Tennessee Child Custody Laws (2026): Parenting Plans, Best Interests, and Your Rights

Tennessee courts decide child custody based on the best interests of the child under TCA 36-6-106. A 2025 amendment expanded that statutory factor list to 17 factors for custody actions filed on or after July 1, 2025. The state requires all divorcing or separating parents to file a permanent parenting plan that designates a primary residential parent and an alternate residential parent. Tennessee has no statutory presumption of joint or equal custody.

How does Tennessee decide child custody?

Tennessee courts apply the best interests of the child standard to every custody determination under TCA 36-6-106(a). The court seeks to allow each child the maximum participation from both parents consistent with the child's best interests, the parents' work schedules, the child's school schedule, and all other relevant factors. Circuit and chancery courts in the county where the child resides handle these cases. 2025 Public Chapter 265 expanded the statutory factor list to 17 factors, adding a factor for whether a parent has had custody or parenting time reduced or restricted in the past and why. That act takes effect July 1, 2025 and applies to actions filed on or after that date. A separate 2025 act, Public Chapter 321, removed the three-year requirement from the existing child-support-nonpayment factor, so any failure to pay court-ordered support can now weigh against a parent.

Types of custody in Tennessee

Tennessee law recognizes two components of custody: legal custody and physical custody. Legal custody is the authority to make major decisions about the child's education, healthcare, and religious upbringing. Physical custody refers to where the child lives on a day-to-day basis and the parenting-time schedule.

Tennessee has a distinctive procedural requirement: every case involving the custody of a minor child must produce a permanent parenting plan. The plan designates a primary residential parent, which is the parent with whom the child spends the majority of residential time, and an alternate residential parent, who has parenting time according to a specific schedule. This framework replaces what many states call primary physical custody and visitation. Both parents retain joint legal authority to make decisions unless the plan specifically restricts one parent's rights.

Does Tennessee presume joint or 50/50 custody?

Tennessee does NOT presume joint or equal parenting time. The state legislature considered SB 1058, which would have created a rebuttable presumption in favor of equal custody, but that bill did not pass. As a result, there is no automatic 50/50 starting point under Tennessee law.

Courts instead begin with the best-interests analysis under TCA 36-6-106(a) and build a parenting plan tailored to the specific child and family. The outcome can range from roughly equal residential time to a schedule where one parent is the clear primary residential parent with the other having parenting time every other weekend and some weeknights. The absence of a presumption means the facts of each case fully drive the result.

This distinguishes Tennessee from states like Kentucky, Arkansas, and Florida, where equal or substantial parenting time is presumed.

To see where a proposed schedule lands as a percentage, Tennessee parents can use the parenting-time calculator, which also flags how that count can affect child support.

The best interests factors Tennessee courts weigh

TCA 36-6-106(a) enumerates 17 factors. That list comes from 2025 Public Chapter 265, which takes effect July 1, 2025 and applies to actions filed on or after that date, so a custody action filed before July 1, 2025 is governed by the prior 16-factor version. Courts must consider all of the applicable factors, though no single factor is automatically dispositive:

1. The strength, nature, and stability of the child's relationship with each parent, including whether one parent has handled most of the child's day-to-day parenting responsibilities.
2. Each parent's past and future performance of parenting responsibilities, including each parent's willingness and ability to facilitate a close, continuing relationship between the child and the other parent, and any history of denying court-ordered parenting time.
3. Refusal to attend a court-ordered parent-education seminar, which the court may treat as a lack of good faith.
4. Each parent's disposition to provide the child with food, clothing, medical care, education, and other necessary care.
5. The degree to which a parent has been the child's primary caregiver, meaning the parent who has taken greater responsibility for parenting duties.
6. The love, affection, and emotional ties existing between each parent and the child.
7. The emotional needs and developmental level of the child.
8. The moral, physical, mental, and emotional fitness of each parent as it relates to parenting the child.
9. The child's relationships with siblings, other relatives and step-relatives, and mentors, and the child's involvement with school, physical surroundings, and other significant activities.
10. The importance of continuity in the child's life and how long the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment.
11. Evidence of physical or emotional abuse to the child, the other parent, or any other person, including the child's siblings.
12. The character and behavior of any other person who lives in or frequently visits a parent's home, and that person's interactions with the child.
13. The reasonable preference of the child if 12 years of age or older; the court may hear a younger child's preference on request, and an older child's preference is normally given more weight.
14. Each parent's employment schedule, which the court may accommodate.
15. Whether a parent has had custody or parenting time reduced or restricted in the past and, if so, the reasons custody or parenting time was relinquished (added by 2025 Public Chapter 265).
16. Whether a parent has failed to pay court-ordered child support, with no minimum nonpayment period required. The version of this factor added in 2022 required three or more years of nonpayment; a 2025 amendment removed that time requirement.
17. Any other factors deemed relevant by the court.

The court has discretion to consider any other relevant factor as well.

Relocation: moving with your child

Tennessee has a detailed relocation statute at TCA 36-6-108. Once a permanent parenting plan or final order is in place, any parent who is spending intervals of time with the child and wants to move more than 50 miles from the other parent, or out of state, must send written notice to the other parent by registered or certified mail at least 60 days before the move unless the court excuses the notice for exigent circumstances. The duty is not limited to the primary residential parent. The notice must state the intent to move, the location of the proposed new residence, and the reasons for the relocation.

The non-relocating parent has 30 days to object, and the statute counts that window from the date the notice is sent by registered or certified mail, not from the date it arrives. Certified-mail transit time is therefore part of the deadline, so a parent who counts from receipt can miss it. Under TCA 36-6-108(a)(4), the notice itself must tell the other parent that absent an agreement between the parents or an objection within that 30-day window, the relocating parent will be permitted to move by law. The 30 days may be partly gone by the time a relocation notice arrives, so get a free case evaluation from a Tennessee family lawyer and file the objection before the window closes (attorney advertising).

If the other parent objects in time, or if the parents cannot agree on a new visitation schedule within 30 days of the notice, it is the relocating parent who files a petition seeking court approval of the move. The non-relocating parent then has 30 days to file a response in opposition; if none is filed, the move is permitted. When a response in opposition is filed, the court decides whether the relocation is in the child's best interest under an 8-factor test that includes each parent's reasons for seeking or opposing the move, the nature and quality of the child's relationship with each parent, the child's age and developmental needs, and the feasibility of preserving the relationship with the non-relocating parent through suitable visitation arrangements.

The 2018 amendments to TCA 36-6-108 deleted the older framework that applied different standards depending on which parent spent more time with the child. One procedure and one best-interest standard now govern every relocating parent. Any relocation dispute can ultimately reopen the entire parenting plan for review.

Changing a custody order (modification)

An existing Tennessee custody order can be modified only if the requesting parent proves a material change in circumstance since the last order was entered, and then shows that the modification serves the best interests of the child. TCA 36-6-101(a)(2)(B)(i) sets that burden at a preponderance of the evidence and states that a material change of circumstance does not require a showing of a substantial risk of harm to the child. Courts apply a two-step test: first, the threshold showing of changed circumstances; second, the full best-interests analysis under TCA 36-6-106(a).

Tennessee runs two tracks, and the one that applies depends on what you are asking to change. A change to custody itself falls under TCA 36-6-101(a)(2)(B), where a material change may include a failure to adhere to the parenting plan or an order of custody and visitation, or circumstances that make the existing plan no longer in the child's best interest. A change to the residential parenting schedule falls under TCA 36-6-101(a)(2)(C), a lower threshold that asks for a material change of circumstance affecting the child's best interest and expressly lists significant changes in the needs of the child over time, which may include changes relating to age, along with significant changes in a parent's living or working conditions that significantly affect parenting.

Other situations that often support a modification include a serious health crisis, a move that disrupts the existing parenting-time schedule, or documented abuse or neglect. Once the threshold is cleared, the court evaluates the statutory best-interest factors to craft a new parenting plan.

Child support is calculated based on the residential schedule set in the parenting plan. A modification that shifts residential time can result in a recalculation of support. Estimate your payment with our Tennessee child support calculator. For more on how Tennessee computes child support, see Tennessee Child Support Laws.

If you are facing a custody case in Tennessee

Tennessee requires a permanent parenting plan in every case, so drafting a specific, workable proposal is the first practical step. Your plan should address the regular residential schedule, holiday and school-break rotations, a process for making legal decisions, and a dispute-resolution mechanism. Judges evaluate plans partly on their specificity and feasibility.

Document your existing parenting involvement before filing or responding. Tennessee courts weigh each parent's actual performance of parenting responsibilities as a statutory factor, so records of school involvement, medical appointments, daily caregiving, and regular communication with the child carry direct legal weight.

Be aware of the 2025 amendments and of when they apply. In an action filed on or after July 1, 2025, TCA 36-6-106(a) directs the court to weigh whether a parent has had custody or parenting time reduced or restricted in the past and why, and a parent who has failed to pay court-ordered child support faces an explicit negative factor with no minimum nonpayment period required. If your case was filed before July 1, 2025, the prior version of the factor list governs it, so confirm with your attorney which list applies to your matter.

Consider mediation as a first step. Many Tennessee courts encourage or require mediation before a contested custody trial. Parents who reach an agreed parenting plan have more control over the outcome and generally face less adversarial damage to co-parenting going forward.

For any contested custody dispute, consulting a licensed family-law attorney in Tennessee is essential. The 17-factor analysis, the permanent-parenting-plan requirement, and the specific rules for relocation and modification create a complex legal environment where professional guidance makes a substantial difference.

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Child custody law varies by state and turns on the specific facts of each family. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed family-law attorney in Tennessee.

Related pages:

• Child Custody Laws by State (hub)
• Tennessee Child Support Laws
• Tennessee Alimony Laws
• Tennessee Emancipation Laws

More Tennessee Laws

• Tennessee Alimony Laws
• Tennessee Child Support Laws
• Tennessee Divorce Laws
• Tennessee Emancipation Laws
• Tennessee Restraining Order Laws

Frequently Asked Questions

How is child custody determined in Tennessee?

Tennessee courts apply the best interests of the child standard under TCA 36-6-106(a). The statute now lists 17 factors, a list that applies to actions filed on or after July 1, 2025; a case filed before that date is governed by the prior version. Every case produces a permanent parenting plan that designates a primary residential parent and an alternate residential parent with a specific parenting-time schedule.

Does Tennessee favor the mother in custody cases?

No. Tennessee family-law statutes are gender-neutral. Courts may not prefer a parent based on sex. The old tender-years doctrine that favored mothers has been abolished. Both parents are evaluated on the same statutory best-interests factors.

Is Tennessee a 50/50 custody state?

No. Tennessee has no statutory presumption of joint or equal parenting time. SB 1058, which would have created an equal-parenting presumption, did not pass. Courts build a parenting plan based on the statutory best-interests factors specific to each family, and the result can range from equal time to a primary-parent arrangement.

At what age can a child choose which parent to live with in Tennessee?

Tennessee sets age 12 as the statutory threshold: TCA 36-6-106(a)(13) makes a child's reasonable preference one of the statutory best-interests factors once the child turns 12. The court may still hear a younger child's preference if a party requests it, and an older child's preference is normally given more weight than a younger child's. A judge retains full discretion to make the final custody decision regardless of the child's stated preference.

How do I change a custody order in Tennessee?

You must first prove a material change in circumstance since the last order was entered, by a preponderance of the evidence under TCA 36-6-101(a)(2)(B)(i), which adds that no showing of a substantial risk of harm to the child is required. If that threshold is met, the court then conducts a full best-interests analysis under TCA 36-6-106(a) before entering a new or modified parenting plan. Changing only the residential parenting schedule uses the lower threshold in TCA 36-6-101(a)(2)(C), which expressly counts significant changes in the child's needs over time, including changes relating to age.

Can a parent move away with the child in Tennessee?

Any parent who is spending intervals of time with the child and wants to move more than 50 miles from the other parent, or out of state, must provide 60 days registered- or certified-mail notice under TCA 36-6-108. The other parent has 30 days from the date the notice is sent, not from the date it is received, to object. If there is a timely objection or the parents cannot agree on a new schedule, the relocating parent files a petition seeking approval of the move, the other parent may file a response in opposition within 30 days, and the court then applies an 8-factor relocation best-interests test.

What is the difference between legal and physical custody in Tennessee?

Legal custody is the authority to make major decisions about the child's education, healthcare, and religion. Physical custody in Tennessee is governed by the permanent parenting plan, which designates one parent as the primary residential parent (where the child lives most of the time) and one as the alternate residential parent. Both parents typically share joint legal decision-making unless the court restricts one parent's rights.