What does a father have to do to get custody of the children

The below is the Tennessee custody law, edited a bit for clarity. It lists everything a Court has to consider. Not sure what 'get custody' means. If you mean you want to go away from the equal time, and be the primary or even sole legal custodian, you will have to prove that is in the child's best interest using the factors below. If she wants to go away from the equal time, she will have to prove the same on the other side. If you have equal time, but you earn more than her, probably you will still pay child support. Not wanting to pay child support is (obviously) not going to be a reason you can give the court why you should have more custody than mother, just like wanting to get more child support would not be a good reason.       https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-36-domestic-relations/tn-code-sect-36-6-106.html