Joseph Marion Barker v. Angel Chandler

This post-divorce appeal challenges the “overnight paramour” provision in the parties’ parenting plan. By agreement, the parties sought to modify the parenting plan for their two teenage children, a son and a daughter. At the time, the father lived with his new wife, and the mother lived with her unmarried partner of nine years. The parties agreed that the father would be the primary residential parent of their son, and that the mother would be the primary residential parent of their daughter. The permanent parenting plan form completed by the parties included a “paramour provision,” in accordance with a local court rule mandating that parenting plans prohibit the non-spouse paramour of either parent from spending the night in the same residence as the minor child. The mother objected to the inclusion of this provision, arguing that the children’s best interest would be served by permitting them to stay in her home along with her partner. Despite finding that the children’s well-being would not be adversely impacted by the arrangement on which the parties had agreed,
the trial court refused to eliminate the provision on the basis that state law and public policy required that such a provision be included. The mother now appeals. We reverse, finding that Tennessee statutes and public policy dictate that the children’s best interest is the paramount consideration, and thus the trial court must have the discretion to alter or eliminate the paramour provision in a parenting plan if the court finds that doing so is in the children’s best interest.