Mom Failed to Prove Allegations of Abuse of Daughter

Tennessee baby custody modification case abstract.

A.W. v. M.N.

The baby on this Tipton County, Tennessee, case was born to unwed dad and mom in 2015.  In 2016, she moved in with the daddy, and so they have been married in Mississippi, however the marriage lasted only some months.  In July 2016, the mama and baby returned to Tennessee.  The father filed for divorce in Mississippi, after the mama’s 4–year-old daughter from one other relationship allegedly reported that the daddy sexually abused her.

The mama then filed a petition in Juvenile Court in Tennessee to limit the daddy’s visitation.  The father denied the allegations, and a listening to was held in 2018.

The courtroom adopted a parenting plan naming the mama as the first residential mother or father, and ordering the daddy to pay baby assist.  The father’s visitation was initially supervised, however ultimately was with out supervision.

After a visitation, the mama suspected that the kid had been sexually abused.  She took the kid to a hospital for an examination, and there was an investigation by authorities in Tennessee and Mississippi.  The mama then filed a petition to droop the daddy’s visitation.  The father denied the allegations, and a listening to was held.  The trial courtroom concluded that there was inadequate proof to grant the mama’s petition.  The trial courtroom famous that it was unable to find out the precise that means of the kid’s statements, and there was no physical proof of abuse from the examination.  At the mama’s request, the listening to was continued, and a Mississippi investigator testified as to the investigation.  The courtroom then reinstated the daddy’s visitation, and the mama appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The appeals courtroom first famous that in circumstances of modification of custody preparations, trial courts have nice discretion, and appellate courts mustn’t abuse the preparations aside from abuse of discretion.

Even although neither mother or father raised the difficulty, the courtroom first decided that Tennessee, and never Mississippi, had jurisdiction over the case.

After rigorously reviewing the proof, the courtroom agreed with the decrease courtroom’s disposition of the case.  It famous that there was no physical proof, and the kid’s statements have been unreliable and unclear.

For these causes, the Court of Appeals, in an opinion authored by Judge Carma Dennis McGee, affirmed the decrease courtroom’s ruling.

No. W2020-00091-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 7,  2021).

See authentic opinion for precise language.  Legal citations omitted.

To be taught extra, see Modifying Custody & Parenting Plans.

See additionally Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family that includes examples of parenting plans and baby assist worksheets from actual circumstances out there on Amazon.com.