{"data":{"id":"us-tn/tenn.-code-ann.-36-7-102","jurisdiction":"us-tn","citation":"Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-7-102","heading":"Chapter definitions","body":"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\npossession 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.\nIn this chapter:\n(1) \"Adult\" means an individual who has attained eighteen (18) years of age or is an emancipated minor;\n(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;\n(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;\n(A) An unemancipated individual who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age; or\n(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;\n(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;\n(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;\n(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;\n(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;\n(B) \"Decision-making authority\" does not include the power to make decisions that necessarily accompany a grant of caretaking authority;\n(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;\n(A) A parent of a child under law of this state other than this chapter; or\n(B) An individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than this chapter;\n(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;\n(A) Are designated as unaccompanied;\n(B) Do not authorize dependent travel; or\n(C) Otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed;\n(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;\nnated as unaccompanied;\n(B) Do not authorize dependent travel; or\n(C) Otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed;\n(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;\n(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;\n(11) \"Nonparent\" means an individual other than a deploying parent or other parent;\n(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;\n(A) A parent of a child under law of this state other than this chapter; or\n(B) An individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than this chapter;\n(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;\n(14) \"Return from deployment\" means the conclusion of a service member's deployment as specified in uniformed service orders;\n(15) \"Service member\" means a member of a uniformed service;\n(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;\n(A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or\n(B) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process;\n(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\n(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.\n(A) Active and reserve components of the army, navy, air force, marine corps, or coast guard of the United States;\n(B) The United States merchant marine;\n(C) The commissioned corps of the United States public health service;\n(D) The commissioned corps of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration of the United States; or\n(E) The national guard of a state.","path":["TN Code","Title 36","Chapter 7"],"source_url":"https://oss-data-us.vaquill.ai/v2026.08/us_tn_statutes.parquet","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:26Z","sha256":"55a9f342ee9ed22237004800ad84e05ce38fc432786efb6472a153d88a420efd","source_id":"us-tn","stale":false,"prev":"us-tn/tenn.-code-ann.-36-7-101","next":"us-tn/tenn.-code-ann.-36-7-103"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}