Bentley’s law makes its way to Alabama - WDHN

DOTHAN, Ala. (WDHN) — House Bill 114, otherwise known as Bentley’s law, has recently been proposed in the Alabama legislature and is aimed to keep people from drinking and driving.

This comes as legislation in Missouri was proposed by Cecilia Williams last year after her son, his fiance, and their infant son were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver.

Williams says her main goal for this bill is the financial responsibility of the offender to pay child support to any child, up to the age of 19, who lost a parent this way.

Now, Alabama State Representative Proncey Robertson is proposing this bill here in Alabama.

“The person would be responsible to pay child support to the surviving parent or the new guardians of that child including if it was for instance like the DHR,” Robertson said.

In cases such as these, the drunk driver frequently serves time behind bars. In which case, they are still required to make the payments.

“When they are released from custody, they would still be responsible for the full amount of that support from the time of the accident until they turned 19,” Robertson said.

Robertson says that unless the victim or their family files civil litigation, there is no way under Alabama law for an orphaned child to get compensated in situations such as this.

“It is a difficult number to set in a criminal trial,” Robertson said. “It is hard to put a price tag on what it costs to raise a child and this new law is designed to help do that.”

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source: https://www.wdhn.com/news/local-news/bentleys-law-makes-its-way-to-alabama/

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