OPEN PRACTICE AREAS
In the majority of cases under Tennessee custody law, spending most of a day and overnight with a parent will count as “a day”. For child support purposes, though, calculating the number of parenting days for the Alternative Residential Parent (ARP), simply the parent with less parenting time, can sometimes be quite complicated.

A Day of Parenting Time Occurs When:
A child spends more than 12 consecutive hours in a 24-hour period under the care, control, or direct supervision of one parent or caretaker. The 24-hour period need not be the same as a 24-hour calendar day. Accordingly, a day of parenting time may be either an overnight period or a daytime period, or a combination of daytime and nighttime hours.

There Are Exceptions:
An example could include a parenting situation where the ARP is scheduled to pick up the child after school three or more days a week and keep the child until 8 p.m. The three partial days could be considered a single day for parenting time purposes. As with many aspects of Tennessee child support, the final answer may be negotiated between the parents as part of a compromise or be determined by a judge on a case-by-case basis.




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