In Eldridge v. Hunley, No. W2011-00728-COA-R3-JV, the Tennessee Court of Appeals set out the standard used when determining whether a material change of circumstances is enough that modifying a parenting plan would be in the child's best interest, and shows Tennessee divorce and Tennessee child custody attorneys that trial courts have wide discretion when setting coparenting schedules.
The parties had a child in 2006. Shortly after the child was born, the father petitioned to establish paternity and have coparenting rights. While the father requested joint decision making and shared parenting time on an alternate week basis, the juvenile court designated the mother as the primary residential parent ("PRP") and allowed the father to have parenting time every first, third, and fifth weekend of each month. In 2008 the father petitioned the juvenile court to modify the plan, and in 2009 the court changed the plan so the father could have the child every first and third week of each month. The mother then requested a hearing in 2010 to modify the parenting plan a third time. After the hearing, a juvenile court special judge changed the parenting plan so the father would only have coparenting every other weekend. The father then filed an appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
According to T.C.A. § 36-6-101(a)(2)(A), a trial court has wide discretion to establish a parenting arrangement when done in the best interest of the child. But a parenting order may be modified if there is a material change of circumstance as defined in T.C.A. § 36-6-101(a)(2)(C). In order to determine whether a parenting plan modification is warranted when there is such a material change of circumstance, a court must first determine whether a material change of circumstance has occurred that affects the child's well being. If it does affect the child's well-being, then the court must determine whether a change is in the best interest of the child.
The appellate court noted that trial court did not make any specific findings of fact to support its determination as required by Tenn. R. Civ. Pro. 52.01. While in some cases this would have been a reversible error, the appellate court did not believe so in this case because the record independently supported the trial court's judgment. While a psychologist testified that the child was thriving under the alternate week visitation schedule, the testimony also showed that the equal parenting time was not successful when the parents could not cooperate with each other. The trial court noted that the parties' relationship was highly contentious in that they were not able to get along with each other or work together. The record also failed to contain any evidence that the child experienced any increased anxiety after the latest modification to the parenting plan. Based on this as well as other evidence in the record, the appellate court affirmed the trial court's decision, noting that the trial court did not abuse its discretion or make a decision that was not in the child's best interest.
