SEO Title (56 characters)  Tennessee Divorce Law: Grounds, Process, Custody & Alimony

Meta Description (149 characters)  Understand Tennessee divorce law, including residency rules, grounds for divorce, equitable property division, alimony types, custody, and child support.

Tennessee Divorce Law

Tennessee divorce law governs the legal dissolution of marriages in Tennessee, establishing grounds for divorce including both no-fault irreconcilable differences and fault-based reasons, property division through equitable distribution, types of alimony available to spouses, child custody and child support determinations, and procedural requirements from filing through final decree. Whether pursuing an uncontested divorce where both spouses agree on all terms or navigating a contested fault-based divorce with disputed issues, Tennessee divorce laws balance fairness with flexibility while prioritizing children's best interests in custody matters.

Residency Requirements for Filing for Divorce in Tennessee

Before filing for divorce in Tennessee, at least one spouse must meet specific residency requirements establishing Tennessee courts' jurisdiction over the case.

Basic Residency Rule

You can file for a divorce in Tennessee if the ground for divorce happened while you were a resident of Tennessee, or the ground for divorce happened while you were not a resident of Tennessee, but you or your spouse has now lived in Tennessee for at least six months before the complaint for divorce is filed. Either the husband or wife must have resided in Tennessee for at least six months before filing a divorce complaint unless the grounds for divorce occurred in Tennessee. This six-month requirement ensures Tennessee courts have proper jurisdiction over the divorce proceedings and prevents forum shopping where spouses seek favorable jurisdictions.

Military Service Exception

A person stationed in Tennessee for at least one year as a member of the armed services, or as the spouse of a member of the armed services, is considered to be a Tennessee resident. This means military personnel and their spouses can file for divorce in Tennessee even if they haven't lived in the state for six months, as long as they've been stationed there for one year. This exception recognizes the unique circumstances of military families who may be stationed in Tennessee without establishing traditional residency. The one-year military service period substitutes for the standard six-month civilian residency requirement.

Grounds for Divorce in Tennessee

Tennessee divorce law allows for both no-fault and fault-based divorce, giving spouses multiple options for legally ending their marriage.

No-Fault Divorce

Irreconcilable differences may be asserted as a sole ground for divorce or as an alternate ground for divorce with any other ground. Divorce based on irreconcilable differences does not require either spouse to present evidence of anything negative about the other. However, both spouses must agree that irreconcilable differences exist and must reach an agreement on child custody, visitation, child support, division of property, and division of debts. This process is much easier and faster than a fault-based divorce, as a fault-based divorce is much harder to prove and requires more time to resolve.

The spouses must file a written agreement called a Marital Dissolution Agreement with the court, and the court must approve the agreement, ensuring it conforms to child support guidelines and equitably divides assets and debts.

Fifteen Fault-Based Grounds for Divorce

Tennessee law provides fifteen grounds for divorce or legal separation. There must be proof of fault in the divorce for fault-based grounds, including adultery, abandonment, domestic violence, alcoholism or drug addiction, or willful refusal to provide for a spouse. Tennessee lists these different possible grounds for divorce because every relationship is different, and some divorcing couples may cite more than one reason. Evidence in divorce cases ordinarily must be corroborated, and the trial court is given wide discretion in the admission of evidence.

Tennessee Fault Grounds Comparison

Property Division in Tennessee Divorce

Tennessee is not a 50/50 state and follows an equitable distribution rule for dividing marital property.

Equitable Distribution Principle

Tennessee is an equitable distribution state, which means that assets are divided fairly and not necessarily equally. Marital property, which is property acquired during the marriage, is divided, while separate property owned before marriage, inherited, or gifted typically stays with the original owner. Once property is classified as marital or separate, the trial court must divide marital property equitably according to statutory factors, including. An equitable division does not always mean an equal division of property. In other words, marital property will not always be divided 50/50, and equitable division does not mean each party will receive a share of every piece of marital property.

Factors Courts Consider

There are many factors including the courts consider in determining the fair division of marital property, like the length of the marriage, each spouse's financial and non-financial contribution to the marriage, the value of separate property owned by each spouse, and the needs of each spouse.

Additional factors, including each party's age, mental condition, physical condition, earning capacity, and the provisions made regarding marital property, all influence how courts divide assets. The court also considers contributions as a homemaker, help with the other spouse's training, education, or increased earning capacity, and each party's fault in contributing to the divorce when appropriate.

Types of Alimony in Tennessee

Tennessee courts may award four types of alimony, also called maintenance or spousal support, which is financial support paid by or to your spouse.

Rehabilitative Alimony

The judge may award you rehabilitative alimony to help you get to the point where you can have the same standard of living that you had during your marriage. Rehabilitative alimony will stop if you or your spouse dies. This type supports a spouse while they gainthe  education, training, or work experience necessary to become self-supporting. The goal is to help the dependent spouse reach a standard of living comparable to what they enjoyed during marriage through their own efforts after a rehabilitation period.

Periodic Alimony (Long-Term Alimony)

The judge may award you periodic alimony on a long-term basis if there is a big difference between your and your spouse's income, and even with effort, you would be unable to have the same standard of living you had during the marriage. Periodic alimony ends on the date that the judge sets or if you remarry or die. This long-term support recognizes situations where one spouse cannot reasonably be expected to achieve self-sufficiency due to age, health, or other circumstances. Courts award periodic alimony when the income disparity between spouses is substantial and unlikely to change significantly over time.

Transitional Alimony

Transitional alimony is awarded for a specific period of time to help you adjust to being divorced or separated. Transitional alimony cannot be changed unless you and your spouse agree to a change in the original court order, the judge orders that the alimony award can be changed in the original court order, or you live with someone else (a third party). If you live with a third party, the judge will assume, but you can present evidence otherwise, that the third party is either supporting you or you are supporting the third party, and therefore, you do not need the same amount of alimony.

Lump Sum Alimony (Alimony in Solido)

Lump sum alimony, known as alimony in solido, is ordered for a long-term, specific period of time to help provide you with financial support. It can be paid all at once in a lump sum or broken up into installments, which are paid out over time. The purpose of this form of alimony is to provide financial support to a spouse, to enable the court to fairly (equitably) divide and distribute marital property, or both. If the judge orders your spouse to pay your attorney's fees and expenses for the divorce proceeding, the judge can include those fees in the lump sum alimony. This type can only be changed if you and your spouse agree to a change, and it will not end if you or your spouse remarry or die.

Factors for Determining Alimony

The judge will decide whether or not to grant you alimony. If you suffer economically because you relied on your spouse for support and were a homemaker or parent during your marriage, the judge will try to make sure that your standard of living is the same after your marriage as it was during your marriage, if possible. To decide whether to award alimony and determine the appropriate amount and length, the judge will consider factors including each party's financial needs and ability to meet those needs, earning capacity and resources including pensions and retirement plans, education and training needs, the duration of the marriage, each party's age and physical condition, separate assets, the standard of living during the marriage, contributions as a homemaker, each party's fault in contributing to the divorce, and tax consequences to each party.

Child Custody and Visitation Rights

Custody of any minor children will be decided as part of a divorce in Tennessee, with courts prioritizing the best interest of the child.

Types of Custody

The court may decide to award custody to either party or to both parties in joint custody or shared parenting. Residential custody is the right to have a child live with the parent, and legal custody is the right to make important decisions about how the child will be reared. The parent with residential custody usually controls decisions about the child's education, health care, and spiritual upbringing. In shared parenting, the primary residential parent is the one with whom the child will reside the majority of the time, and the alternate residential parent is the other parent. Major decision-making authority will often be joint, even if the child resides with one parent more than the other during the year.

Best Interest of the Child Standard

When making a custody decision, the court looks at many factors, including who has taken care of the children in the past, whether either parent has a problem with drugs or alcohol, whether either parent is violent, whether either parent is living with someone else without the benefit of marriage, and whether the parents are morally fit. No matter what, though, the court's standard in granting custody is the best interest of the child. This standard ensures that custody decisions focus on what arrangement will best serve the child's physical, emotional, educational, and developmental needs rather than the preferences or convenience of either parent.

Visitation and Parenting Plans

All divorcing or separating parents in Tennessee must attend a parenting education seminar and must suggest a plan for how their children will be brought up after the divorce. The plan should talk about how the parents will make decisions about the children's education, health care, out-of-school activities, and religious upbringing. Parents who cannot agree on a plan will usually have to participate in mediation to decide on a plan. The court may order when and where a parent without custody may visit the children, and may even refuse to allow visits if visits would harm a child, ordering supervised visits to protect the child when necessary.

Child Support Obligations

The primary residential parent may receive child support from the other parent, with the court setting the amount according to Tennessee Child Support Guidelines.

How Child Support Is Calculated

The court sets child support according to the Tennessee Child Support Guidelines. Under these guidelines, the amount of child support depends on the amount of the alternative residential parent's income, the amount of the primary residential parent's income, and the number of children.

Tennessee courts prioritize the interests of the child when deciding custody, and child support follows Tennessee Child Support Guidelines, typically based on both parents' income and time spent with the child. In addition to ordering a parent to make cash payments, the court can order a spouse to pay child support by paying for rent, daycare, children's doctor bills, children's insurance premiums, children's clothes, and transportation for visits with the children.

Income Assignment for Child Support

If the parent who owes child support, the obligor parent, works, the receiving parent may ask the court to order child support to be paid by income assignment. This means that the obligor parent's employer will take the support money out of the parent's paycheck and mail it directly to the court clerk. The receiving parent can pick it up from the court clerk, or the court clerk can mail it. Having the child support go through the court clerk means that the court keeps a record of when and how much child support is paid, and gives the obligor parent fewer opportunities to abuse or intimidate the receiving parent when paying the child support.

The Divorce Process in Tennessee

While divorce laws vary by state, Tennessee follows specific procedural steps from filing through final decree.

Filing the Complaint

First, you or your spouse must meet the residency requirements of Tennessee. Second, you must have grounds (a legally acceptable reason) to end your marriage. Third, you must file the appropriate divorce papers and have copies sent to your spouse. When filing for divorce, it is permissible to give a mailing address rather than a home address to prevent an abusive spouse from finding the individual seeking a divorce. The cost of filing a civil case in Tennessee, including a complaint for divorce, is usually a few hundred dollars, though this cost can vary depending on whether the couple has children and other factors.

Spouse's Response

If a spouse contests the divorce, they must file an answer within 30 days after being served with the complaint. If your spouse disagrees with anything in the divorce papers, then they will have the opportunity to file papers telling their side. If your spouse contests the divorce, then you may have a series of court appearances to sort the issues out. Also, if a certain period of time passes and your spouse does not sign the papers or file any papers of their own, you may be able to proceed with the divorce as an uncontested divorce anyway.

Mandatory Waiting Periods

In Tennessee, if divorcing spouses have minor children, a divorce cannot be granted for at least 90 days after the Complaint for Divorce is filed. This is referred to as a cooling-off period. If the parties do not have minor children, a divorce can be granted 60 days after the Complaint for Divorce is filed. To obtain an irreconcilable differences divorce, the parties must wait 60 days from the date the complaint is filed if there are no minor children of the marriage and 90 days if there are children. These mandatory waiting periods apply even in uncontested divorces and cannot be waived except in extraordinary circumstances.

Mediation Option

Mediation is a voluntary process by which a trained mediator helps a married couple arrive at a mutually acceptable agreement about child custody and visitation, child support, spousal support, division of property, and division of debts. In mediation, the husband and wife work with a trained mediator to discuss their problems and make their own decisions. Mediators do not make decisions for the parties but provide a safe environment where spouses can communicate confidentially. If the parties can reach an agreement on all issues, they will settle. A settlement can be reached by exchanging settlement agreements or at mediation. If a settlement is reached, only one spouse will go to court for the final hearing.

Final Decree

The divorce takes effect on the day the judge signs the final decree of divorce. However, the parties may want to wait to remarry until the time for filing an appeal has passed because either party can appeal the judge's decision for 30 days. You cannot remarry until after the divorce has been final for 30 days. After the final hearing, there is a 30-day appeal period, and you should not get married until the expiration of this period. All issues must be decided before a judge approves the final divorce decree. If the parties settle, a Marital Dissolution Agreement will divide all assets and debts, and a Permanent Parenting Plan will decide child-related decisions.

Uncontested vs. Contested Divorce

The ease of getting a divorce in Tennessee often depends on whether the divorce is contested or uncontested.

Uncontested Divorce Requirements

An uncontested divorce is generally a simple process in Tennessee, as both spouses agree on all terms, and the divorce is filed on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. An uncontested divorce can often be the fastest and cheapest way for spouses to legally separate. However, in Tennessee, only couples that do not have any minor children together (biological or adopted) qualify for an uncontested divorce.

Spouses also must not own any business or property together to qualify for an uncontested divorce. Tennessee State Courts have court-approved divorce forms available, but forms are only for divorces where both spouses agree on all parts of the divorce, there are no minor or dependent children involved, and the spouses do not own any real property, including houses, land, buildings, mobile homes permanently attached to the ground, or condominiums.

Contested Divorce Proceedings

A contested divorce is much more complicated because this indicates that spouses disagree on key issues like property division, custody, and alimony, and can require a more intensive process. If an agreement cannot be reached, the parties must go to court. The court will set a trial date when the judge will hear evidence and decide issues of alimony, custody and visitation, child support, division of property, and division of debts. If the parties do not settle, a divorce trial will determine all issues. Three big factors on the cost of divorce are how your spouse reacts, who your spouse hires, and who your judge is.

Legal Separation Alternative

In Tennessee, there is an alternative for married couples who cannot live together as husband and wife but who do not want an absolute divorce.

What Is Legal Separation

A Tennessee statute allows courts to grant a legal separation, which is sometimes called separate maintenance or a divorce from bed and board. In an action for legal separation, the parties remain legally married, but the court can award custody of the children to one party, grant visitation rights to the other party, order child support and alimony, and divide the property of the parties. A spouse may ask the court for a legal separation based upon any of the reasons for which a divorce can be sought.

Converting to Absolute Divorce

If the court grants a legal separation, the court can change the decree to an absolute divorce after two years upon the request of either party if the parties have not reconciled. The Court is not required to wait two years to grant a divorce if either party can establish grounds for divorce before that time. If the reasons for divorce did not occur in Tennessee, the parties must have resided in Tennessee for at least six months before filing a complaint for legal separation.

Moving Forward with Tennessee Divorce Law

The state's approach balances efficiency for amicable separations through streamlined uncontested procedures with robust protections for contested cases involving disputed issues. From residency requirements through final decree, Tennessee divorce law establishes clear procedures while maintaining judicial discretion to address unique circumstances.

Couples facing divorce benefit from consulting experienced Tennessee divorce attorneys who guide grounds for divorce, property division, spousal support, child custody, and child support tailored to their specific situations, ensuring rights are protected while working toward fair resolutions that allow both parties to move forward.