TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

House Judiciary Committee Rejects 50/50 Joint Custody Legislation, Passes TBA Family Law Legislation

Posted by: Berkley Schwarz on Apr 9, 2025

Legislation that would have established a presumption that joint legal custody and equally shared parenting time is in the best interest of the child failed to pass the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 16-3, leaving it dead for the year. The bill, HB1131 was sponsored by Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis. The Senate version of the bill, SB1331, is sponsored by Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville. George Spanos, chair of the TBA Family Law Section, testified against the bill, and the TBA Government Affairs team worked to educate lawmakers on the need to maintain current law, which requires the judge to look at the facts of each individual case and determine custody based on what is in the best interest of each child.

The TBA Family Law Section’s legislation, HB492 — sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville — successfully passed the House Judiciary Committee. The Senate version, SB540, sponsored by Sen. John Stevens, R-Huntingdon, passed the Senate on March 6. The legislation, as amended, removes the three-year threshold for trial courts to consider a parent’s failure to pay child support from the best interest of the child factors in TCA 36-6-106(a)(16). As amended, the bill also amends the grandparent visitation statute (TCA 36-6-306) to add a new subsection (g) that will allow trial courts the discretion to award attorney’s fees and expenses to either party in a grandparent visitation case.

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