Judge sets aside final divorce decree after finding parties lacked proper notice

A Cheatham County judge granted a motion under Rule 60 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure to set aside a final divorce decree and parenting plan, returning the matter to the active docket for further proceedings.

The ruling came after the court heard testimony that the respondent, Heather Michelle Wood, and her father, William Craig Martin, did not receive notice of a final hearing and that an order placing the matter on a final-hearing calendar was entered without a properly filed and noticed motion. Judge David D. Wolfe told the courtroom, "the motion for relief under Rule 60 is granted."

The court’s decision follows testimony and filings showing a complicated procedural history: an initial motion to set a final hearing filed in September 2021 was noted for a January 3, 2022 hearing at which the docket shows no one appeared; counsel for Wood thereafter filed a motion to withdraw that was granted in March 2022; and an order signed by the court setting a…