![\"Tennessee](\"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/0F173809-3CA5-43D5-AD4F-837B18992DE4-150x150.jpeg\")
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To most parents, their children are the most important part of their lives.\u00a0 Whether your child is born outside of marriage or within a marital union that ends in divorce, the child custody becomes an issue<\/strong> for you.\u00a0 Parenting a child with both the mother and father living together under the same roof can be complicated enough. But,\u00a0when the parents live separately<\/strong> it involves several additional issues and decisions.\u00a0 A determination must be made as to which parent your child will be with and when.\u00a0 Also, which parent has the authority to make educational, medical and other major decisions for the child.\u00a0 As well as how the child will be financially supported.\u00a0 These issues are all part of the legal process<\/strong> of the arrangement for the custody of a child in Tennessee<\/strong>. Sometimes the parent agree upon a\u00a0child custody determination<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Ot<\/strong>her times\u00a0the court makes the decision.\u00a0 In either instance you need a family law attorney<\/strong> involved.\u00a0 Also, any child custody arrangements<\/em> should be formalized by a court order<\/strong>.<\/p>\n [KGVID]https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2011\/11\/IMG_4539.mp4[\/KGVID]<\/p>\n Tennessee law regarding child custody<\/strong> and the courts in Tennessee foster and enforce the standard of shared parenting or joint child custody<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Many studies show that the involvement of both parents serves children much better.\u00a0 Although there may be issues with one parent or the other, the standard remains the same.\u00a0 Both parents have the opportunity to be involved in parenting decisions.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Also both parents exercise parenting time<\/strong> with the child.\u00a0 Note that the term “visitation” is now “parenting time” and\u00a0 “custody” is now “parenting decisions”.\u00a0 Except for extreme cases, which will be discussed briefly below, sole child custody<\/em> is not<\/span> awarded to one parent with visitation to the other parent.\u00a0 The parties and\/or the court now develop a Permanent Parenting Plan<\/strong> which delineates or specifies the parenting responsibilities of both parents. <\/strong>This\u00a0includes\u00a0joint decision making in health care, education, religious or spiritual matters<\/em>\u00a0. This also includes other major decisions for the child.<\/p>\n \u00a0The “Primary Residential Parent”\u00a0 is the parent with whom the child resides the majority of the time during the year. This designation\u00a0 is only to satisfy certain requirements of law such as school zoning, income tax exemptions, etc. The other parent is the “alternate residential parent”.\u00a0 For more information about shared parenting<\/strong> and your legal rights<\/strong> as a parent<\/strong> speak<\/a> to a Tennessee child custody lawyer<\/strong>\/ family law<\/a> attorney<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Shared parenting<\/strong> does not necessarily mean equal parenting.\u00a0 A<\/em>t least not in terms of residential time with the child.\u00a0 There are times in which a split (50\/50) parenting schedule results from a\u00a0child custody determination<\/strong>.\u00a0 In many cases, however, a 50\/50 split parenting schedule is not practical for the child or the parents.\u00a0 In many\u00a0Tennessee child custody cases<\/strong> the primary parent will spend approximately 285 days per year with the child while the other parent spends the remainder.\u00a0 The alternate residential parent spends approximately 80 days with the children on an every other weekend basis with time for holidays and summer vacations.\u00a0 On the surface this arrangement may appear to be a custody\/visitation arrangement with better sounding terminology.\u00a0 However, the emphasis is on joint or shared decision making<\/strong> and equal opportunity to parent the child.<\/p>\n There are times when the parents can not agree on a certain parenting matter.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0To solve this issue, usually the parenting plan will require the parents to attend formal dispute resolution<\/strong> or mediation<\/a>. Mediation requires the parents to attempt to\u00a0resolve the controversy before returning to court<\/em>.\u00a0 This is an effort to keep parenting and related issues<\/strong> within the confines of collaboration between the parents.\u00a0 \u00a0This is\u00a0<\/strong>as opposed to a dictate from a court.\u00a0 However, there are certain issues that may arise in which mediation is not the appropriate remedy<\/strong>. Such as child abuse, or drug\/alcohol related problems.\u00a0 If you believe that a change<\/a> in child custody or parenting arrangements<\/strong> needs to be addressed, seek legal advice.\u00a0 Get counsel from an attorney experienced<\/a> in child custody disputes and resolution<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Obviously not all parenting situations are the same.\u00a0 \u00a0There are times when either the father or the mother exhibits a lack of parenting skills<\/strong> or has problems which present a negative impact upon the child<\/strong>.\u00a0 In such cases , the courts must determine if such problems require a limitation on shared parenting<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u00a0 Issues range from problems involving child abuse, drug or alcohol dependency<\/strong>, to other issues which may impair the parent’s ability to effectively perform parenting responsibilities<\/em>. The court protects the child but also preserves\u00a0 the parent child relationship, whenever possible. The court may require supervised parenting time. Or limit the decision making to one parent.\u00a0\u00a0 In the most severe cases, the court will grant sole custody of the child to the other parent. Thus the impaired parent receives no parenting time. Such parent may apply for parenting time in the future.\u00a0 Limiting factors in child custody determinations involve quite complex legal issues.<\/p>\n The process of child custody determinations<\/strong> is sometimes different in divorce cases<\/strong>.\u00a0 In contrast to cases involving unmarried parents. The focus in Tennessee is upon agreed child custody or parenting plan arrangements. \u00a0 In a divorce action, with limited exceptions,\u00a0 the parents must attend mediation.\u00a0 Mediation requires parents to attempt to reach agreement on a temporary parenting plan.\u00a0 If this effort fails the court will then enter an order adopting a temporary parenting plan<\/strong> as proposed by one of the parties.\u00a0The court wants parents to try to resolve all of the disputes including\u00a0child custody arrangements<\/strong> and child support<\/a>.<\/p>\n Again the court hears and decides unresolved conflicts. This is after mediation efforts fail. In cases involving unmarried parents, the Court does not always enforce the requirement to attend mediation. For instance, the juvenile court often times enters basic child custody orders. But, a parent can request a mediated parenting plan.\u00a0 \u00a0Typically, the courts honor a request for mediated parenting plans. However,\u00a0case loads involving dependency and neglect and child abuse<\/span>\u00a0overwhelm Tennessee juvenile courts.\u00a0 So juvenile courts do not favor out drawn out litigation.<\/span><\/p>\n Issues involving the parenting, decision making and residential schedule for minor children involve many serious matters of law<\/strong> and sometimes dire consequences.\u00a0 A child custody determination<\/strong>, once made by the court, is very difficult to change or modify.\u00a0 The emphasis on shared parenting does not mean that the custody arrangements are readily changeable.\u00a0 In recent years the courts have some of simplified child custody modifications, at least somewhat.\u00a0A\u00a0parenting plan or other child custody order should be permanent<\/em>.\u00a0 So it is vitally important to resolve the issues, problems and conflicts, during the initial determination of child custody.\u00a0 This is why you should have a family law\u00a0attorney.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Contact Purple Law Firm to discuss child custody and the legal process in Tennessee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tennessee Child Custody – Family Law Attorney To most parents, their children are the most important part of their lives.\u00a0 Whether your child is born outside of marriage or within a marital union that ends in divorce, the child custody becomes an issue for you.\u00a0 Parenting a child with both the mother and father living together under the same roof can be complicated enough. But,\u00a0when the parents live separately it involves several additional issues and decisions.\u00a0 A determination must be made as to which parent your child will be with and when.\u00a0 Also, which parent has the authority to make educational, medical and other majorRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,16,17,20,21,30],"tags":[86,87,136,231],"yst_prominent_words":[563,1010,1008,391,1009,1003,995,1005,999,392,513,512,521,1011,476,993,520,577,959,996],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-1695","6":"format-standard","7":"category-divorce-lawyer-chattanooga-tennessee","8":"category-domestic-relations-family-law","9":"category-domestic-relations-attorneys","10":"category-family-law-attorneys","11":"category-featured-legal-articles","12":"category-tennessee-divorce-attorney","13":"post_tag-child-custody","14":"post_tag-child-support","15":"post_tag-divorce-lawyer","16":"post_tag-legal-rights"},"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Todd Couvillon","author_link":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"hoot-small-preview":false,"hoot-large-preview":false,"hoot-medium-preview":false,"hoot-wide":false,"hoot-extra-wide":false,"hoot-boxcontent":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Todd Couvillon","author_link":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":11,"uagb_excerpt":"Tennessee Child Custody – Family Law Attorney To most parents, their children are the most important part of their lives.\u00a0 Whether your child is born outside of marriage or within a marital union that ends in divorce, the child custody becomes an issue for you.\u00a0 Parenting a child with both the mother and father living…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3716,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1695\/revisions\/3716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1695"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Shared Parenting – Joint Custody – is\u00a0 the Standard in Tennessee<\/h2>\n
Tennessee Shared Parenting\u00a0Explained<\/h3>\n
Mediation in Child Custody Disputes<\/h3>\n
Limitations on Shared Parenting in Tennessee<\/h3>\n
The Process of Making\u00a0 Child Custody Determinations<\/h3>\n
Unresolved Issues Decided by the Court<\/h4>\n
Child Custody and the Family Law Attorney<\/h3>\n