Tennessee law says that when a child is born to married parents the child will have the father’s last name, unless the parents request otherwise. However, a child born to parents who are not married will have the mother’s last name unless both parties agree on another name. An action to establish paternity or chid support will not automatically cause the child’s name to be changed.
Category Archives: child support
What is a Parenting Plan?
A parenting plan is a document that will describe how you and your spouse will share the parenting responsibilities, as well as define who will be making certain decisions, and paying expenses, among other matters.
How Criminal Contempt Has Changed in Tennessee
Until recently, a person who had failed to pay his child support could very easily find himself in jail for up to six months. Our bloodlust for deadbeat dads had caused the government to do one of the things our founding fathers had feared the most: We were putting people in jail with little or no evidence of any wrongdoing.
Civil Contempt, Criminal Contempt, and What it All Means
Contempt of court often comes up when somebody fails to pay their child support. There’s no statute that makes failure to pay child support a criminal offense that requires jail time. So how does somebody end up behind bars for failure to pay?
How is Child Support Calculated?
Gone are the days when child support payments were calculated by simply taking a percentage of the payer’s income. Tennessee (like many states) has adopted the “income shares” model for calculating child support payments. The process has become so complicated that Tennessee provides a software child support calculator to help parents and attorneys determine the payments.
Misguided Child Support Enforcement – Part 2
The story I’m about to tell you is my favorite example of how goofy our child support laws can be. Read it and tell me what you think.
Misguided Child Support Enforcement – Part 1
A guy called me from one of the New England states because he had been sued by the Tennessee Child Support Services. The child support order required him to pay a certain amount of child support to his son’s mother in weekly installments. In order to make his life easier, he was paying a full month’s worth of support at the beginning of each month.
Why You Shouldn’t Pay Child Support Ahead of Schedule
If you are paying child support to the Child Support Receiving Unit and you love staying out of jail, you need to read this post. This is a perfect example of how no good deed will go unpunished.
Who is Child Support Services and Why Are They Bugging Me?
Way back in the 1970’s, the public became concerned that the government was paying welfare for the support of children who were not being supported by both of their parents. Put another way: Why are my tax dollars going to feed children if their parents aren’t putting food on the table?
Less Than Half of Single Parents Receive Full Child Support
53.2 percent of parents who are supposed to be receiving child support are not receiving the full amount they are due. 23.7 percent aren’t receiving child support at all. What can you do about this?