First, Tennessee is a “dual property” state meaning that the law recognizes both marital property and separate property. When a married couple seeks a divorce, the “marital property” must be divided equitably between them. An important note in...

Answer is YES. WHY? Because adultery constitutes a ground for divorce in Tennessee, and the spouse asserting this ground has the burden of proving it. It takes more than a mere separation of the parties to terminate the legal obligations...

Divorce can affect the whole family. This is especially true when children are involved. One question that often comes up is; “Who gets the children while the divorce is pending?” The answer depends on you and your spouse. Negotiate...

Like with all states, there are certain requirements to be met before a divorce can be finalized in Tennessee. The main focus on this article is on what is required to get a divorce filed. This article assumes that you are the Plaintiff...

Uncontested divorces, also referred to as agreed divorces, is a process in which both parties can agree that it is in the best interest to end the marriage and they can agree on the things that needs to be addressed in order to execute the agreed...

Often I get asked if or how can child support changed? The legal answer is by a “significant variance” between the existing support order and the amount being requested. Tennessee law has defined a significant variance by a change of 15% or...

Occasionally, I get asked a question asking if a marriage can be annulled. First, I’ll explain what is an annulled marriage in Tennessee? An annulled marriage is a void marriage, or in another way of saying it, it never happened. It means...

Occasionally, I’ll get the question of "Does it matter who files divorce first?" The quick answer is that it can create a few advantages to file first, however, in the long run it really doesn’t matter. I’ll explain starting with some...

It is all too common that one parent doesn’t pay the child support obligation. The question becomes; “What can be done?” Tennessee courts have the power to punish for failure to comply with their orders. This comes down to...

Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-1-113 (G)(1) provides for termination of parental rights based upon the ground of abandonment. There are several definitions of abandonment that appear in Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-1-102 (1)(A)....