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Tennessee · Snapshot open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14

Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-7-102: Chapter definitions

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Where this section sits in the code
  1. TN Code
  2. Title 36
  3. Chapter 7

In this chapter: (1) "Adult" means an individual who has attained eighteen (18) years of age or is an emancipated minor; (2) "Caretaking authority" means the right to live with and care for a child on a day-to-day basis. "Caretaking authority" includes physical custody, parenting time, right to access, and visitation; (3) "Child" means: (A) An unemancipated individual who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age; or (B) An adult son or daughter by birth or adoption, or under law of this state other than this chapter, who is the subject of a court order concerning custodial responsibility; (4) "Court" means a tribunal, including an administrative agency, authorized under law of this state other than this chapter to make, enforce, or modify a decision regarding custodial responsibility; (5) "Custodial responsibility" includes all powers and duties relating to caretaking authority and decision-making authority for a child. "Custodial responsibility" includes physical custody, legal custody, parenting time, right to access, visitation, and authority to grant limited contact with a child; (6) (A) "Decision-making authority" means the power to make important decisions regarding a child, including decisions regarding the child's education, religious training, health care, extracurricular activities, and travel; (B) "Decision-making authority" does not include the power to make decisions that necessarily accompany a grant of caretaking authority; (7) "Deploying parent" means a service member who is deployed or has been notified of impending deployment and is: (A) A parent of a child under law of this state other than this chapter; or (B) An individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than this chapter; (8) "Deployment" means the movement or mobilization of a service member for more than thirty (30) days pursuant to uniformed service orders that: (A) Are designated as unaccompanied; (B) Do not authorize dependent travel; or (C) Otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed; (9) "Family member" means a sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, stepparent, or grandparent of a child or an individual recognized to be in a familial relationship with a child under law of this state other than this chapter; (10) "Limited contact" means the authority of a nonparent to visit a child for a limited time. "Limited contact" includes authority to take the child to a place other than the residence of the child; (11) "Nonparent" means an individual other than a deploying parent or other parent; (12) "Other parent" means an individual who, in common with a deploying parent, is: (A) A parent of a child under law of this state other than this chapter; or (B) An individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than this chapter; (13) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form; (14) "Return from deployment" means the conclusion of a service member's deployment as specified in uniformed service orders; (15) "Service member" means a member of a uniformed service; (16) "Sign" means with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record: (A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or (B) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process; (17) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and (18) "Uniformed service" means: (A) Active and reserve components of the army, navy, air force, marine corps, or coast guard of the United States; (B) The United States merchant marine; (C) The commissioned corps of the United States public health service; (D) The commissioned corps of the national oceanic and atmospheric administrat

possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and (18) "Uniformed service" means: (A) Active and reserve components of the army, navy, air force, marine corps, or coast guard of the United States; (B) The United States merchant marine; (C) The commissioned corps of the United States public health service; (D) The commissioned corps of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration of the United States; or (E) The national guard of a state. Added by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 798,s 1, eff. 7/1/2014.

In this chapter:

(1) "Adult" means an individual who has attained eighteen (18) years of age or is an emancipated minor;

(2) "Caretaking authority" means the right to live with and care for a child on a day-to-day basis. "Caretaking authority" includes physical custody, parenting time, right to access, and visitation;

(3) "Child" means: (A) An unemancipated individual who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age; or (B) An adult son or daughter by birth or adoption, or under law of this state other than this chapter, who is the subject of a court order concerning custodial responsibility;

(A) An unemancipated individual who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age; or

(B) An adult son or daughter by birth or adoption, or under law of this state other than this chapter, who is the subject of a court order concerning custodial responsibility;

(4) "Court" means a tribunal, including an administrative agency, authorized under law of this state other than this chapter to make, enforce, or modify a decision regarding custodial responsibility;

(5) "Custodial responsibility" includes all powers and duties relating to caretaking authority and decision-making authority for a child. "Custodial responsibility" includes physical custody, legal custody, parenting time, right to access, visitation, and authority to grant limited contact with a child;

(6) (A) "Decision-making authority" means the power to make important decisions regarding a child, including decisions regarding the child's education, religious training, health care, extracurricular activities, and travel; (B) "Decision-making authority" does not include the power to make decisions that necessarily accompany a grant of caretaking authority;

(A) "Decision-making authority" means the power to make important decisions regarding a child, including decisions regarding the child's education, religious training, health care, extracurricular activities, and travel;

(B) "Decision-making authority" does not include the power to make decisions that necessarily accompany a grant of caretaking authority;

(7) "Deploying parent" means a service member who is deployed or has been notified of impending deployment and is: (A) A parent of a child under law of this state other than this chapter; or (B) An individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than this chapter;

(A) A parent of a child under law of this state other than this chapter; or

(B) An individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than this chapter;

(8) "Deployment" means the movement or mobilization of a service member for more than thirty (30) days pursuant to uniformed service orders that: (A) Are designated as unaccompanied; (B) Do not authorize dependent travel; or (C) Otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed;

(A) Are designated as unaccompanied;

(B) Do not authorize dependent travel; or

(C) Otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed;

(9) "Family member" means a sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, stepparent, or grandparent of a child or an individual recognized to be in a familial relationship with a child under law of this state other than this chapter;

nated as unaccompanied;

(B) Do not authorize dependent travel; or

(C) Otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed;

(9) "Family member" means a sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, stepparent, or grandparent of a child or an individual recognized to be in a familial relationship with a child under law of this state other than this chapter;

(10) "Limited contact" means the authority of a nonparent to visit a child for a limited time. "Limited contact" includes authority to take the child to a place other than the residence of the child;

(11) "Nonparent" means an individual other than a deploying parent or other parent;

(12) "Other parent" means an individual who, in common with a deploying parent, is: (A) A parent of a child under law of this state other than this chapter; or (B) An individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than this chapter;

(A) A parent of a child under law of this state other than this chapter; or

(B) An individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than this chapter;

(13) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;

(14) "Return from deployment" means the conclusion of a service member's deployment as specified in uniformed service orders;

(15) "Service member" means a member of a uniformed service;

(16) "Sign" means with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record: (A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or (B) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process;

(A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or

(B) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process;

(17) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and

(18) "Uniformed service" means: (A) Active and reserve components of the army, navy, air force, marine corps, or coast guard of the United States; (B) The United States merchant marine; (C) The commissioned corps of the United States public health service; (D) The commissioned corps of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration of the United States; or (E) The national guard of a state.

(A) Active and reserve components of the army, navy, air force, marine corps, or coast guard of the United States;

(B) The United States merchant marine;

(C) The commissioned corps of the United States public health service;

(D) The commissioned corps of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration of the United States; or

(E) The national guard of a state.

Collected 2026-09-14T18:32:26Z. Source file · JSON

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