Overview of Divorce Laws in Tennessee

Tennessee is not a no-fault divorce state. Tennessee still relies on establishing marital fault as a prerequisite to the division of property, allocation of debt, and parenting decisions. If the parties agree and can reach the terms of a written settlement agreement resolving all issues of property division, allocation of debt, payment of the costs of the divorce, and all parenting decisions, then a court is authorized to grant a divorce from the bonds of matrimony on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. When the court does this, it first must inquire and make its own independent finding that any parenting plan and all child support arrangements meet state law requirements and are in the best interests of the child.

When parties divorce and when it comes to dividing property, Tennessee is an equitable distribution state. A common misconception is that Tennessee is a community property state. This is not true. Tennessee law states that only marital property is subject to an equitable distribution between spouses,.

Tennessee law states that each spouse will retain his or her "separate property". Separate property is defined by Tennessee Code Annotated Section 36-4-121 as property that each spouse acquired during the marriage by gift or inheritance, and property each spouse brought into the marriage.

Marital debt is generally divided the same way as marital property, although there is no Tennessee statute that discusses how marital debt is to be allocated between spouses. Judicial decisions have added two additional factors to how a court divides marital debt: which spouse is better able to repay the debt, and whether one spouse got sole benefit from incurring the debt. Unfortunately in many divorce cases, bankruptcy protection from creditors is required because of the mountain of debt and the inability of each party to independently service the debt

Attorney's fees are not customarily awarded to one party or the other. The American system of justice requires that each party pay his or her own legal fees. In cases where alimony is warranted or it is a contested divorce, a court is justified in deviating from this rule.