Barry Ralston vs. Gina Henley

This interlocutory appeal involves a dispute between divorced parents regarding the education of their eight- and ten-year-old daughters. Four years after the Circuit Court for Davidson County awarded the parents joint custody of their children with the mother receiving primary physical custody, the mother unilaterally decided to withdraw the children from public school and to home school them over the father's objection. After the trial court denied his request to enjoin the mother from removing the children from public school, the father perfected this Tenn. R. App. P. 9 appeal seeking review of the trial court's decision that the mother had the sole prerogative to make decisions regarding the children's education. We have determined that an interlocutory appeal will prevent needless, expensive, and protracted litigation. Accordingly, we grant the interlocutory appeal and vacate the trial court's order denying the father's petition to enjoin the mother from removing the parties' children from public school in accordance with Tenn. R. App. P. 10(b).