Abandonment and Child Support in TN

By: Pamela Williams Kelly, Esq.

Last night, a television show aired that featured troubled marriages. In this particular episode, the wife was loud, distrustful and angry towards her husband. The marriage counselor discovered that the wife had feelings of abandonment based on her father’s decision to leave the family when the wife was only 3 years old. Now, at 28 years old, the wife’s past was negatively affecting her present and future. While the wife’s father did make an appearance on national television to watch his daughter cry, just imagine how differently things would have been for both of them if he had just kept in contact with her over the last 25 years.

So, this month we will discuss abandonment of children and its effect on child support and child custody laws. Since these laws differ from one state to the next, we will use the laws of Tennessee as a teaching tool. In Tennessee, abandonment is usually more of an issue in juvenile court between unmarried parties. Abandonment occurs when a biological parent has willfully failed to visit (more than token visitation) or provide financial support to a child for a period of more than four (4) consecutive months.

 In the state of Tennessee, the failure of a non-custodial parent to regularly visit his/her child can be grounds for increased child support payments. Why? Child support is usually calculated with the expectation that the non-custodial parent will consistently relieve the custodial parent of some of the expenses incurred in child rearing. When the child visits the non-custodial parent, he/she should bear any expenses for food, clothing, shelter, entertainment, etc. But if the non-custodial parent does not visit the child, then the custodial parent incurs child care expenses year round. Therefore, child support can be increased in the custodial parent’s favor.

Another consequence of abandonment is that is can lead to the termination of parental rights. But does that apply to an incarcerated biological parent? Possibly, but let’s review the definition of abandonment again. There must be a “willful” failure to visit or provide support. Therefore, the incarcerated parent could make a credible argument that incarceration is the only reason for his/her lack of physical presence in the child’s life; but incarceration did not stop the parent from exercising his/her parental role in the child’s life. 

Any credible effort to maintain the parent-child relationship would be useful in defeating a claim of abandonment and termination of parental rights. And those efforts should be documented. A simple chart that lists contact dates, times and description of any contact-- called my son, mailed daughter a birthday card or sent money to buy my son’s school supplies—would suffice. Although these entries are simple, they could be used to show the court that the incarcerated parent did not willfully abandon his/her child.

If abandonment is proven, the termination of parental rights would legally prevent the incarcerated parent from having to pay child support. But it would also mean that the incarcerated parent has no decision making authority over the child nor could the incarcerated parent inherit anything from the child.

While incarceration is not a willful decision of a parent, the abandonment of a child is willful. And it can lead to a national television appearance of regret.

Legal Disclaimer: This article is not intended to serve as legal or other advice nor does it create an attorney-client relationship. Attorney Kelly may be reached at attorneypwkelly@gmail.com or 901-210-6551.