After reading through the court documents of the Bristol/Levi case more thoroughly, I have come to this conclusion: Van Flein better step it up a notch.While Butler's tactics are clearly of the scumbag variety and his ends are clearly wrong, he's also staying clearly legal. Van Flein's been fighting based on right and wrong (with a few legalities thrown into the mix); Butler has no "right" to fight from so he's fighting from pure law. Van Flein better fight the enemy where the enemy lives.
Some of the things in his arguments to keep the case closed to the media were just plain sloppy. First off, it appears that one of the documents that was supposed to be turned in to the court was turned in late.
At another point, Van Flein used a tweet from a fake twitter account (at least I'm pretty sure it's fake, unless Tom knows something I don't know) that was supposedly Levi's as part of his evidence.
Sloppy, Flein. Get it together, NOW.
I know you're a good lawyer, but Rex has been gearing up for this for a year, and he's going to use every dirty tactic in the book while always keeping his big toe just within the line of the law.
You're going to need to do the same. Unfortunately, scumbaggery doesn't matter; the fact that Levi's a douchebag doesn't matter; only the law matters.
And sometimes the law sucks.
3 comments:
Since Bristol & Levi were not married would this not have greater impact on Bristol gaining FULL custody of Tripp, especially with her offering visitation to Levi.
Not familiar with Alaska law, but under what circumstances would just the sperm donor have more consideration than only visiting rights?
Bristol's case sounds perfectly reasonable to me, and hopefully the judge will rule in her favor.
I would even be okay with a stipulation saying that the court will revisit the case in a few years and if Levi has gotten his high school equivalent, has a real job, and has matured, then they could work out some kind of joint custody.
But Alaska law says this:
Additionally, a biological father can ask that the court issue an order for custody and visitation rights so that he can spend time with the child. A father must file a Complaint for Custody, and present proof to the court that the custody and visitation rights he desires are in the best interests of the child. The court will ultimately issue an Order for Custody, making its determination as to that issue.
Years ago, a rule called the "tender years doctrine" stated that young children should remain in the custody of their mothers. Today, this rule is gone. The law states that "neither parent, regardless of the question of a child's legitimacy, is entitled to preference in the awarding of custody. Both parents have equal rights regarding custody, until a court orders otherwise.
During the time that a court considers an award of custody, Alaska law provides that each parent has equal access to their children, to the greatest degree practicable, unless it is shown to be detrimental to a child's welfare. After a judge has considered all of the factors involved in deciding custody, an order can be issued which grants sole legal custody (giving one parent the ability to make decisions regarding the children) or primary physical custody (giving one parent more time with the children) to one parent. Alaska laws provide that parents who are not granted custody have the same access to medical, dental, school and other records of the child as the parent who has custody.
A court may award shared legal custody to both parents if shared custody is determined to be in the best interests of the child. Shared legal custody means that the court can allow for both parents to make important decisions together about the needs of their children.
--------------
I'm not sure what all of that means, but it seems like Bristol is going for full LEGAL custody of Tripp with a visitation schedule. It could work out to be just like joint custody, only Bristol maintains full legal rights, but I really don't know. All I know is that it is sickening that douchebags can get away with the garbage they get away with. But it's legal.
Link to Alaska law - http://www.alaska.net/~pradell/Information/UnwedCustody.html
Post a Comment