Tennessee Supreme Court, 2001

The Tennessee Supreme Court held that an obligor's bona fide retirement constitutes a substantial and material change in circumstances permitting modification of spousal support whenever the retirement is objectively reasonable under the totality of the circumstances, irrespective of whether it was voluntary or…

The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering unrestricted overnight visitation between Taylor Eldridge and her mother, Julia Eldridge, notwithstanding the presence of the mother's live-in lesbian partner, Lisa Franklin.

The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed revocation of Gerald H. Shaffer's probation, holding that the trial court's revocation authority survived past the ordinary expiration of the three-year probationary term because the July 31, 1992 revocation warrant interrupted the running of that period until the revocation issue…

The court held that its earlier decision did not change the appellate standard for reviewing post-conviction ineffective-assistance claims. Factual findings receive de novo review with a presumption of correctness unless the evidence preponderates otherwise, while legal conclusions receive de novo review without a…