Very rare. It has been done. Here is how.
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Sole custody in Memphis is rare. Courts start from the position that a child should have both parents in their life, and Tennessee gives no presumption to either one. Most people who call asking for sole custody do not end up with it.
It has been done here. No attorney can promise you a result, and the rules of professional conduct prohibit it. What this page can do is show you the case where it happened and what it took.
The Case
The firm alleged dependency and neglect, and the father was awarded the child. The mother asked for visitation. When the juvenile court magistrate began asking her questions, she became irate. Her visitation stayed supervised, and she chose not to exercise it.
That is the mechanism in one paragraph. A dependency and neglect finding in Shelby County Juvenile Court, and the child goes to the parent who is available.
How a parent carries themselves in front of the court becomes part of the record. That cuts in every direction, and it is worth knowing before anyone walks into that building. Mother’s rights in Shelby County →
The Catch
That avenue exists only in juvenile court, it takes clear and convincing evidence, and the question is not which parent would be better. It is whether the child is dependent and neglected in the hands of the other parent.
Drug use around the child. Alcohol abuse. Violence. A child not in school. Medical care not being provided. A partner in the home with a record of drugs or violence. Those are the facts that move a court, and they move it quickly. What makes a parent unfit →
Anger does not. Cheating by itself does not. A new boyfriend or girlfriend by itself does not. A parent who is difficult, disorganized, or unpleasant to deal with is not the same as a parent a child needs protection from.
Anyone can file one of these, and it does not have to come from the Department of Children’s Services. How the case runs after that, the hearings, the timeline, and what the court decides at each stage, is laid out in full on its own page. Eighteen months from filing to final disposition is a reasonable average. Dependency and neglect, start to finish →
If It Does Not Fit
Without a dependency and neglect finding, what remains is a parenting plan case. The court applies the best interest factors at Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-6-106, along with § 36-6-406 on restricting parenting time, and it can order supervised visitation, suspend a parent’s time, or name you the primary residential parent. In a divorce that is circuit or chancery court. Where the parents were never married it is juvenile court, which is the same building as the first avenue. Unmarried fathers →
It can be done that way. It is harder than the first way, not easier. There is no single finding that gets you there, so you are asking a judge to weigh the statutory factors and conclude that a near-total loss of parenting time serves the child, starting from a position that both parents belong in that child’s life.
If a custody order already exists, changing it takes a material change in circumstances and a best interest analysis under those same factors. If no order exists yet, the factors are what sets the plan in the first place. Custody modification → · If you are thinking about withholding →
What It Means
Sole custody is not one fixed outcome. In practice it takes a few different shapes:
The other parent still has some time with the child, but very little of it.
The other parent still sees the child, but only with someone else present.
One parent has no parenting time at all for an extended period while the problem is addressed.
If circumstances change, the parent who lost time can file a petition citing the change. At that point it is essentially a new case, and some time has to pass before a court will revisit the order. A new criminal arrest can be a change in circumstances as well.
Severe abuse is different. When a court makes a finding of severe abuse, it is prohibited from returning custody to the person who committed it unless the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the home is safe and free from future harm.
Separately from severe abuse: where a parent has had a child removed for dependency and neglect and that child remains in DCS custody, a presumption attaches to any child born to that parent afterward. It is rebuttable, and it changes where the next case starts. Eli’s Law →
One Thing People Miss
When a court sustains a dependency and neglect petition, the child goes to the parent who is available. Usually that is the parent who filed. Not always.
Non-parties can move to intervene. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, adult siblings, in some cases a godparent, can ask to be considered as a placement for the child. If the court has concerns about both parents, a relative can end up with custody.
Relatives use the same statute, but not the same case. An available parent gets the child before a relative does, so a grandparent or an aunt needs the petition to run against both parents rather than one. That is materially harder. How the route works for relatives →
The Other Direction
A mother alleged the father had acted inappropriately with the child. That triggered a DCS investigation and the appointment of a guardian ad litem. While it was pending, the father was limited to supervised visits twice a month, with no overnights.
The investigation turned up nothing. After months of observation, the guardian ad litem concluded the father should have visitation. He now has equal parenting time.
If You Are Divorcing
A dependency and neglect case runs parallel to the divorce. Juvenile court has exclusive jurisdiction over dependency and neglect in Tennessee, so that part of the case is heard there, and the divorce court will generally defer to juvenile court on it.
Going to juvenile court is not required, though. The divorce court sets the parenting plan, and it can restrict the other parent’s time on the statutory factors alone. A dependency and neglect petition is a second front, worth opening when the facts support it and worth leaving closed when they do not.
Right Now
That is not a sole custody case yet. It is an emergency. Concrete harm to a child, already done or about to be, can be heard on very short notice, but only if somebody pushes it. Emergency custody →
Your Attorney
William Young · Of Counsel · Juvenile Court
Attorney William Young handles dependency and neglect in Shelby County Juvenile Court on both sides, along with custody for parents who were never married. He knows the rules of evidence cold, which in that building matters more than it should have to.
Dependency & neglect → · Grandparent custody → · About William Young →
Sam Jaber · Divorce & Family Law
Attorney Sam Jaber handles divorce and custody in Shelby County circuit and chancery court. He has practiced family law in Memphis for over a decade and finalized more than 100 divorces in 2025.
Contested divorce → · Custody modification → · About Sam Jaber →
Common Questions
Yes, but it is rare. Tennessee has no presumption for either parent, and courts start from the position that a child should have both parents involved. Getting past that position takes facts about the other parent, not an argument that you would be the better one.
Yes. In the case this page describes, the firm alleged dependency and neglect and the father was awarded the child. The mother’s visitation stayed supervised and she chose not to exercise it. No attorney can promise the same outcome in another case, and the rules of professional conduct prohibit it.
Two ways. A dependency and neglect finding against the other parent in Shelby County Juvenile Court, or a parenting plan case in whichever court has the custody case, where the judge applies the statutory best interest factors and can order supervised visitation, suspend a parent’s time, or name you the primary residential parent. The first requires clear and convincing evidence, which is a high bar, but it is a single finding and the child goes to the available parent. The second requires no dependency and neglect finding at all and is still the harder road, because no one determination gets you there.
Yes. A dependency and neglect finding is a single determination that moves the child to the available parent. Without one, you are asking a judge to weigh the best interest factors at Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-6-106 and conclude that a near-total loss of parenting time serves the child, starting from the position that both parents belong in that child’s life. It can be done. It is the harder road.
Clear and convincing evidence, at the adjudicatory hearing in a dependency and neglect case. That is higher than the ordinary civil standard and lower than the criminal one. It applies to that avenue only. A parenting plan case asks a different question under a different statute and requires no dependency and neglect finding.
Drug use around the child, alcohol abuse, violence, a child not in school, medical care not provided, or a partner in the home with a record of drugs or violence. Those facts move a court on either avenue. It has to be proved, not suspected.
Not by themselves. Cheating does not reach custody on its own, and neither does a new relationship. A new partner can matter when that person has a record of drugs or violence and is around the child.
It takes different forms. It can mean one parent exercises the overwhelming majority of parenting time, supervised visitation for the other parent, or a temporary order where one parent has no visitation for an extended period. Whichever form it takes, a serious problem has to be proved before a parent loses parenting time for good, though an allegation alone can cost months.
Yes. If circumstances change, the parent who lost time can file a petition citing the change. At that point it is essentially a new case, and some time has to pass first. Sole custody in any of its forms is not necessarily permanent.
A finding of severe abuse comes closest. When a court makes that finding it is prohibited from returning custody to the person who committed the abuse unless it finds by clear and convincing evidence that the home is safe and free from future harm. Short of that, orders can be revisited when circumstances change.
No. The child goes to the parent who is available, which is usually the parent who filed, but non-parties can move to intervene. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and adult siblings can ask to be considered as a placement, and if the court has concerns about both parents a relative can end up with custody.
A lawyer the court appoints to represent the child’s best interests. A guardian ad litem investigates, often over several months, and makes a recommendation to the court about what should happen.
Yes, at least temporarily. In one case the firm handled, a mother alleged the father had acted inappropriately with the child. While a DCS investigation and a guardian ad litem’s review were pending, he was limited to supervised visits twice a month with no overnights. The investigation found nothing, the guardian ad litem recommended visitation, and he now has equal parenting time.
Eighteen months from filing to final disposition is a reasonable average in Shelby County. The hearing sequence and what gets decided at each stage are set out on the dependency and neglect page.
The dependency and neglect case runs parallel to the divorce. Juvenile court has exclusive jurisdiction over dependency and neglect in Tennessee, and the divorce court will generally defer to juvenile court on it. Filing there is not required, though. The divorce court sets the parenting plan and can restrict the other parent’s time on the statutory factors without any juvenile court filing.
The statute is the same. The case is not. A parent needs a finding against the other parent. A relative needs the petition to run against both parents, because an available parent gets the child before a grandparent, an aunt, or anyone else does. That is a materially harder case.
Then it is an emergency rather than a sole custody case. A court can hear an emergency custody motion almost immediately when there is concrete harm to the child, already done or about to be.
Free consultation. Call and find out which of the two avenues your facts point at, if either.