TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Feb 5, 2021

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld an appeals court decision that had reversed the Shelby County Chancery Court’s decision to terminate a father’s parental rights. The high court said the trial court relied on legal errors and insufficient evidence; misapplied the missing witness rule and doctrine of unclean hands; and wrongly found that the father’s failure to support and visit his child was willful. The court had accepted the case on appeal by the mother and stepfather but dismissed their petition for termination of rights saying they did not meet their burden of proof on abandonment. Read more from the court.