Opinion ID: 1044006
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Head of Household

Text: Father and Suzanne Hill (Mother) separated in August of 2002 and were divorced in October of 2002. Following the separation, Son resided with Mother and his younger sister; Father resided with his parents. The divorce decree, which incorporated a permanent parenting plan and marital dissolution agreement, provided that Mother would be the primary residential parent of Son and his sister, with Father having parenting time on alternate weekends, overnight on Wednesdays, and on various holidays. Mother and Father had decision-making authority regarding the day-to-day care and control of the children while the children were residing with them; either parent was authorized to make emergency decisions affecting the children's health and safety; decisions regarding each child's extracurricular activities would be made jointly by both parents; and Mother had an affirmative obligation to consult with Father on all major decisions affecting the children. Father was required to procure an automobile for each child at age sixteen and pay the automobile insurance. These facts reflect the changes in our society since the adoption of the family purpose doctrine in 1918. A greater number of divorces, single parent homes, and teenage drivers are an undeniable and pervasive reality of our current life. In 1916, not long before we adopted the family purpose doctrine, the divorce rate was approximately ten percent, whereas by 2008 that rate had increased to almost fifty percent. [7] Further, studies estimate that half of all American children will experience the breakup of their parents' marriage with the necessary result that one parent will live apart from the child at least for certain durations. [8] While our society has changed, the purpose and essential elements of the family purpose doctrine have remained relatively constant. For the doctrine to remain viable, it too must change with the times and be interpreted in a manner to effectuate the important policy considerations which support it. The application of the doctrine should not be undermined by the mere fact that a parent is no longer residing in the same physical location as the family member who is driving that parent's motor vehicle. Therefore, the common residency of the owner and driver is not required for the application of the doctrine. Our review of the common law in Tennessee and elsewhere reveals that the identification of a family member as a head of the household is primarily based on his or her family relationship and duty to support the driver rather than place of residency. In fact, both parents can be considered a head of household under the doctrine. Johnson v. Steverson, No. W1999-00627-COA-R3-CV, 2000 WL 1285282 (Tenn.Ct.App. Aug. 30, 2000). In Woodfin v. Insel, 13 Tenn.App. 493 (Tenn. Ct.App.1931), the plaintiffs sued a grandmother who lived with her adult daughter and minor grandson after the grandson was involved in a collision while driving the grandmother's car. The appellate court's determination that the grandmother was not the head of the household was based in part on the finding that she owed her children or grandchildren no duty of support. Id. at 499. In Adkins v. Nanney, 169 Tenn. 67, 82 S.W.2d 867 (1935), the father was sued after his adult son was involved in an accident while driving the father's car. Although the son lived with the father, the son was self-supporting. Id. at 867-68. Because the son was not subject to the father's control and the father had no duty to provide for the adult son's support, comfort, and pleasure, the court ruled that the family purpose doctrine was not applicable. Id. at 868. In Amari v. Russell, No. 87-188-II, 1988 WL 50001 (Tenn.Ct.App. May 20, 1988), the intermediate appellate court ruled that the family purpose doctrine was not applicable where the forty-eight-year-old son of the defendant father did not live with his father nor was he supported by his father. Id. at . Finally, in Henley v. Amacher, No. M1999-02799-COAR3-CV, 2002 WL 100402 (Tenn.Ct.App. Jan. 28, 2002), a father was sued for injuries incurred as the result of his sixteen-year-old son's negligent operation of a car owned by the father. Although at the time of the accident, the son was living with his grandmother, id. at , the Court of Appeals found that a jury could nevertheless have concluded that the father was the head of the family, warranting application of the family purpose doctrine. Id. at . Other jurisdictions addressing the issue have recognized that common residency of the parent and child is not required for the application of the family purpose doctrine. In Alexander v. Kendrick, 134 Ga.App. 249, 213 S.E.2d 911, 913 (1975), the father was subject to liability under the family purpose doctrine as the head of the household where he and the mother were divorced and his daughter, who lived with the mother, was involved in an accident while driving a car owned by the father. In a case applying Nebraska law, Wiese v. Hjersman, No. 4:04CV3195, 2006 WL 2571372 (D.Neb.2006), a nine-year-old boy, who was track-riding a motocross bike, struck and injured the plaintiff pedestrian. The plaintiff, relying on the family purpose doctrine, sued the boy's father, who owned the bike. Id. at . As in Tennessee, the doctrine required that a person invoking the doctrine prove that the person sought to be charged with liability was the head of his or her family. Id. at  (quoting Leonard v. Wilson, 238 Neb. 1, 468 N.W.2d 604, 606 (1991)). The father and the boy's mother were divorced and living apart at the time of the accident, and the boy resided with the mother. Id. The district court held that the doctrine did not require the head of household to be the custodial parent, merely the financially responsible parent, id. at , indicating that it is the underlying support of the responsible owner that is vital to the doctrine's effectiveness. In its ruling, the court quoted the following language from a well-respected legal treatise, essentially echoing the previously noted rationales relied on by the courts of our state in King and Camper: The dangers of the public from incompetent and financially irresponsible drivers is a menace of such gravity that every precaution is necessary to reduce such perils to the minimum. When a parent provides an automobile for the pleasure and convenience of his family, it is not too much to demand that he insure society against its negligent use for such purposes. He may avail himself of the protection of insurance against such hazards, but he should not be permitted to throw the risk upon the innocent victims of his family's negligence in such an agency as an automobile with which he has provided them. Wiese, 2006 WL 2571372, at  (quoting 1 Harper & James, The Law of Torts, § 8.13, p. 661). We conclude that in determining whether the owner of a vehicle is to be designated a head of the household for purposes of the family purpose doctrine, appropriate factors to consider include whether there is a family relationship between the owner and the driver and whether the owner has a duty to support the driver. Applying these factors to the case before us, we conclude that Father was a head of the household. Father had a family relationship with Son and had a duty to support him. Father's duty of support derived from Tennessee Code Annotated section 34-1-102(a) (2007), which provides that [p]arents are the joint natural guardians of their minor children, and are equally and jointly charged with their care, nurture, welfare, education and support, and from the divorce decree, which required him to make monthly child support payments to Mother. [9] We conclude that, as a matter of law, Father was a head of the household for purposes of the family purpose doctrine.