Mitra v. Irigreddy (Tennessee 2019)

Child support arrears should be paid in a timely manner. The court has discretion to craft an appropriate repayment plan. The parents divorced in Texas. The mother was awarded custody of their daughter. Both parents moved frequently, within the United States and to India in the following years, and visitation was an issue. At one time, the mother lived in Nashville, and the father filed for custody of their daughter there. Even though neither party lived in Tennessee, the parties consented to jurisdiction for the action. The court continued mother’s custody, awarded the father visitation, set child support and an arrears payment. The father appealed the final order on a variety of grounds, including the amount of the arrears payment. The court of appeals found the district court didn’t abuse its discretion when setting the arrears payment, which included back child support and a judgment for attorney’s fees. It found that the father had left the child in the mother’s care for a major amount of time and had provided no support during that time.