Legal Question in Family Law in Tennessee

Pro Hoc Vice and Recording a Foreign Judgment

I do not practice law in your state and suggest you consult local legal counsel. In most states a petition has to be filed to have the attorney approved. However, each state has different rules and unless the legal issues are unusually complicated in my opinion it is a better practice to obtain local legal counsel. In cases that I got admitted pro hoc vice, I always insisted that I have local counsel anyways to insure that my filings were proper and to appear in court on short notice.

Filing a judgement also differs. Most states require that you file an exemplified judgment from the state of the orgin of judgment. Other state may require you sue on the judgment. States are required to give full faith and credit to judgments of other states under the US Constitution.

I strongly recommend that you seek the advice of local legal counsel on all the issues that you raise.

Pro Hac Vice & Petition to Register & Modify

You need a local attorney to sign off on the pleadings and to in fact serve as the attorney of record in the case when you want to use an attorney who is not licensed to practice in Tennessee. Some judges require the Tennessee attorney to be present at every stage of the proceedings, though others do not.But beyond the procedural requirements, you need to have someone with at least a passing familiarity with the judge you are likely to get. If this is a divorce decree/custody order from another state which you want to have a court here modify you must first determine whether TN has jurisdiction and if so file a Petition to Register and Modify a Foreign Decree.That would be done in Circuit Court before either Judge Muriel Robinson or to Marietta Shipley -- those are the Circuit Court Judges who handle ALL domestic relations cases in Nashville, with Robinson getting most of them.If you or your attorney have any further questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail me directly or to call.