Member

Rebecca McKelvey Castañeda

Rebecca McKelvey Castañeda is a Member of the firm in the Nashville and Franklin offices. She works exclusively in the practice known as Family Law with an emphasis in international family law, especially parental child abductions from country to country. She has significant experience with cases brought under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act. The United States has signed this particular Hague treaty along with about 73 other countries. You can find out more about this law and how it applies, by clicking here. Rebecca’s published work on the Hague Convention, An Overview of the International Parental Child Abduction Provisions of the Hague Convention, 7 ANKARA L. REV. 1, 65 (2010), is available upon request. Rebecca and her team have much experience in Hague Convention litigation and can help your family navigate these difficult international issues.

In addition to her international family law work, Rebecca also represents clients in Tennessee family law. Her practice includes many years of experience representing clients who must face divorce. Rebecca and her team can handle intellectual property matters in divorce. She helps clients with a variety of issues related to families, children, custody, grandparents and other family members, divorces, prenuptial agreements, and family relocations. Rebecca serves on the editorial committee of the Tennessee Bar Association that updates the Tennessee Alimony Benchbook each year.

With offices in Nashville and Williamson County, Rebecca is easily accessible.

Capabilities

Practice Areas

Bar Admissions

Past Admission Pro Hac Vice in Other Jurisdictions

Tennessee

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

Memberships

International Academy of Family Lawyers

,

Fellow

Harry Phillips American Inn of Court

International Child Abduction Attorney Network (ICAAN)

,

Referral Attorney

American Bar Association

,

former Family Law Section Uniform Relocation Law Drafting Committee

Tennessee Board of Law Examiners

,

Committee to Investigate Fitness and Character of Applicants for Admission to the Tennessee Bar

Tennessee Bar Association

,

Family Law Section, former Executive Council; former Family Law Section e-Newsletter Editor; former CLE Committee

Tennessee Bar Associations Alimony Benchbook Committee

,

helping edit the alimony manual used by Tennessee judges statewide

Nashville Bar Association

Community Involvement

Belmont University Board of Trustees

Tennessee Justice Center, Board of Directors

Education

J.D.,

2006

Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law

Org / Honor

Mercer Law Review, Lead Articles Editor; Casenote: “Blakely v. Washington: Criminal Sentencing and the Sixth Amendment Limitation on Judicial Factfinding,” 56 Mercer L.Rev. 1079 (2005)

Bootle Inn of Court, Macon, Ga., 2005-06

Moot Court 2005 Georgia Intrastate Competition Team, 2nd Place Oralist

Legal Writing Certificate Program

Christian Legal Society, President, 2005-06

Legal Aid Clinic, Vice President, 2004-05

B.S., Political Economy & Broadcast Journalism,

2003

summa cum laude

Belmont University

Org / Honor

Study Abroad in Australia, New Zealand and Kenya

Representative Experience

  • After a person’s divorce, there are often subsequent matters for which someone needs advice from a Family Law attorney, and Rebecca assists clients with those matters.
  • She represents couples adopting children, both locally and internationally, including re-adoptions and adult adoptions.
  • She represented a party in one of the few grandparent visitation cases to be decided by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Lovlace v. Copley, 418 S.W.3d 1 (Tenn. 2013).
  • She advises parents who are relocating for work or a spouse’s job, or parents who are considering moving or whose child’s other parent is considering moving to be with a loved one.
  • She provides consultations and full representation – all the way through trial – for parents involved in cases under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and International Child Abduction Remedies Act.
  • In her Hague Convention practice, among other cases, she has assisted a parent in Sweden to be restored custody of his son, and she has represented a father in having his son returned to his home in Turkey.

More Than Stites & Harbison

Rebecca is past-chair of the board of directors for the Tennessee Justice Center, served as a member of Belmont University Alumni Board of Directors (past president), and has been a member of the Belmont University College of Law American Inn of Court. She now serves on the Board of Trustees for Belmont University. Rebecca was awarded the Tennessee Bar Association’s Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year Award (2015). In June 2011, she was chosen as a 2011 Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30 by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In addition to being involved in her church, Rebecca and her husband enjoy reading, travelling, the Nashville Symphony, riding bikes, and snowboarding. Rebecca participated in the FBI Citizens Academy.

Accolades

Best Lawyers in America®, Family Law (2018-25)

Forbes Advisor, Best Divorce Lawyers Nashville, TN (2024)

Nashville Business Journal, Best of the Bar (2021)

Nashville Business Journal, 40 Under 40 (2021)

Mid-South Super Lawyers® (2019-24)

Mid-South Super Lawyers®, Rising Star (2012-18)

Tennessee Bar Association, Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year Award (2015)

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30 (2011)