Court Opinion

ID: 9899577
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-16 22:11:39.859984+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:39.783091
License: Public Domain

11/16/2023
                 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
                             AT NASHVILLE
                                      November 15, 2023

   ANGELLETTE BATTS-RICHARDSON v. JEREMIAH RICHARDSON

                 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Rutherford County
                        No. 76369 Bonita Jo Atwood, Judge
                      ___________________________________

                             No. M2023-00395-COA-R3-CV
                         ___________________________________

This appeal involves a mother’s post-divorce petition for modification of alimony and child
support. Because the trial court has not disposed of all of the claims raised in the mother’s
petition, we dismiss the appeal for lack of a final judgment.

                Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Appeal Dismissed

FRANK G. CLEMENT, JR., P.J., M.S., W. NEAL MCBRAYER, and JEFFREY USMAN, JJ.

James Daniel Marshall, III, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Angellette Lashone
Batts-Richardson.

William Stanley Bennett, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the appellee, Jeremiah Ibrahim
Richardson.

                                MEMORANDUM OPINION1

       Jeremiah Ibrahim Richardson (“Father”) and Angellette Lashone Batts-Richardson
(“Mother”) were divorced in January of 2020. The final decree of divorce incorporated a
marital dissolution agreement that awarded Mother transitional alimony and child support.
In April of 2022, Mother filed a petition seeking an extension of transitional alimony, an
increase in child support, a determination of child support arrearages, attorney’s fees, and
that she be allowed to claim one of the parties’ children on her income tax return.

      Father moved to dismiss Mother’s petition under Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure
12.03. On March 31, 2023, the trial court dismissed Mother’s request for modification of

       1
         Under Tennessee Court of Appeals Rule 10, a case decided by memorandum opinion shall not be
published and shall not be cited or relied on for any reason in any unrelated case.
transitional alimony and her request to claim one child on her tax return. However, the
trial court declined to dismiss Mother’s request to modify child support and granted Mother
permission to amend her petition. There is no indication from the record that Mother ever
filed an amended petition. Mother filed a notice of appeal with the clerk of this Court on
March 16, 2023.

        A party is entitled to an appeal as of right only after the trial court has entered a final
judgment. Tenn. R. App. P. 3(a). A final judgment is a judgment that resolves all the
claims between all the parties, “leaving nothing else for the trial court to do.” In re Estate
of Henderson, 121 S.W.3d 643, 645 (Tenn. 2003) (quoting State ex rel. McAllister v.
Goode, 968 S.W.2d 834, 840 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1997)). An order that adjudicates fewer than
all the claims between all the parties is subject to revision at any time before the entry of a
final judgment and is not appealable as of right. Tenn. R. App. P. 3(a); In re Estate of
Henderson, 121 S.W.3d at 645. Here, the trial court has not disposed of Mother’s requests
to modify child support, for a determination of child support arrearages, or for attorney’s
fees.

        The clerk received the record on appeal on June 2, 2023. After reviewing the record,
this Court determined that the March 31, 2023 order was not a final judgment because the
trial court had not disposed of all the claims raised in Mother’s petition. On July 25, 2023,
this Court ordered the parties either to obtain a final judgment disposing of the remaining
claims within ninety days or else to show cause why the appeal should not be dismissed.
Although more than ninety days have passed, no final judgment has been received, and the
parties have not otherwise responded to the show cause order.

        The appeal is hereby dismissed for lack of a final judgment. The dismissal is
without prejudice to the filing of a new appeal once a final judgment has been entered. The
case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

                                                                    PER CURIAM

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