The Tennessee Court of Appeals rules that a lower court had jurisdiction to award a divorce to an incapacitated woman whose conservator signed her divorce complaint. Sanders v. Sanders (Tenn. Ct. App., No. M2001-02694-COA-R3-CV, May 6, 2003).
Michael S. Sanders filed a complaint for divorce from Diane H. Sanders, his wife of 32 years who is incapacitated and under conservatorship. Mrs. Sanders filed an answer alleging the same grounds set out in Mr. Sanders' complaint. The pleading was sworn to by Mrs. Sanders' conservator and her guardian ad litem. The trial court declared the parties divorced, divided the marital property, and awarded Mrs. Sanders rehabilitative alimony. Mrs. Sanders appealed, arguing that since her conservator executed her counterclaim for divorce, the court had no jurisdiction to award her a divorce. Tennessee law requires that that a divorce complaint must be sworn to by the spouse herself. Mrs. Sanders also contested the amount and duration of the alimony awarded her.
The Court of Appeals of Tennessee affirms the divorce, The court finds that the law requiring the spouse herself to swear to the complaint derives from an era when divorce carried a far greater social stigma, and that the state legislature has since empowered courts to grant divorces in a broad array of circumstances. In this case, the court holds that rather than granting a divorce to either party, the trial court may enter an order "declaring" the parties divorced. However, the court reverses the award for rehabilitative alimony and remands for a hearing on the amount.
To download the full text of this decision in PDF, go to: https://tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/032/sandersms.pdf
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