As is it appeared on the Tennessee Bar Association By Marlene Moses and Manuel Russ This column was updated April 25, 2019 – after its original publication, to reflect a change in the location of the forms. Ethics for lawyers is always an important topic. Ethics in mediation, particularly in divorce cases, is an area […]
Read MoreAs it appeared in the Tennessee Bar Association By Marlene Moses and Manuel Russ In the recent Tennessee Supreme Court opinion issued in June 2018, Coleman v. Olson, the court dealt with the issue of an alteration of the beneficiary of a life insurance policy during the pendency of a divorce. Family law practitioners should […]
Read MoreAs it appeared in the Tennessee Bar Association When divorcing parties have agreed to a division of their estate, they will enter into a Marital Dissolution Agreement (MDA) that, as part of the finalization of the divorce, is submitted to the court for approval and signature. The divorcing court will then merge the MDA into […]
Read MoreAs it appeared on the Tennessee Bar Association Editor’s Note: President Trump signed the Tax Reform bill into law on Dec. 22, 2017, which was after this column went to press. A new piece of legislation has been introduced in Congress that, if passed, will have major implications on divorce settlements throughout the country as […]
Read MoreThe Tennessee General Assembly has been very busy this past session in addressing the issue of child support arrearage through two major modifications of the existing law on child support, one affecting the interest rate on arrearages and the other affecting the time period of accumulation of retroactive support for a child or children. Both […]
Read MoreThe ability of a parent to relocate his or her household, and more importantly his or her child, out of the jurisdiction of the court that entered the parenting plan is often a very contentious issue. The Tennessee Code devotes an entire section to the issue of relocation for this reason. Absent an agreement to […]
Read MoreIn the area of family law, an infrequently used provision, but an important one nonetheless, is the doctrine of inconvenient forum, which permits a court in Tennessee to decline jurisdiction in a custody case if the court determines that, though it is a permissible forum to hear the matter, Tennessee is not the best court […]
Read MoreIf a court needs to determine the income available for support, hereinafter referred to as IAFS, of a parent with a fixed salary or hourly wage from an employer, the calculation is relatively simple and the subsequent formula straightforward. However, if a party is self-employed and/or the owner of a business, manipulation of IAFS through […]
Read MoreOn July 1, 2015, the General Assembly enacted new legislation that addressed the division of public employee pension plans during the course of divorce proceedings. Section 26-2-105(d)(1) of the Tenn. Code Ann. now provides that “a local government that establishes and maintains for its employees a qualified plan, and the qualified plan’s administrator, shall honor […]
Read MoreIn the last legislative session, the Tennessee General Assembly modified the existing statute regarding the definition of marital property, specifically as it relates to various types of retirement accounts and stock options. The legislature adopted a position that altered how the distribution of such assets would be conducted, primarily focusing on assets that were possessed […]
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