December 2009
MemphisDivorce.com e-newsletter
The MemphisDivorce.com e-Newsletter is a service provided by Miles Mason Family Law Group PLC to clients, friends, and persons requesting family law updates through e-mail from: www.MemphisDivorce.com. With offices in Brentwood and Memphis, Tennessee we serve Middle and West TN, Northern Mississippi and Eastern Arkansas.
MemphisDivorce.com / / Meet the Team / / Areas we Serve  Festive Season's Greetings from all of Us at Miles Mason Family Law Group!
This is the traditional time to look back over the past year to achievements, successes, and, hopefully, minimal failures. This has been a year of challenges for all of us. The Miles Mason Family Law Group Family Law Team has worked very hard to help our clients with these challenges. Without a doubt, the gratitude of our clients and the feeling we are setting things right has been a priceless reward. We believe that, at this traditional time, we should also look forward. 2010 should be a similarly challenging year. Miles Mason Family Law Group has the determination to look after our clients and to be a voice for their interests. Have a happy holiday and come back refreshed in the New Year to face the challenges of 2010! Double (Legal) Eagle
 The future - and the fairway - are wide open for Miles Mason Family Law Group's newest associate attorney, Kelly Nanney.
While Kelly may not rival women's golf champion Michelle Wie just yet, if her golf game becomes as polished as her legal career has been, "Wie" might have cause for concern. Kelly's official duties as an attorney will begin after she passes the bar in 2010. She will be working out of Miles Mason Family Law Group's Brentwood office. A native Memphian, Kelly attended Lipscomb University in Nashville, where she was valedictorian. Currently a law school student at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Kelly is a member of the Law Review. Prior to law school, Kelly worked at Miles Mason Family Law Group as a legal assistant. She has continued to work part-time as a law clerk for the firm while in school. Kelly's duties at the firm have been vast and varied. Kelly has researched various family law issues such as property classification, alimony and fee awards; and has assisted lead counsel with client consultations, drafting pleadings and research. Family Law Case Histories of Note
Iris Kay Snodgrass vs. Robert H. Snodgrass - E2007-00576-SC-R11-CV View - Separate, Partially Concurring and Dissenting Opinion View - Loudon County - The Tennessee Supreme Court granted permission to appeal in this divorce case to address whether a spouse's 401(k) account is a "retirement or other fringe benefit right relating to employment" under Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-4-121(b)(1)(B) such that any increase in the account's value that accrues during the marriage is marital property. The Tennessee Supreme Court held as follows: (1) the parties' 401(k) accounts are "retirement or other fringe benefit rights relating to employment"; (2) the entire net amount by which the parties' 401(k) accounts increased in value during the period of the parties' marriage is marital property; (3) the premarital balances in the parties' 401(k) accounts remain their separate property; (4) Husband did not transmute his entire 401(k) account to marital property when he made a single withdrawal for marital purposes; and (5) the trial court correctly divided the parties' defined benefit pensions by reference to the monthly income each spouse was receiving rather than by reference to the present cash value of each spouse's pension. The judgment of the Court of Appeals was affirmed in part and reversed in part. Elizabeth Leanne Hudson v. Larson Douglas Hudson - M2008-01143-COA-R3-CV View - Separate Concurring / Dissenting Opinion View - Davidson County - This case involved an appeal concerning the relocation of Elizabeth Leanne Hudson ("Mother") and her two minor children from Nashville, Tennessee, to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Larson Douglas Hudson ("Father") opposed the relocation. After a three day bench trial, the trial court granted Mother's request to relocate after finding, pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-6-108, that the relocation was reasonable and not vindictive. The trial court also awarded Mother attorney's fees. The Court of Appeals affirmed the holding of the trial court regarding the relocation but reversed concerning the attorney's fees. Nancy Randloph Deakins vs. Lynn Lampton Deakins - E2008-00074-COA-R3-CV View - Separate Concurring Opinion View - Hamilton County - In this divorce case, the trial court granted Nancy Randolph Deakins ("Wife") a divorce from Lynn Lampton Deakins ("Husband") thereby ending the parties' 24-year marriage. Upon dissolving the marriage, the court valued and divided the marital estate, declined Husband's request for alimony, and awarded Wife discretionary costs, her attorney's fees and court costs. Husband challenged each of these determinations as well as an evidentiary ruling and the court's finding that Husband dissipated assets. The Court of Appeals reversed the awards to Wife of attorney's fees and discretionary costs, and affirmed the remainder of the trial court's judgment Kimberly Renea Smith v. Stephen Ward Smith, Sr. - M2008-01589-COA-R3-CV View - Wilson County - Father filed a Petition to Modify Visitation and Child Support based upon a change in circumstances; Mother filed a Counter-Petition for Criminal Contempt based on Father's failure to comply with aspects of the Final Decree of Divorce. Father appealed the trial court's application of an upward deviation to his modified child support obligation; order to obtain and provide health insurance for a minor child; failure to order Mother to obtain a life insurance policy for the benefit of the minor child; monetary award to Mother for reimbursement of child's contribution to the purchase of an automobile; failure to apply his modified child support obligation retroactively; award of attorneys' fees to Mother; and denial of a post-trial petition for modification to further reduce his child support obligation based on post-trial changes in circumstances. Finding that the trial court erred in applying an upward deviation to Father's modified child support obligation, in awarding Mother a monetary judgment for child's contribution to the purchase of an automobile and in awarding Mother attorneys' fees, the judgment was reversed. The judgment denying Father's post-trial petition for modification was vacated and the case remanded for further hearing thereon. The trial court's judgment was affirmed in all other respects. Calley Denise Kopp v. Michael Shannon Kopp - M2008-01146-COA-R3-CV View - Rutherford County - Father appealed the trial court's denial of his petition to modify child support. Father showed that his obligation was $109 per month based on the child support guidelines. Instead, the trial court granted an upward deviation and set Father's child support obligation at $567.50 per month. The Court of Appeals found that Father showed a significant variance between his current obligation and his obligation under the child support guidelines justifying a modification in the amount of his child support obligation, but determined that an upward deviation was also justified. The Appellate Court reversed the judgment of the trial court and set child support at $249 per month. Brenda Brewer v. Kenny Brewer, Sr. - W2008-02041-COA-R3-CV View - Shelby County - This is a divorce case. On appeal, husband argued that certain settlement monies, which he claimed wife failed to disclose, should be considered marital property subject to equitable division. Such monies include wife's personal injury settlement, wife's payment for past SSI benefits, and wife's car insurance settlement proceeds. Husband also contended that wife's share of the marital home should be reduced based on the discovery of these additional assets. Finally, husband argued that he should not have been required to pay rehabilitative alimony and alimony in futuro to wife. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Joseph Marion Barker v. Angel Chandler - W2008-02255-COA-R3-CV View - Gibson County - This post-divorce appeal challenged 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 appealed. The Court of Appeals reversed, 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. Lisa Bass Collins v. Stephen Butler Collins - W2008-02660-COA-R3-CV View - Henry County - This case involved a divorce ending a one year marriage. Husband appealed the trial court's valuation of marital property, its decision not to include the increase in wife's separate property in the distribution of marital property and the award of temporary support to the wife during the pendency of the divorce. Because the trial court failed to properly determine the marital value on some items of property the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's decision as to those items and remanded for further consideration. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's decision as to the value of the remaining items of property and its award of temporary support. Why Do We Pick These Particular Cases? Each month, many appellate decisions are available from which to choose. We include in the e-Newsletter all family law cases from the Supreme Court of Tennessee, most appellate cases originating from Shelby, Davidson, and Williamson County Circuit and Chancery Courts, and a handful of cases from across the state and occasionally from across the U.S. Our goal is to provide an array of cases most likely of interest to our readers.
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Upcoming Miles Mason Family Law Group PLC Seminars
Forensic Accounting Academy - Miles Mason, Sr., Dec. 11, Atlanta, GA. NAVCA and IBA 2010 Annual Consultants Conference - Miles Mason, Sr., Co-Chair of the Matrimonial Track, June 2-5, 2010, Fountainbleu Resort in Miami, FL. Family Fun
Going "Fore" It! - Anne Mason signs a golf scholarship offer to attend and play golf for the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) "Bees." Anne is a Senior at St. Agnes and has earned numerous academic, art, and community service awards in addition to her golfing accomplishments.
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