In the Matter of D.L.B., A Minor

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the termination of David Moore's parental rights to his daughter D.L.B. It held that the four-month abandonment window under Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 36-1-102(l)(A)(i) is computed from the filing of the termination petition currently before the court, so Moore's payment of child support and visitation during the four months before the Nicklesons' January 2001 chancery petition defeated that ground, and conduct predating the dismissal of CASA's earlier juvenile-court petition cannot supply grounds in a later suit by a different party. The court further held that the Court of Appeals erred under Sec. 36-1-102(l)(A)(iii) by never addressing willfulness, an element required by In re Swanson's rejection of irrebuttable presumptions of abandonment, and that willfulness and reasonableness of prenatal support are for the trial court. Because no statutory ground was established, the best-interests analysis was not reached, and the case was reversed and remanded for findings on all remaining grounds.