Tennessee § 17-2-209 - Interchange in certain divorce actions.

§ 17-2-209. Interchange in certain divorce actions.

In counties with a population of over seven hundred thousand (700,000), according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census, the general sessions judges may sit by interchange as a circuit court judge or chancellor for the exclusive purpose of hearing and deciding uncontested and irreconcilable differences in divorce cases. When the circuit court clerk or clerk and master determines that a pending divorce action is uncontested as to all material facts or issues, or when the clerk determines that the ground relied upon in a pending divorce action is irreconcilable differences between the parties pursuant to § 36-4-101, the clerk may so certify such determinations to the circuit court judge or chancellor. The circuit court judge or chancellor may designate that a general sessions judge sit by interchange to hear and decide any divorce action determined by the clerk to be uncontested or based upon irreconcilable differences. Any decree entered by a general sessions judge sitting by interchange pursuant to this section shall be considered a decree of the circuit or chancery court and any petitions for modification of the decree shall be filed in the circuit or chancery court. All appeals from the decision of a general sessions judge sitting by interchange pursuant to this section shall be taken in the same manner as if the circuit judge or chancellor rendered the decision. Acts 1982, ch. 696, § 1. Compiler's Notes. For table of U.S. decennial populations of Tennessee counties, see Volume 13 and its supplement. Textbooks. Tennessee Jurisprudence, 9 Tenn. Juris., Divorce and Alimony, § 2. Attorney General Opinions. A private act proposing to authorize a general sessions judge to interchange with a chancellor in a particular county should articulate the reasons why such authority is necessary or convenient to the operation of the judicial system in the affected county, as such an act would violate the constitution absent a rational basis for suspending the general law with regard to interchange in the particular county, OAG 02-074 (6/12/02). General sessions court judges may not sit by interchange for circuit court judges or chancellors in the absence of a private act specifically granting such interchange authority, except "for the exclusive purpose of hearing and deciding uncontested and irreconcilable differences in divorce cases" in counties with a population over 700,000. The General Assembly, by private act, may authorize general sessions judges to interchange with circuit court judges and chancellors in a particular county, as long as the General Assembly has a rational basis for granting interchange authority in that county. OAG 19-14, 2019 Tenn. AG LEXIS 49 (9/9/2019). Cited: Jackson v. Lanphere, — S.W.3d —, 2011 Tenn. App. LEXIS 441 (Tenn. Ct. App. Aug. 12, 2011).