Tennessee started it. Texas followed. Now six states have signed versions of what’s known as Bentley’s Law — legislation that forces convicted drunk drivers to pay court-ordered child support to every child they orphan when they kill a parent behind the wheel. The idea is simple, the math is undeniable, and the momentum is growing fast.
The law is named after Bentley and Mason, two brothers who lost both of their parents in a drunk driving crash in 2021. Their story reached state legislators and sparked a movement that has now crossed multiple state lines. Tennessee passed the first version of Bentley’s Law in 2023. Texas, Maine, Kentucky, and several other states followed with their own versions. A Tennessee family has already received the first child support payments under the law — money the convicted drunk driver is legally required to send every single month until those children reach adulthood.
Here’s how it works: after conviction, the court sets a monthly payment amount based on three factors — the financial needs of the orphaned children, the resources available to any surviving guardian, and the convicted driver’s ability to pay. The payments continue until the child turns 18 or graduates high school, whichever comes later. This is not optional restitution. It’s not a one-time fine. It’s a standing court order, fully enforceable the same way any child support judgment is enforced under state law. Miss a payment, face the same consequences any parent would face for dodging child support.
The concept is spreading quickly. Bentley’s Law has now been introduced in more than 20 states across the country. Missouri is currently pushing its own version — ironically notable because the original concept reportedly traces back to a Missouri family whose loss inspired the entire movement. Beyond individual state action, advocates are now pushing for a federal version that would extend the child support requirement nationwide, closing the gap in states where the legislature has yet to act.
The bill has drawn strong support from victim advocacy groups, family law attorneys, and legislators on both sides of the aisle who see it as a straightforward accountability measure. When a drunk driver kills a parent, they don’t just take a life — they eliminate a source of income, housing stability, and daily care for every child that parent was raising. Bentley’s Law says the person responsible for that financial devastation should bear some of the cost of it.
Critics have raised enforcement questions — particularly around drivers who have no income or significant assets at the time of sentencing. What good is a court order against someone with nothing to their name? Supporters counter that circumstances change. A court order follows a convicted person for years. As they rebuild their life, work, and earn — the obligation remains. Garnished wages, seized tax returns, and suspended licenses are all tools already built into the child support enforcement system that can be applied here.
The broader argument supporters make is moral rather than purely practical: drunk driving is a choice. Getting behind the wheel impaired is a decision a person makes, not an accident in the traditional sense. When that choice ends in the death of a parent, the children left behind didn’t choose anything. The financial burden of their upbringing shouldn’t fall entirely on surviving grandparents, aunts and uncles, or state foster systems. The person who made the choice that orphaned them should carry a share of that weight.
Six states have now agreed. More than a dozen others are working on it. Whether Bentley’s Law becomes federal policy may depend on how the next few state-level fights play out — but the direction of travel is clear. The era of drunk drivers walking away from the financial fallout of the lives they destroy may be coming to an end.