State ex rel. Williams v. Woods, W2016–00935–COA–R3–JV

• Decision Date: 21 March 2017
• Docket Number: No. W2016–00935–COA–R3–JV,W2016–00935–COA–R3–JV
• Citation: 530 S.W.3d 129
• Parties: STATE of Tennessee EX REL. Jamie Joy WILLIAMS v. Deadrick Donnell WOODS, Sr.
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

530 S.W.3d 129

STATE of Tennessee EX REL. Jamie Joy WILLIAMS

v.Deadrick Donnell WOODS, Sr.¹

No. W2016–00935–COA–R3–JV

Court of Appeals of Tennessee, AT JACKSON.

Assigned on Briefs December 2, 2016

FILED March 21, 2017

Application for Permission to Appeal Denied by Supreme Court August 21, 2017

James Franklin, Jr., Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Deadrick Donnell Woods, Sr.

Herbert H. Slatery, III, Attorney General and Reporter, and Brian A. Pierce, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee ex rel. Jamie Joy Williams.

Thomas R. Frierson, II, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Andy D. Bennett, J., and J. Steven Stafford, P.J., W.S., joined.

Thomas R. Frierson, II, J.

This is a child support action involving one child, who was born in 1995 and had reached the age of majority by the time of trial. Upon the father's voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, the trial court entered an order of legitimation in April 1996. The State of Tennessee ("the State"), acting on behalf of the mother, filed a petition to modify a child support order in April 2002. The father filed a motion to dismiss, and the State subsequently withdrew the petition because no prior child support order had been established. The mother then filed a petition for child support in September 2014. Following a bench trial before a special judge, the trial court established the father's retroactive child support obligation in the amount of $79,647.00, giving credit to the father for $59,229.00 he previously had paid toward the child's support and expenses. The court incorporated three income shares worksheets representing three different time periods during the child's minority. The father has appealed, asserting, inter alia, that the trial court erred by finding that the child had resided with the mother for 285 days per year during the time period of January 1, 2010, through May 31, 2014, because the child resided with the mother's stepfather on weekdays while attending high school. To correct an apparent mathematical error in the judgment, we modify the number of months for which the first income shares worksheet is to be applied from eighty-one to ninety-two and the number of months for which the third income shares worksheet is to be applied from sixty-four to fifty-three, resulting in a total reduction in the father's retroactive child support obligation from $79,647.00 to $74,818.00. We affirm the trial court's judgment in all other respects.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

The petitioner, Jamie Joy Williams ("Mother"), and the respondent, Deadrick Donnell Woods, Sr. ("Father"), have one child together, a son ("the Child"). At the time of the Child's birth in October 1995, Mother and Father resided together with the Child and continued to do so for approximately six months before separating. On April 4, 1996, the Shelby County Juvenile Court ("trial court") entered an order of legitimation as to the Child upon Father's filing a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity. No further proceedings took place in the trial court at that time, and the court did not enter an order regarding child support.

It is undisputed that following the parents' separation, the Child resided the majority of the time with Mother until his high school years. Mother also had one other child, and she and both children resided together with the maternal grandmother ("Maternal Grandmother") and a maternal aunt ("Maternal Aunt"). Prior to 2010, Father enjoyed co-parenting time with the Child on at least a semi-regular basis and was active as an assistant coach of the Child's football team through the Child's middle school years. Testimony demonstrated that Father was married in June 1997, and that his wife ("Stepmother") assisted him in caring for the Child when the Child stayed in Father's home.

During trial in the instant action, Mother testified that in 2002 she sought assistance from the State to obtain support for the Child. The State has provided child support enforcement services to Mother pursuant to Title IV–D of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 651 et seq. On April 19, 2002, the State filed a "Petition to Modify Order," averring a significant change in circumstances since the April 1996 order and requesting that the trial court "modify" its prior order to set child support in accordance with the Tennessee Child Support Guidelines. After more than eleven years had passed without the State's taking any additional action, Father filed a motion to dismiss the petition on October 21, 2013. Father requested that the petition be denied pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 4.01 for failure to serve summons and Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 41.02(1) for failure to prosecute.

Following a hearing conducted on July 7, 2014, the trial court magistrate, Joseph G. Little, recommended, inter alia, that the State's petition be dismissed without prejudice upon the State's request. The trial court judge signed the order the same day, adopting, ratifying, and confirming the magistrate's recommendations.² This order was subsequently entered on July 25, 2014. On September 12, 2014, Mother, through her counsel, filed a "Petition for Child Support," requesting that the trial court set Father's child support obligation, including retroactive child support, and order him to pay support through the Tennessee Central Child Support Receipting Unit.

Testimony at trial demonstrated that the Child had graduated from high school at the end of the 2013–14 academic year. When the Child entered high school in August 2010, he began to reside with Mother's stepfather ("Step–Grandfather") during the school week. Mother previously had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis

. Although Mother continued to work in her position as a dispatcher with the City of Memphis, she often experienced periods when she needed assistance with some daily living skills. Maternal Grandmother testified that during this time, Maternal Grandmother stopped working outside the home in order to provide care for Mother. It is undisputed that the parents and Step–Grandfather agreed that while the Child attended high school, he should reside with Step–Grandfather on the weekdays, in part because of Mother's condition and in part because the parties believed that the high school for which Step–Grandfather's home was zoned was the best choice for the Child. Step–Grandfather testified that on weekends and during summer vacations, he returned the Child to Mother's home. Although testimony differed regarding the exact amount of time the Child spent with Father during the high school years, it is undisputed that Father continued to be involved in the Child's life and that the Child spent some days during weekends, holidays, and summer vacations with Father.

On January 28, 2015, Father filed an "Affidavit of Payments Made Toward Arrears," delineating payments he had purportedly made directly to Mother and expenses he had purportedly paid on behalf of the Child for the years spanning 2003 through 2014. In total, Father requested a credit of $59,229.00 against any award to Mother of retroactive child support. Following a hearing conducted on May 13, 2015, trial court Magistrate Debra M. Sanders, inter alia, set Father's retroactive child support obligation in the amount of $60,626.00 for 171 months and found that the Child had reached the age of emancipation such that no current child support obligation would be set. The presiding trial court judge signed the order the same day, adopting, ratifying, and confirming the magistrate's recommendations. This order was subsequently entered on May 27, 2015. Pursuant to the order, the case was continued "for final disposition and a determination of credit for necessaries."

Following a subsequent hearing regarding the amount of retroactive support with which Father should be credited, Magistrate Sanders entered findings and recommendations on July 29, 2015, establishing retroactive child support in the amount of $5,147.00 upon finding that Father was entitled to credit for having previously paid $55,479.00 toward the Child's support and necessary expenses. The magistrate directed Father to pay his retroactive child support obligation at the rate of $10.00 per month to the Central Child Support Receipting Unit. Also on July 29, 2015, the trial court judge signed the magistrate's findings and recommendations, ordering them "adopted, ratified, and confirmed as the Order of this Court." This order was subsequently entered on August 21, 2015. In the meantime, Mother had timely filed on August 5, 2015, a request for hearing before the trial court judge, pursuant to what was then Tennessee Code Annotated § 37–1–107(e) (2014) (providing in pertinent part that following a hearing before the juvenile court magistrate, any party could file within five days, excluding non-judicial days, a request for rehearing before the juvenile court judge).³ In an order entered September 14, 2015, the trial court granted Mother's request for a hearing before the judge.

On February 23, 2016, this action came for trial before Special Judge David S. Walker. Although the resultant final judgment contains language to the effect that the trial court judge appointed Mr. Walker as a special judge, the final judgment is signed by Mr. Walker and not the trial court judge. The record on appeal contains no respective appointment order signed by the trial court judge. During trial, the court heard testimony from the parties, the Child, Step–Grandfather, Maternal Grandmother, Maternal Aunt, and Stepmother.

The trial court entered a final judgment on March 4, 2016. The court set aside the magistrate's July 29, 2015 ruling and established Father's retroactive child support obligation in the amount of $79,647.00 to be paid to Mother through the Central Child Support Receipting Unit. Father stipulated to Social Security records demonstrating his yearly income as a long-time employee with United...