TN Bar Tennessee Family Law 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Tennessee's Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), once a Tennessee court issues a child support order, other states must:
- Issue their own competing orders
- Register and enforce the Tennessee order without modification (Correct answer)
- Allow the obligor to re-litigate support in the new state
- Convert the order to their state's calculation method
Correct answer: Register and enforce the Tennessee order without modification
Under UIFSA as adopted by Tennessee (T.C.A. § 36-5-2001 et seq.), only one support order is valid at a time, and other states must register and enforce the issuing state's order.
Question 2: In Tennessee, legal adoption terminates the biological parents' parental rights and creates what relationship between the adoptive parent and child?
- A guardianship relationship only
- A full parent-child relationship as if the child were born to the adoptive parent (Correct answer)
- A foster care relationship with visitation rights for biological parents
- A temporary placement pending further review
Correct answer: A full parent-child relationship as if the child were born to the adoptive parent
Under T.C.A. § 36-1-121, a completed adoption creates a full parent-child relationship between adoptive parent and child, with all rights and duties of biological parenthood.
Question 3: Tennessee's putative father registry (T.C.A. § 36-2-318) requires an unmarried biological father to register within how many days of a child's birth to preserve his right to notice in adoption proceedings?
- 10 days
- 30 days (Correct answer)
- 90 days
- One year
Correct answer: 30 days
An unmarried biological father must register with Tennessee's putative father registry within 30 days of the child's birth to receive notice of adoption proceedings.
Question 4: Under Tennessee law, grandparent visitation rights may be ordered by a court only when:
- The grandparent requests any contact with the grandchild
- Denial of visitation would pose a substantial risk of harm to the child (Correct answer)
- One parent agrees to the visitation
- The grandparents provided financial support to the child
Correct answer: Denial of visitation would pose a substantial risk of harm to the child
Under T.C.A. § 36-6-306, Tennessee courts may order grandparent visitation only upon finding that denying visitation would pose a substantial risk of harm to the child's emotional or mental well-being.
Question 5: In Tennessee, legal separation (separate maintenance) differs from divorce primarily because:
- It requires longer residency
- The parties remain legally married and cannot remarry (Correct answer)
- It does not address property division
- It requires a jury trial
Correct answer: The parties remain legally married and cannot remarry
A Tennessee separate maintenance action allows courts to divide property and set support while the parties remain legally married, as opposed to a divorce which dissolves the marriage.
Question 6: Under Tennessee law, the age at which a minor child's stated preference for custody is given significant weight by the court is:
- Any age if the child is articulate
- Age 12 and older (Correct answer)
- Age 14 and older
- Age 16 and older
Correct answer: Age 12 and older
Under T.C.A. § 36-6-106(a)(13), the preference of a child age 12 or older is given significant weight in Tennessee custody determinations, though the court retains discretion.
TN Bar Tennessee Family Law 3
Under Tennessee's Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), once a Tennessee court issues a child support order, other states must: