Does anyone know the TN Divorce Laws? I am wondering, if a spouse finds evidence of cheating can they take more of their joint money as a settlement and ask for full custody of the children?
I'm no expert (not divorced) and every case is different, but in Tennessee we have no-fault divorce with just the idea of "irreconcilable differences."
http://research.lawyers.com/Tennessee/Divorce-in-Tennessee.html
Tennessee has both no-fault and fault divorces. For a no-fault divorce, there only needs to be a statement that there are irreconcilable differences within the marriage and a showing the spouses have lived apart for two years. Note that you and your spouse need to agree on child support, custody, and property and debt division issues. In a no-fault divorce, there is a waiting period of 60 days from the complaint filing date before divorce is granted; 90 days if there are children.
The fault grounds include:
- Adultery
- Desertion
- Cruel and inhumane treatment
- Felony conviction with prison sentence
- Habitual drunkenness or narcotics abuse
Marital property, the assets and debts acquired during your marriage, is divided "equitably" when you divorce. This means a fair division, and it may not be an equal division, depending on your case. Spouses keep their "separate property," which is property owned before marriage, or received by gift or inheritance.
Know that separate property may be reclassified as marital property if it was commingled or mixed with marital property. Examples of separate property include:
- Assets you had before you married
- Income produced by a separate property investment
- Inheritance
In deciding how to divide the property owned by divorcing couples, judges will consider a number of factors, including:
- Marriage length
- Age, physical and mental health, vocational skills, employability, earning capacity, estate, financial liabilities and needs of each spouse
- Contribution by one spouse to the education, training or increased earning power of the other spouse
- Relative ability of each spouse to acquire assets in the future
- Contribution of each spouse as a homemaker or wage earner to the acquisition, preservation, appreciation, depreciation or dissipation of the marital or separate property
- Value of the separate property
- Estate of each spouse at the time of the marriage
- Economic circumstances of each spouse at the time the division of property is to become effective
- Tax consequences to each spouse
- Amount of Social Security benefits available to each spouse
In Tennessee, the court will make child custody decisions based upon the "best interest" of the child. The court may award sole custody to one spouse or joint custody to the spouses or even custody to a third party. There is a presumption in favor of joint custody if both parents agree. The court considers all relevant factors including the following:
- Love, affection and emotional ties existing between the parents and child
- Disposition of the parents to provide the child with food, clothing, medical care, education and other necessary care and the degree to which a parent has been the primary caregiver
- Importance of continuity in the child's life and the length of time the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment
- Stability of the family unit of the parents
- Mental and physical health of the parents
- Home, school, and community record of the child
- The reasonable preferences of children 12 and older
- Physical or emotional abuse to the child, to the other parent or to any other person
- Character and behavior of any other person who resides in or frequents the home of a parent
- Each parent's past and potential for future performance of parenting responsibilities
State law requires parents to attend a parenting education seminar and to create a written parenting plan. These requirements are aimed at securing and supporting parenting roles in divorce.