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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE
AT KNOXVILLE
(HEARD AT DAYTON)

LISA MARTIN, ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF
DELORES J. COLEMAN v. ROBERT C. COLEMAN

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Cumberland County
No. J-2094 John A. Turnbull, Judge

No. E1998-00739-SC-R11-CV - Decided May 16, 2000
We granted this appeal to determine whether an implied partnership may be imposed upon the retirement benefits of one party to a relationship in which unmarried parties held themselves out as husband and wife.  We hold that the lower courts erred in dividing the retirement benefits as property of an implied partnership.1

Rule 11 Appeal by Permission; Judgment of the Court of Appeals Reversed; Case Remanded.
HOLDER, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ANDERSON, C.J., and DROWOTA, BIRCH, and BARKER, JJ, joined.
David R. Swafford, Pikeville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Robert C. Coleman.
Proctor Upchurch, Crossville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Delores J. Coleman.

OPINION
Robert and Delores Coleman began a relationship that resulted in the birth of a daughter, Lisa, in 1966.  After Mr. Coleman obtained a divorce from Evelyn Coleman in 1968, Robert and Delores Coleman were married.  On January 27, 1978, Delores Coleman was granted a divorce from Robert Coleman.  Shortly thereafter, however, Robert and Delores Coleman reunited. They never remarried, but they continued to live together for sixteen years.
Delores Coleman did not work outside the home.  Robert Coleman, an engineer, was the
1Oral argument was heard in this case on March 2 8, 2 000 , in Dayt on, Rhe a Co unt y, Tennessee, as part of this Court

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