James Lee Jones, Iii v. Pierce Brandon Garrett A/k/a Perry Garrett

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court held that Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-1-113(g)(8)(A)(vi) — failure to file a petition to establish paternity within thirty days after notice of alleged paternity by the child's mother — applies only to cases in which no legal relationship between the parent and child has been established. Because Pierce Brandon Garrett had been adjudicated the child's legal and biological father more than four months before the termination hearing, the ground was inapplicable to him, and the trial court erred in terminating his parental rights on that basis. The court reversed and remanded for consideration of the pretermitted abandonment issue, agreeing in a footnote that the trial court also erred in failing to make a best-interests determination. The court separately found no error in the trial court's determination that Garrett had received notice of alleged paternity from the mother.