The Upper Cumberland, Tennessee · Remote sessions statewide
Three services along one process: the parent education seminar, Rule 31 family mediation, and parenting coordination.
Marti Crawford is a practising family law attorney in the Upper Cumberland. Over that practice she has seen the range of issues a family law case can present, from the first filing to the modification years later. She brings that perspective to the neutral roles a court can use.
In these roles she does not represent either parent. She is not anyone's lawyer, she does not take sides, and she cannot promise either parent an outcome.
T.C.A. § 36-6-408
T.C.A. § 36-6-405
T.C.A. § 36-6-404
By order or agreement
Text equivalent of the timeline: a petition is filed. Both parents must complete the parent educational seminar, required by T.C.A. § 36-6-408. If custody is disputed, the parents must mediate before a contested hearing, required by T.C.A. § 36-6-405 subject to exceptions. The court then enters a permanent parenting plan under T.C.A. § 36-6-404. After the plan is entered, a parenting coordinator may be appointed by court order or by agreement of the parties; this step is discretionary and does not occur in every case.
Refer, appoint, or ask what an appointment would look like
Scope of authority accepted and declined, sample order language you can paste into a proposed order, what a report to the court contains, turnaround, fee allocation, and credentials with hours and district numbers.
You were told to do this. Here is exactly what it is
What happens in a session minute by minute, what Marti can decide and what only a judge can decide, what it costs and who pays, what to bring, and what happens if the other parent does not participate.
This is not therapy and it is not confidential the way therapy is. In parenting coordination Marti reports to the court, and what you say to her can appear in that report. Mediation is treated differently. The difference is explained on each page.
The three services
Required · T.C.A. § 36-6-408
Parent education seminar
Four hours in aggregate, which may be split into sessions. Minor children do not attend. Providers are certified by each individual judicial district.
Seminar detail and registrationRequired · T.C.A. § 36-6-405
Rule 31 family mediation
Required in custody disputes before a contested hearing, subject to exceptions including domestic violence. Conducted under Supreme Court Rule 31.
Mediation detailWhen ordered or agreed
Parenting coordination
Available after a permanent parenting plan is in place, by court order or by written agreement of the parties. Not part of every case.
Coordination detailHow this office corresponds with you
Each parent is mailed separately. Always.
Two people in conflict should not be able to learn each other's contact details from a scheduling email. This office never places both parents on the same message, in any field.
Every message is addressed to one party. No CC. No BCC of a message going to both. One parent's email address is never visible to the other.
Subject lines read “A message about your appointment.” No allegations, no recommendations, and no child's name appears in any outbound message. Documents are delivered through an authenticated portal link.
Where a protective order or a safety concern is noted on the record, automated mail to that party is suppressed entirely and contact is made manually, at an address or number the party has confirmed is safe.
A parent ordered to attend is not a subscriber. There is no newsletter, no follow-up offer and no satisfaction campaign. The only mailing list on this site is a professional one for attorneys who opt in.
Delivery receipts are retained per message, because a court may ask whether notice was given. A hard bounce on a party's address raises an alert and triggers a telephone call the same working day. A missed notice in a court-ordered process is never allowed to fail silently.
Notices, court correspondence and the professional list are sent from three separate authenticated subdomains, each with its own reputation and its own suppression handling, so a problem in one never affects notice to a party.
If you believe an email from this office reached the wrong person, or if your safe contact details change, telephone (931) 650-4058 rather than replying by email.
Region and availability
In-person sessions are held in the Upper Cumberland. Remote sessions by secure video are available statewide, and are used routinely where the parties live apart, where travel is a burden, or where a safety concern makes a shared building inadvisable.
Where a protective order is in place, sessions are held with the parties in separate virtual rooms, or shuttle style, or not at all where the statute excepts the case from mediation.
Funding · Supreme Court Rule 38
This office accepts referrals funded through the Divorcing Parent Education and Mediation Fund. Under Supreme Court Rule 38 the Administrative Office of the Courts compensates Qualified Neutrals and Qualified Parenting Education Providers from that fund for indigent parties.
If you cannot pay, say so. Being unable to pay does not excuse you from a required seminar or mediation, and it does not exclude you from this office.