The Tennessee General Assembly recently enacted a major change to laws concerning past-due child support by substantially limiting the amount of overdue child support that can be awarded. The new law limits backdating unpaid child support to five years from the date an action to collect unpaid support is filed. For example, if a non-custodial parent has failed to pay child support for ten years, the custodial parent can only seek to collect unpaid child support for the first five years before they filed their action with the court. The other five years support that went unpaid, years six through ten, would generally be uncollectible. Previously, a custodial parent could seek to collect unpaid child support dating back to the child's birth date. For actions filed after July 1, 2017, this is no longer the case.
Terminating parental rights for adoption
It takes a special individual or pair of individuals to want to raise a child that is not theirs biologically. To invest time and love in a child, and then have it taken away, is devastating. That is why many parents pursuing adoption choose to seek termination of the birth parents' parental rights.
