Tennessee Bill Requires Drunk Drivers to Pay Child Support if Parent Killed

March 2, 2022

The Tennessee House of Representatives has handed a invoice that may require individuals convicted of driving beneath the affect to pay youngster assist in the event that they brought on a wreck ensuing within the demise of a mother or father of a minor youngster.

House Bill 1834 would apply to individuals convicted of vehicular murder or aggravated vehicular murder due to intoxication when the individual killed is the mother or father of a kid beneath 18. The cash must be paid to a surviving partner or guardian till the youngsters attain the age of 18 or graduate from highschool.

A sentencing decide would set the quantity of the funds, bearing in mind the kid’s monetary wants, the monetary assets of the guardian, and the usual of dwelling to which the kid is accustomed.

Defendants who’re in jail and might’t pay could have one yr after launch to start out their funds, the legislature webpage says. If a baby reaches 18 and hasn’t been paid in full, the defendant should make funds till the funds are full.

The concept for the regulation got here from Cecilia Williams, whose son, daughter-in-law, and grandson had been killed in a wreck involving a drunk driver, TV station WTVC reported.

The wreck on April 13, 2021, in Missouri killed Cordell Williams, 30; his spouse Lacey, 25; and their 4-month-old son, Cordell II. The laws known as “Bentley’s Law,” after one among Williams’ surviving grandchildren. The different surviving youngster is Lacey.

Cecilia William’s cousin, Diane Sutton, lives in Tennessee and promoted the thought in her state, WTVC mentioned.

Lawyer Jay Kennamer of Chattanooga mentioned it may be tough to gather the cash as a result of defendants might not have the means to pay the kid assist. However, he thinks the invoice imposes a good punishment.

“If you exit and drive drunk and kill somebody in a wreck on account of the intoxication, it is a foreseeable harm, that you’ve got not solely affected them, you’ve got affected their entire household,” he says.

Williams mentioned, “They will always remember, this is what I did to the family, you know, and it will sink into them. I can’t do this again. You know, I’m supporting children that aren’t mine.”