The Best-Interest Factors Just Changed. Here’s What That Means.
I had a client once who did not want a divorce. He did not understand why his wife wanted one. What he kept saying, every time we talked, was that he wanted everyone to have a soft landing.
So when it came time to work out a parenting plan, he agreed to a step-up arrangement. Supervised visits for the first month or so. Nothing dramatic. A small concession to keep the peace and get the case settled.
He thought he was doing everyone a favor.
That was before July 1, 2025.
Tennessee custody law runs on a framework called best interest of the child. The court weighs a list of factors under T.C.A. § 36-6-106 and decides what arrangement serves the child best. That list just changed. And for parents who want a soft landing, the cost of one just went up considerably.
What Changed
The old Factor 15 asked whether a parent had paid child support. The new Factor 15 asks something different: whether a parent has ever had custody or parenting time reduced or restricted in the past, and if so, why.
That is a meaningful shift. Courts are now specifically directed to look at your history with parenting time. If you have ever had visitation supervised or been cut back by a prior order, the judge is going to want to know the story behind it.
Factor 16 used to require three years of nonpayment before child support history became a best-interest consideration. That threshold is gone. Now the court can factor in any failure to pay court-ordered child support, regardless of how long it went on. Missed payments count. Even recent ones.
Factor 17 is new and simple: any other factor the court considers relevant. Courts already had broad discretion in custody cases. This codifies it. (Translation: if a judge thinks something matters, it matters.)
The Supervised Visitation Cost Rule
Here is the change that does not get enough attention.
If a parent’s parenting time is restricted and supervised because of abuse or criminal convictions, there is now a rebuttable presumption that the restricted parent is solely responsible for all costs associated with supervised visitation. Supervision facilities charge real money. We are talking hundreds of dollars a session in some cases. Under the new law, if your parenting time was restricted for those reasons, the court will presume you are picking up that tab unless you can rebut the presumption.
Why This Changes the Negotiation in Some Cases
I want to talk about something I see with young parents. Especially new mothers and very young fathers with an infant or toddler.
Sometimes a mother is anxious. Not because the father has done anything wrong. Not because there is any history of abuse or neglect or violence. She is just nervous about her child being alone with a man she may no longer be with. (I hear it more than you might think.) Understandable, emotionally. Not a legal standard, but real.
In the past, one way to move a case forward was to agree, for a month or two, to a step-up plan that started with some supervised or restricted time. The father would do a short stint of supervised visits, demonstrate he was perfectly capable, and the parenting time would expand from there. No harm done. Case settles.
That analysis is different now.
Under the new law, agreeing to supervised or restricted parenting time, even voluntarily and even temporarily, creates a record. That record becomes a Factor 15 consideration in any future proceeding. A father who agreed to a supervised step-up plan to get the case settled may find himself explaining that history to a judge years later.
And if the supervision was through a facility, the cost presumption may apply to him personally.
That is a significant change in the cost-benefit calculation. Fathers in cases where there is no legitimate safety concern should think carefully before agreeing to any arrangement that puts the word “supervised” in their parenting plan, even for thirty days. What looks like an easy concession today can become a complicated footnote tomorrow.
Why This Matters Now
A lot of people come to me with custody orders that are years old. They want to modify. Or they are defending against a modification someone else filed.
These new factors change the landscape. A parent who was ordered to supervised visitation five years ago and turned things around is going to face questions about that history. A parent who fell behind on child support is no longer protected by any time threshold.
If you have an existing order, now is a good time to review where you stand with our Tennessee custody law practice. If you are starting a custody case from scratch, the strategies that worked two years ago may not serve you the same way today. Learn more about how the divorce process in Tennessee works from start to finish.
The law changed. Your strategy should too.
Lawyer Bill’s Advice
Your past in a custody case is never entirely past.
The new factors tell the court to look backward before deciding what comes next.
And agreeing to something temporary can stop being temporary the moment it gets written into an order.
If there is no legitimate safety concern, do not let anxiety, yours or anyone else’s, drive the terms of a parenting plan.
A soft landing that costs you your parenting rights is not soft at all.
If you have questions about how these changes might affect your case, reach out to William W. Jones IV at midsouthdivorce.com/ask-lawyer-bill/.
About the Author: William W. Jones IV is a Memphis family law attorney, Rule 31 Listed Family Mediator, and Super Lawyers selectee every consecutive year from 2014 through 2025. Licensed in Tennessee (BPR 022869) and Mississippi (BPR 100707), he practices at The Jones Law Firm, 5100 Poplar Ave, Suite 708, Memphis, TN 38137. Call (901) 761-5353 or visit midsouthdivorce.com.
best interest of the child, child custody modification, Memphis family law, parenting plan, Shelby County court, supervised visitation Tennessee, Tennessee custody law, Tennessee Divorce