The husband should have filed for divorce and asked for his children. The court most likely would give the father custody.
Of course I do not know TN family law.
It was a joke. You know, humor. Like the funny kind, only different.
We're embroiled in legal problems in TN over my late father's finances. The long and short of it is that his second wife was in the process of converting his assets to her own name when he had dementia and was hospitalized for surgery. He was mentally sound enough to want out of the marriage. We've found it tough sledding so far, in part because family law in TN is very protective of wives and widows. She ought to be sitting in jail for fraud and elder abuse, but instead we're dealing with a long fight to recover his assets. The local prosecutor said they have too many meth cases to deal with and don't have time to prosecute old ladies, and besides, the judges generally favor the old ladies anyway. Very frustrating.
As to Tennesse, we have a lot of family in West Tennessee, and my experiences with the people there have been very positive. Very kind people - with the exception of Pop's second wife and her family.