NEDRA R. HASTINGS v. LARRY M. HASTINGS, JR. - Articles

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Posted by: Karen Belcher on Apr 5, 2024

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1: Nedra R. Hastings, Memphis, Tennessee, Pro Se.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter, and Jordan K. Crews, Senior Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): CLEMENT

This protracted and contentious child support action began on April 15, 2005, with the filing of a petition for child support filed by the State of Tennessee (“the State”) on behalf of the mother, Nedra R. Hastings (“Mother”) in the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee seeking support from the father, Larry M. Hastings (“Father”), for Mother and Father’s only child, born in 2004. The petition sought child support enforcement assistance pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 651, et seq. (“Title IV-D”). In July 2005, the trial court entered an order establishing child support, which ordered that Father pay support, that Father provide medical insurance for the child, and that each parent pay half of any medical expenses not covered by insurance. Over the years that followed, the State, acting on behalf of Mother, or Mother acting pro se and independent of the State, filed numerous motions and/or petitions, including petitions to modify the child support amount, petitions for contempt for Father’s failure to pay medical and other expenses, objections to the appointment of special judges and magistrates by the juvenile court judge, objections to the court hearing motions virtually via Zoom, and requests for the court to rehear motions and petitions. On September 24, 2020, an appointed special judge, who heard only Title IV-D matters, disposed of all matters remaining in the Title IV-D case and continued the pending contempt and child-support modification matters to be heard by a judge who handled non- Title IV-D matters. This appeal, which is the second of Mother’s four appeals that arise from this case, followed. The numerous issues Mother raises in this appeal principally relate to the appointment of a special judge, recusal issues, and issues that led up to the final order entered on September 24, 2020. Following a thorough review of the record and the issues raised in this appeal for which Mother presents arguments as required by Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 27(a)(7), we affirm the decisions of the trial court.

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