§ 36-4-101 Grounds for divorce from bonds of matrimony
§ 36-4-102 Legal separation
§ 36-4-103 Irreconcilable differences – Procedure
§ 36-4-104 Residence requirements
§ 36-4-105 Venue
§ 36-4-107 Verification of petition – Effect of noncompliance
§ 36-4-108 Security for costs – Service of process
§ 36-4-109 Time for hearing
§ 36-4-110 Appearance and answer
§ 36-4-111 Failure to separate not a defense
§ 36-4-112 Defense when ground is adultery
§ 36-4-113 Issues – Trial by jury – New trial
§ 36-4-114 Proof required
§ 36-4-115 Form of proof
§ 36-4-116 Affidavits of proof not required – Sworn statements concerning financial matters required – Sworn statements as evidence
§ 36-4-117 Proof when ground is spouse’s refusal to remove to this state
§ 36-4-118 Proof when ground is conviction of crime
§ 36-4-119 Decree of court generally
§ 36-4-120 Ill conduct defense
§ 36-4-121 Division, distribution, or assignment of marital property – Allocation of marital debt
§ 36-4-122 Costs
§ 36-4-123 Appeals
§ 36-4-124 Right to remarry
§ 36-4-125 Legitimacy of children unaffected by divorce or annulment
§ 36-4-126 Suspension of proceedings to attempt reconciliation – Revocation
§ 36-4-127 Expunction of divorce records upon reconciliation of parties
§ 36-4-128 Remarriage after spouse’s two-year absence – Effect of spouse’s return
§ 36-4-129 Stipulated grounds and/or defenses – Grant of divorce
§ 36-4-130 Mediation – Confidentiality of information and documents
§ 36-4-131 Mediation – Waiver or extension – Domestic abuse – Video conference
§ 36-4-132 Appointment of guardian ad litem
§ 36-4-133 Compliance with notice of insurance termination provisions required
§ 36-4-134 Notice that the decree does not necessarily affect the ability of a creditor to proceed against a party or a party’s property
§ 36-4-135 False allegations of sexual abuse in furtherance of litigation

Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 36 > Chapter 4 - Divorce and Annulment

  • Administrator: means the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency (EPA), or the administrator's designated representative. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
  • Allegation: something that someone says happened.
  • alternative technology: includes land application of effluent and sludge, aquifer recharge, aquaculture, direct reuse (nonpotable), horticulture, revegetation of disturbed land, containment ponds, sludge composting and drying prior to land application, self-sustaining incineration, methane recovery, codisposal of sludge and solid waste and individual and on-site systems. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
  • Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Authority: means a water and wastewater treatment authority created pursuant to this part. See Tennessee Code 68-221-603
  • Bequest: Property gifted by will.
  • Board: means the board of commissioners of an authority. See Tennessee Code 68-221-603
  • Board: means the Tennessee board of water quality, oil and gas as established by §. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Bonds: includes notes, interim certificates or other obligations of an authority. See Tennessee Code 68-221-603
  • Certified laboratory: means any facility for performing bacteriological, chemical or other analysis on drinking water which has received interim or final certification by the department. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of environment and conservation, the commissioner's duly authorized representative, and, in the event of the commissioner's absence or a vacancy in the office of commissioner, the deputy commissioner. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Construction: means any placement, assembly or installation of facilities or equipment (including contractual obligations to purchase such facilities or equipment) at the premises where such equipment will be used, including preparation work at such premises. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Construction: means the erection, acquisition, alteration, reconstruction, improvement or extension of wastewater treatment works, including preliminary planning to determine the economic and engineering feasibility of wastewater treatment works, the engineering, architectural, legal, fiscal and economic investigations and studies, surveys, designs, plans, procedures and other similar action necessary in the building of wastewater treatment works, and the inspection and supervision of the construction of wastewater treatment works. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Contaminant: means any physical, chemical, biological or radiological substance or matter in water. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Creating governmental entity: means any city, metropolitan government or county which creates an authority pursuant to this part. See Tennessee Code 68-221-603
  • Cross connection: means any physical arrangement whereby a public water supply is connected, directly or indirectly, with any other water supply system, sewer, drain, conduit, pool, storage reservoir, plumbing fixture or other device which contains, or may contain, contaminated water, sewage or other waste or liquid of unknown or unsafe quality which may be capable of imparting contamination to the public water supply as a result of backflow. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Department: means the department of environment and conservation. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Department: means the department of environment and conservation. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Director: means the director of the division of water supply. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Division: means the division of water supply of the department. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
  • Drinking water regulations: means regulations promulgated pursuant to this part. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
  • Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
  • Federal act: means the Safe Drinking Water Act, P. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Governing body: means the chief legislative body of any creating or participating governmental entity. See Tennessee Code 68-221-603
  • Grant: means the award of state funds to a municipality for the construction of wastewater treatment works or for preliminary engineering pursuant to this part. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Highway: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Innovative technology: means developed wastewater treatment processes and techniques which have not been fully proven under the circumstances of their contemplated use and which represent a significant advancement over the state of the art in terms of significant reduction in life cycle cost of the project when compared to an appropriate conventional technology. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Lead free: means :
    (A) Not containing more than two-tenths of one percent (0. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Marital property: includes income from, and any increase in the value during the marriage of, property determined to be separate property in accordance with subdivision (b)(4) if each party substantially contributed to its preservation and appreciation. See Tennessee Code 36-4-121
  • Maximum contaminant level: means the maximum permissible level of a contaminant in water which is delivered to any user of a public water system. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Municipality: means any utility district existing on July 1, 1984, county, incorporated town or city, or metropolitan government which has authority to administer a wastewater treatment works, or any combination of two (2) or more of the foregoing acting jointly to construct a wastewater treatment works. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Municipality: means any county, incorporated city or town, school district, utility district, improvement district, taxing district, housing authority, industrial development board, health and educational facilities board, or other district, authority, commission, board, public body or political subdivision in this state. See Tennessee Code 9-3-102
  • National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. Source: OCC
  • National primary drinking water regulations: means primary drinking water regulations, as amended, promulgated by the administrator pursuant to the federal act. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
  • Original bill: A bill which is drafted by a committee. It is introduced by the committee or subcommittee chairman after the committee votes to report it.
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Participating governmental entity: means any utility district, metropolitan government, city, town or county. See Tennessee Code 68-221-603
  • Pension plan: means the defined benefit pension plan established and maintained by a political subdivision for its employees, excluding a political subdivision's participation in the Tennessee consolidated retirement system pursuant to title 8, chapters 34?37. See Tennessee Code 9-3-503
  • Person: means any and all persons, including individuals, firms, partnerships, associations, public or private institutions, state and federal agencies, municipalities or political subdivisions, or officers thereof, departments, agencies, or instrumentalities, or public or private corporations or officers thereof, organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
  • Political subdivision: means any local governmental entity, including, but not limited to any municipality, metropolitan government, county, utility district, school district, public building authority, housing authority, emergency communications district, and development district created and existing pursuant to the laws of this state, or any instrumentality of government created by any one (1) or more of the named local governmental entities. See Tennessee Code 9-3-503
  • Political subdivision employee: means any person in the employ of a political subdivision who participates in the political subdivision's pension plan. See Tennessee Code 9-3-503
  • Preliminary engineering: means preparation of the Section 201 Facilities Plan, preparation of engineering plans, writing specifications, value engineering, and related, similar activities. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
  • Priority ranking list: means a list generated through a system by which the department ranks in descending order of priority all applicants for state and federal grants for construction of wastewater treatment works by criteria which include at least the following:
    (A) The nature and quantity of the receiving waters. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Public water system: means a system for the provision of water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances, if such serves fifteen (15) or more connections or which regularly serves twenty-five (25) or more individuals daily at least sixty (60) days out of the year. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
  • Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Reserve capacity: means capacity to treat, store, transport or dispose of more wastewater than the demand on the system at the time of construction. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Separate debt: means :
    (A) All debt incurred by either spouse prior to the date of the marriage. See Tennessee Code 36-4-121
  • Separate property: means :
    (A) All real and personal property owned by a spouse before marriage, including, but not limited to, assets held in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) as that term is defined in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U. See Tennessee Code 36-4-121
  • Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 68-221-603
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Streams: includes any river, creek, slough or natural water course in which water usually flows in a defined bed or channel. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Supplier of water: means any person who owns, operates or controls a public water system. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
  • Treatment works: means any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the state's waters, or any devices and systems used in the treatment and distribution of water, including intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, water storage facilities, water transmission lines, pumping, power and other equipment, and their appurtenances, extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions and alterations thereof. See Tennessee Code 68-221-603
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Unfunded accrued liability: means the actuarially determined accrued liabilities of the pension plan that are greater than the actuarially determined value of the pension plan assets. See Tennessee Code 9-3-503
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Value engineering: is a specialized cost control technique which uses a systematic and creative approach to identify and focus on unnecessarily high cost in a project in order to arrive at a cost saving without sacrificing the reliability or efficiency of the project. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Wastewater treatment works: means any facility whose purpose is to store, treat, neutralize, stabilize, recycle, reclaim or dispose of municipal wastewater, including treatment or disposal plants, interceptors, outfall, and outlet sewers, pumping stations, equipment and furnishings thereof and their appurtenances which are necessary to accomplish the foregoing purposes. See Tennessee Code 68-221-803
  • Waters: means any and all water, public or private, on or beneath the surface of the ground, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon Tennessee, or any portion thereof, except those bodies of water confined to and retained within the limits of private property in single ownership which do not combine or effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters. See Tennessee Code 68-221-703
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105