Tennessee Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

From your description, it seems unlikely that a court would have admitted the Will to probate (proving it was the duly executed last Will, what the person owned and owed and who should receive the rest).  A Will has no legal validity until a court admits it to probate and appoints an executor.  If this has not been done, hire a local probate lawyer to apply for a determination of heirship.  Your description suggests that your siblings would receive less as heirs than they took.  Perhaps they will produce the "Will" for probate and the court will reject it, dividing your mother's estate among all her heirs at law.... Read More

I'm sorry your question is a little confusing. I think it says biological father has custody of your nieces, and he wants to move with them to Michigan. I don't know much about bio father, but if he is a fit and proper parent, he can probably live where he wants. Your sister, if she has parental rights left, could file an action to oppose the relocation, but under her current circumstances of not having custody, I don't know how far she would get. There's a lot of facts that go into relocation cases. As a relative, unless Father and Mother are both unfit, you would not have any grounds that I know of to file for custody. I know that's not what you're looking for but Father has the strongest rights in this scenario. Mother comes in second, but it sounds like her rights have been limited by the Court. You probably don't have much of any rights at all. I'm sorry.... Read More

If you move and the other party does not file in Tennessee for six months, your plan might work. The problem is if you move without an agreement to Florida, and they go to a Court in TN and ask for an Order requring you to bring the children back to TN, they will probably get it. You might run into other problems as well.   If the last place you all live together as a married couple is TN, this is likely the correct state for a divorce.... Read More

You will need to file a Petition for Parenting Time, and tell the Court you are subject to an OP as to mother, but you want to see the kids. If the OP is also on the kids, that battle will be a lot tougher. If it's just on mother, you just have to have a parenting plan that guarantees you won't be able to contact or see mother in any way. You don't want seeing your kids to send you to jail on an OP violation. Having your mother speak with her may also be a 'third party contact' which violates your OP also. Be very careful. Now that the Court is involved, it will have to stay involved to the end. Serving a Petition for Parenting Time, through proper service, is not a violation, but any other contact probably is. At any court date, you'll need to let the officers know about the OP and sit as far from her as physically possible.... Read More

I don't know what evidence exists for the police report saying the alleged victim was hit multiple times in the head. I will say in any criminal case, the State has to prove their case. That sounds obvious, but if in fact there is no evidence to support the State's case, and there is evidence to support the defense alleged, it's possible to convince a jury.   That's a general answer. An experienced trial lawyer will have heard a jury say 'not guilty' enough times to tell you it is possible. The same truth is that juries often believe the version of police over the version of 'regular' people. A lot goes into trying a case, with dozens if not hundreds of facts and little pieces of evidence. The DA tries to build their puzzle out of the pieces, the defense tries to build theirs.   It sounds like the Court already heard a Motion to Dismiss an Order of Protection (which is completely separate from any criminal charge), and denied it. If that's correct, a new Motion would have to list new grounds. It's easy to confuse, but DA's don't represent alleged victims, so they don't have to do what 'victims' want. Every DA I've personally dealt with will tell you they have a 'no drop' policy on Domestic Violence. I will tell you that's not exactly true, but you often have to either force them to do it, or give them a legal 'out.' If a DA believes a victim told the truth initially, and is lying to get charges dismissed, they are not required to take the updated or new story. It may be hard for them to win a trial without a cooperative victim, but on the other hand lots of times along the way they can pick up a victim tampering charge. In other words, Domestic Violence goes away but client goes to jail for talking with the victim. Third party contact counts too, so someone's mama or whomever speaking to the victim 'for the defendant' can be a great way for defendant to pick up more charges.... Read More

If you can prove you were not served with proper process, you may have a chance to reopen the case, but if you were served initially, then just didn't receive the letter with notice of hearing, that may not be enough. You'd have to carefully look at the Court's file, and see what it says about how and when you were served, and with what. You may find a huge error, you may not.   In addition to service, there's no way for any lawyer on here to have any idea if the $22k is appropriate. It could be the right number, but a lot goes into that calculation.... Read More

No honest lawyer can really say there's no way a judge would consider this fact or that fact, but I will say that the fact you've mentioned, by itself, for an otherwise good father, would probably not be a huge thing. If the child has some diagnosed learning deficiency, that might change things, but the state of TN requires kids to start school at 5. If dad doesn't want to start before 5, I don't think a Court will get too involved in that. If you separate, nothing would prevent you from getting tutoring during your parenting time.... Read More

A spouse's claim to real property acquired during the marraige is not tied to the deed. She could be not on the deed at all, and if the house was purchased during the marraige, or even before, depending on circumstances, she would have a claim to an equitable distribution of the home equity. The question of whether the deed needs fixing is a separate one. If it's not accurate, as part of a divorce I'd suggest getting that cleaned up so the title is clear.... Read More

You will need to file and serve an Answer to the Petition that was served with the Summons. Your Answer will need to be sworn. It can be as simple as going to the Clerk of Court with a piece of paper, neatly writing your response to each allegation of the petition. If you agree, write 'I agree." If not, write in short, simple terms that you disagree and the reason why. The short reason why. You don't need to put all your evidence or tell the whole story. Your Answer needs to be enough that a judge reading it can tell what the issues are, what your position is and what their position is. The Answer has to be sworn, which the Clerk of Court can do for you, or a Notary. You will need to serve a copy of the Answer on your spouse's attorney; their name and address is on the Summons and Petition.   If your ex has an attorney, you may or may not need one as well. If you agree with the Summons and Petition, that's pretty easy. If not, you may find you will not be able to effectively 'fight' your spouse's attorney without hiring one yourself. If you don't go hire an attorney immediately, you must at least file and serve an Answer within the time frame on the Summons, usually 30 days after service.... Read More

I am surprised to learn your  divorce does not mention phone calls. Parenting Plans should all include the following language:   Under T.C.A. § 36-6-101 of Tennessee law, both parents are entitled to the following rights: (1)  The right to unimpeded telephone conversations with the child at least twice a week at reasonable times and for reasonable durations. The parent exercising parenting time shall furnish the other parent with a telephone number where the child may be reached at the days and time specified in a parenting plan or other court order or, where days and times are not specified, at reasonable times; It is literally the first right listed in a long list of parental rights in TN.   If you are not allowing at least two unimpeded calls a week, then you are likely violating the other parent's rights, which is never a good look in Court. I would say that by itself, that is not grounds for him to get more parenting time, but if he can convince the court it is a part of an overall attitute on your part to minimize his involvement, that will be a strong factor in a modification case. Depending on your county, and many other factors, it may be the Court will lean towards increasing his time to a 50/50 schedule, or something with at least 120 days, if he does not have that already.  You h=ay very well have a good defense to his action, of course. ... Read More

If you have decided that it's time for a Divorce, you can file on grounds of adultery. Unfortunately, it seems likely the home will be his sole property, but there are exceptions to the rule. In any divorce, you and your husband basically have to each decide whether you can come to an agreement you both can live with, or if you are going to have a judge sort out some or all of your issues. An agreement will save you time, many thousands of dollars, and a lot of heartache. However, you can't sing with someone who won't sing with you, and the courts and judges will decide things for you.  If your Husband is violent, you can and should file for an Order of Protection from Domestic Violence. That is something you can do without a lawyer, though certainly any lawyer will recommend you hire a lawyer if you have any way to. Also, in many cases if domestic abuse is present, Legal Aid will assist. I don't know their exact guidelines, but you are able to use a computer to find information, so I'd encourage you to research that option if you need it. An Order of Protection can at least make sure you have a house to live in, even if it's in your Husband's mother's name, while you sort things out. It can also help prevent him from bothering you duing a divorce process.... Read More

If the Court of Appeals has made a ruling in your case, unless the Supreme Court has agreed to hear it, that case will be dealt with the way the Court of Appeals says. Before you can go back to court and try to do anything, you will have to show a material change in circumstances from when the original order was entered. Any evidence already presented in prior hearing(s) will not be admissible, since it was already considered and ruled upon. ... Read More