Custodial interference in Tennessee is a Class E felony under Tennessee Code 39-13-306, carrying one to six years in prison when a family member takes, keeps, or hides a child in violation of a custody order or the other parent’s custodial rights. The charge can drop to a misdemeanor if the child is returned voluntarily before an arrest or warrant, and parents also have civil options through family court that often restore the parenting schedule faster than a criminal case.
What Counts as Custodial Interference
Tennessee Code 39-13-306 identifies six distinct ways a person can commit the offense against a child under eighteen. The most familiar are removing a child from Tennessee in violation of a custody order and keeping a child past the end of a scheduled visitation with the intent to violate the other parent’s custody rights. The statute reaches further than most parents expect.
Hiding or harboring a child counts, even when someone else did the actual taking. If you know the child’s possession was unlawfully obtained by another person and you shelter the child anyway, you face the same charge. The statute also separately criminalizes interfering with a noncustodial parent’s court-ordered visitation, which means a custodial parent who blocks or denies scheduled parenting time can be charged. Harboring a child who has been placed in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services under a protective or emergency custody order is its own form of the offense, and it is not a defense that you were never personally served with a copy of that order.
Who Can Be Charged
This offense is limited to specific family members: a natural or adoptive parent, step-parent, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew. A neighbor, family friend, or unrelated person who hides a child may face other charges but not custodial interference under this statute.
Penalties
The classification depends on which type of interference occurred and what happened afterward.
- Class E felony. Most forms of custodial interference carry one to six years in prison and a fine of up to $3,000. This includes removing a child from the state, detaining a child past a visitation period, and harboring a child you know was unlawfully taken.
- Class A misdemeanor. If the person voluntarily returns the child before being arrested or before a warrant is issued, the charge drops to a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.
- Class C misdemeanor. Interfering with a noncustodial parent’s court-ordered visitation under subsection (a)(5) is a Class C misdemeanor, the lowest tier.
The voluntary-return reduction has a strict trigger. The child must be returned voluntarily and before any arrest or arrest warrant. Returning the child after a warrant has issued does not qualify.
Defenses
The statute includes two defenses that can defeat a charge.
The first is clear and present danger. If the person who removed the child reasonably believed that failing to act would have resulted in a clear and present danger to the child’s health, safety, or welfare, that belief is a defense. The word “reasonably” does the work here. A genuine, well-founded fear of harm qualifies; a vague worry likely does not. Parents who may need this defense should document the danger thoroughly: photographs, medical records, witness statements, and reports to the Department of Children’s Services all strengthen the claim.
The second is voluntary return before arrest or the issuance of an arrest warrant. This overlaps with the misdemeanor reduction but is broader in effect. It can serve as a complete defense, not only a reduction in severity. The statute treats a parent who brings the child back promptly and on their own initiative very differently from one who has to be compelled by law enforcement.
How to Report It
Reporting works better when the paperwork is ready before you call anyone. Get a certified copy of your current parenting plan or custody decree from the Clerk of Court where the original case was filed. Officers need this document to confirm that a valid court order exists and is being violated. Without it, the process stalls at the first conversation.
Gather evidence that the other parent knew about the order: proof of service, their signature on the parenting plan, or communications referencing the schedule. Text messages, emails, and voicemails showing a refusal to return the child or acknowledge the schedule carry real weight. Organize everything chronologically so an officer can follow the timeline quickly.
File the report with the law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where the child should have been returned. Ask for a formal police report; that document becomes the foundation for any criminal case. The local District Attorney’s office then reviews the evidence to decide whether to pursue charges and, if the facts support it, to seek an arrest warrant.
If a child has been taken out of state or you cannot locate them, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children assists law enforcement in locating missing children and coordinating across jurisdictions.
Civil Remedies Through Family Court
Criminal charges are not the only route, and they are often not the fastest one. Tennessee parents can pursue civil enforcement in the family court that issued the custody order, and that path tends to restore the parenting schedule more quickly.
Contempt of Court
A Petition for Civil Contempt under Tennessee Code 29-9-102 asks the court to enforce its own order. The statute gives courts the power to punish willful disobedience of a court order, and a custody or parenting plan order qualifies. In civil contempt, the goal is compliance rather than punishment. A judge can impose jail time or fines that last until the noncompliant parent follows the order, so the parent holds the key to their own release by obeying the custody arrangement.
Make-Up Time and Modification
Filing a petition to enforce the parenting plan lets the court address the specific disruption. A family court judge can order make-up parenting time for days that were wrongfully denied. If the interference is severe or repeated, the court can modify the parenting plan, including shifting primary custody, when the current arrangement is no longer working. Tennessee courts decide custody based on the best interest of the child, and a pattern of deliberate interference weighs heavily against the parent causing it.
Attorney Fees
Tennessee law allows the prevailing party in a contempt action or any proceeding to enforce a parenting plan order to recover reasonable attorney fees from the other side. The award is discretionary, not automatic, but a parent forced to hire a lawyer because the other parent refuses to follow the custody order has a real shot at making the violator pay those costs.
When the Child Is Taken Across State Lines
Tennessee’s version of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act controls which state’s courts have authority when a parent takes a child to another state. Tennessee adopted the UCCJEA at Tennessee Code 36-6-216, and in most cases the rule is simple: the child’s “home state” has jurisdiction. Home state means the state where the child lived with a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the custody proceeding began.
A parent who takes a child to another state cannot simply file for custody there and claim the new state now has authority. Federal law reinforces this. Under 28 U.S.C. 1738A, every state must enforce and may not modify a custody determination made by the child’s home state, as long as that state followed its own jurisdictional rules. The result is that forum-shopping by relocation does not work.
Tennessee courts also have temporary emergency jurisdiction under Tennessee Code 36-6-219 when a child is physically present in Tennessee and has been abandoned, or when the child, a sibling, or a parent faces mistreatment or abuse. An emergency order under this provision is temporary and stays in effect only until the home state acts or a specified period expires.
When the Child Is Taken Out of the Country
If a parent takes a child outside the United States, the matter becomes federal. Under 18 U.S.C. 1204, removing or retaining a child under 16 outside the United States with the intent to obstruct the other parent’s custody rights is a federal crime punishable by up to three years in prison. The statute defines “parental rights” broadly to include both custody and visitation, whether those rights come from a court order, a legally binding agreement, or state law.
To recover a child from another country, the main tool is the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. It requires signatory countries to use their most expeditious procedures to return wrongfully removed children to the country of habitual residence. In the United States, the Office of Children’s Issues within the Department of State is the Central Authority that coordinates these cases. Parents can reach that office at 1-888-407-4747 or by email at AbductionQuestions@State.gov. Because security-related mail processing causes significant delays, the office recommends sending time-sensitive correspondence by email, fax, or courier rather than regular mail.
A parent can also file a civil petition in any U.S. court with jurisdiction where the child is located, seeking the child’s return under the Convention. Courts handling Hague petitions are expected to decide cases within six weeks, and if they do not, the applicant can demand a written explanation for the delay. The Convention applies only to children under 16 and only when the child was habitually resident in a signatory country before the wrongful removal.