we turn to the issue of child support. The number of days each parent spends with the child will be used to calculate child support. Your income and your spouse’s income will be considered by the court. They will look at who pays health insurance and extracurricular costs and whether or not you support other children or have other children in your home.
Discovery
We will issue Discovery, which will include written questions known as Interrogatories and Requests for Production of Documents. Basically, these are questions we will ask your spouse about his/her allegations, witnesses, income, debt, and assets. Your spouse has thirty (30) days to answer them. Once discovery is complete, we are ready for mediation.
Mediation
Our courts require we attend mediation before going to trial.
Your attorney will attend mediation with you. You, your attorney, your spouse, and your spouse’s attorney will meet with a mediator. Typically, a mediator is another attorney who has obtained mediation training. We will attempt to settle your case with the mediator.
However, your matter will be prepared for trial if the mediator cannot reach a settlement. Waiting for trial dates can be a long process. Therefore, we will probably talk often about minor matters that come up between you and your spouse until the trial is heard.
Not only do we attend mediation with our clients, but our office handles mediation for those needing it. Kane & Crowell’s Family Law Attorney, Mary Alice Carfi and Lindsey Waller Johnson are are mediators and we also offer mediations for parties.