A new bill being considered in the Tennessee General Assembly will give both parents equal rights in custody disputes.
Under the current system, judges decide how custody is divided between parents. House Bill 2916 seeks to change this practice.
Rep. G. A. Hardaway of Memphis supported the proposed legislation when he defended the bill in state subcommittee sessions last week.
"This isn't about using our children as experiments," Hardaway said. "I think this is about insuring that the constitutional rights that children have are respected and the constitutional rights that parents have are respected."
According to HB 2916, the courts shall order equal parenting time unless the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the parent is unfit or that both parents agree to a parenting plan that does not provide for equal parenting time.
The bill is scheduled for discussion in the Children and Family Affairs Committee on April 6.
Mike Martin, jazz composition senior at The U of M, said that as a father, he supports this bill.
"As I understand it, I would be in favor of equal time," he said. "It seems like it's a step in the right direction."
Martin said that judges should only step in if there is evidence of abuse or if both parents are unable to reach an agreement on custody.
Rep. Mike Bell, another co-sponsor of the bill, said around 75 percent of divorces are brought to court by the woman.
He said the court often looks at the parent that spends the most time caring for the child.
Wilky Fain, a Tennessee dad and activist supporting the bill, said he believes it will be an important step for parental equality.
"In today's court, most of the time, they lean toward the female," he said. "We believe (kids) have a constitutional right to both parents."
Fain said this legislation will help keep children in the lives of both parents.
"Tennessee can step up and lead the way and say parents are equal," he said.
Stephen Cobb of the Tennessee Bar Association said the traditional model of favoring the primary caregiver works well and should not be tampered with.
"Who did most of the parenting in the past is a very, very important factor," he said. "I think it's done that way for a very good reason."
Cobb said that this legislation will be difficult to follow because of the volatile nature of most divorces.
"When you have a divorce situation, by definition things are going to change," he said. "There is no way where you are going to have the same circumstances where everybody sees the child every single day because they are no longer living together."
Fain said the court should have no rights when it comes to child custody.
"Parents' rights trump state rights," he said. "It's up to fit parents to decide, not the court."
