Paul Seibers v. Melissa Cunnningham

This appeal stems from a parental dispute over the custody of a 16-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. Their father filed suit in the DeKalb County Juvenile Court seeking to remove the children from their mother's custody because they were dependent and neglected. The juvenile court granted the father custody of his son but decided that his daughter should remain with her maternal grandmother in the custody of the Department of Children's Services. The father pursued a de novo appeal to the Circuit Court for DeKalb County. After the children's mother moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that it was untimely, the father filed a Tenn. R. Civ. P. 60.02(1) motion seeking relief from his untimely notice of appeal. The circuit court granted the father the requested relief and, following a bench trial, granted the father custody of both children. The mother asserts on this appeal that the circuit court lacked authority to grant the father relief from his untimely notice of appeal and, in the alternative, that the father was not entitled to Tenn. R. Civ. P. 60.02(1) relief for excusable neglect. We have determined that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to consider the father's Tenn. R. Civ. P. 60.02(1) motion and, therefore, that the father's appeal to the circuit court should have been dismissed because it was untimely.