In this divorce case, Husband/Appellant appeals the amount and duration of alimony in futuro awarded to Wife/Appellee. Husband also appeals the trial court’s award of attorney’s fees to Wife for Husband’s alleged failure to comply with discovery. We conclude that the amount of alimony in futuro exceeds Wife’s need. As such, the award of alimony in futuro is modified to $3,451.00 per month and shall terminate upon Wife’s death or remarriage, or Husband’s death in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-5-121(f)(3). We vacate the trial court’s award of $20,000.00 in attorney’s fees to Wife and remand for the trial court to enter an order containing sufficient findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding this issue pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 52.01.

Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk wants Tennessee’s criteria for involuntary commitment to a mental health facility to be changed. WPLN reports that Funk says Tennessee’s standards for involuntary commitment are nearly impossible to meet. Shaquille Taylor, accused of fatally shooting Belmont University freshman Jillian Ludwig last week, was tried earlier this year for aggravated assault and found incompetent to stand trial, but he did not meet the state’s criteria for involuntary commitment. The DA’s office told WPLN that it does not yet know how Taylor was able to procure a gun.

This is a post-divorce action in which both parents seek to modify the permanent parenting plan and the father seeks to reduce his financial support obligations. The mother filed her Petition to Modify Permanent Parenting Plan in which she requested, inter alia, a reduction of the father’s parenting time and that she be awarded sole decision-making authority for the non-emergency medical and educational decisions for the parties’ two minor children. The father filed his Counter-Petition to Modify the Parenting Plan seeking, inter alia, that he be awarded the tie-breaking vote for all medical decisions for the children; that joint decision-making authority for educational decisions be maintained between the parties; that his financial obligations be modified, including child support as well as previously agreed-upon additional educational and medical expenses; and that he be awarded more parenting time. Following a trial that spanned 10 days, the trial court found in a 53-page memorandum opinion and final order that neither party proved a material change of circumstance that justified modification of the parenting schedule. However, the court found the parents’ inability to successfully co-parent under the existing joint decision- making provision adversely affected the children’s non-emergency healthcare and educational needs. The court also found that it was in the children’s best interests that the “[m]other have sole decision-making authority over their non-emergency healthcare and day-to-day education, free of any interference or delays by the father and without being required to consult with him in advance.” The court denied the father’s request to modify child support as well as his request to modify responsibility for educational, medical, and extracurricular expenses. The father appeals. We affirm the trial court in all respects. We also find that the mother is entitled to recover the reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees and expenses she incurred in defending this appeal and remand this issue to the trial court to make the appropriate award.

For the week of November 6, 2023 - November 10, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it is adopting its first code of ethics. In an unsigned statement, the justices said they have long adhered to ethics standards. “The absence of a Code, however, has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules,” the justices wrote. “To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct.” The Associated Press reports the impetus for an ethics code was sparked by a series of stories by ProPublica detailing the relationship between billionaire donors Harlan Crow and the Koch brothers and Justice Clarence Thomas. Justices Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor have also come under scrutiny. Three justices, Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh, have voiced support for an ethics code in recent months. 

The Shelby County Public Defender’s Office is struggling to handle first-degree murder cases, citing staff shortages and an excessive workload. A July email from Chief Public Defender Phyllis Aluko asked all Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court judges to stop appointing her office on first-degree murder cases. The Daily Memphian reports that most cases, including first-degree murders, start in Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court, and judges typically only appoint private attorneys instead of public defenders if there is a conflict of interest.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) plans to sell Nashville’s Estes Kefauver Federal Building, which opened in 1952. The Nashville Post reports that the building was essentially replaced by the Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, which opened in 2022. Various federal courts and offices operate from that building, with the Kefauver Building still accommodating an Internal Revenue Service taxpayer assistance center, a U.S. Community Credit Union branch and a U.S. Veterans Affairs Department office. The GSA also plans to sell the Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and Courthouse in Chattanooga.

West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS) has announced that Ashley Holliday will be the organization’s new executive director, effective Jan. 1. Holliday currently serves as the WTLS General Counsel. She has worked for 14 years at WTLS, where she started as managing attorney. Prior to that she worked in private practice in Jackson after graduating from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. She succeeds Cathy Clayton, who is retiring from the role on Dec. 31. Read the full press release from WTLS.

Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn has teamed up with Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-New Mexico, on a bipartisan bill called the Mitigating Automated Internet Networks for (MAIN) Event Ticketing Act. The bill would create reporting requirements so that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is quickly made aware of online ticketing misconduct. Axios Nashville has more information.

Bar Buzz is back with a new episode featuring TBA President Jim Barry. BarBuzz is a monthly show from the TBA Podcast Network that recaps legal happenings from across Tennessee, upcoming events at the bar, attorney shout outs and more. Check out the November episode and discover past shows in the Bar Buzz archive.