Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-2-312

This is the official text of Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-2-312, part of Tennessee’s Code Ann — part of the compiled statutory law of Tennessee, published by the state as "Code Ann." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Custody and visitation issues

Official statutory text

(a) In any case that is brought by the department of human services or its contractors, the Title IV-D child support office shall have no authority to represent the state of Tennessee on issues of custody or parental access. The fact that custody and parental access are sought in a petition that is filed by the department or its contractors to comply with this part, or that the court orders the department or its contractors to enter the finding of fact or the conclusions of law of the court relative to a custody or parental access determination in its order, shall not be deemed to make the department or its contractors responsible for presenting any evidence on these issues or to have any continuing duty to present evidence on these issues in any subsequent hearing. The department or its contractors shall have the duty to inform the individuals in the Title IV-D case that the department or its contractors will not provide legal assistance relative to custody or parental access and that the individual has a right to independent counsel for such representation. (b) The department may apply for and utilize any federal grants for the purpose of implementing a pilot project for access and visitation programs. The department may contract with other persons or entities to establish the pilot projects that will be administered by the department; provided, that in establishing any such pilot project through contract, the department shall give preference to existing family preservation services programs, family resource centers, headstart programs and other established programs for children. Acts 1997, ch. 477, § 1.
(a) In any case that is brought by the department of human services or its contractors, the Title IV-D child support office shall have no authority to represent the state of Tennessee on issues of custody or parental access. The fact that custody and parental access are sought in a petition that is filed by the department or its contractors to comply with this part, or that the court orders the department or its contractors to enter the finding of fact or the conclusions of law of the court relative to a custody or parental access determination in its order, shall not be deemed to make the department or its contractors responsible for presenting any evidence on these issues or to have any continuing duty to present evidence on these issues in any subsequent hearing. The department or its contractors shall have the duty to inform the individuals in the Title IV-D case that the department or its contractors will not provide legal assistance relative to custody or parental access and that the individual has a right to independent counsel for such representation.
(b) The department may apply for and utilize any federal grants for the purpose of implementing a pilot project for access and visitation programs. The department may contract with other persons or entities to establish the pilot projects that will be administered by the department; provided, that in establishing any such pilot project through contract, the department shall give preference to existing family preservation services programs, family resource centers, headstart programs and other established programs for children.
Acts 1997, ch. 477, § 1.

Status: in_force

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.