A Tennessee bill, known as “Bentley’s Law”, requiring drunk drivers to pay child support if parent of a minor dies passes unanimously in the state’s senate.
According to WREG news, The House Bill 1834 has already passed unanimously in the House and any person convicted of vehicular homicide or aggravated vehicular homicide due to intoxication would be required to pay child support. All allocated monies would be paid to the child of the parent killed in the accident.
According to the House Bill 1834, any convicted person would have up to one year, if incarcerated, to begin payment and would continue until the child is 18 years of age. Otherwise, payment would begin as early as the conviction date determined by the court.
The Bill also states that costs for child support would be determined by the court and would include consideration of necessary expenses such as: any financial resources needed to maintain standard of living for child, the surving parent or legal gaurdian, as well as any financial resources the child may need.
According to Fox News 10, if the bill is passed into law, it would honor Missouri Grandmother who aimed to seek financial restitution from a DUI offender, after her son, Cordell Williams, 30, his fiance, Lacey Newton, 25, and their 4-month-old son, Cordell II, were all killed in a DUI crash in April 2021; also causing two children, 5-year-old Bentley and 3-year-old Mason to be orphaned.
