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Please, Think Of The Children
As long as you don’t stop paying my fee
Stacy Phillips, a Los Angeles divorce lawyer, issued a press release yesterday with an excellent commentary on the effect of celebrity divorce on children, motivated by the public antics surrounding the divorce of Michael and Dina Lohan, parents of Lindsay Lohan.
Phillips represents the exes of a pantheon of celebrities, including the ex-wife of L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Tori Spelling's ex-husband, and the ex-wife of Jean Claude Van Damme.
Phillips makes a number of excellent observations of value not only to celebrities, but to any parents navigating the waters of divorce.
"Have you asked yourself if the divorce war in which you are engaged is about you or your children?" writes Phillips. "Are you engaged in a legal battle to get back at your ex or are you sincerely in a custody fight because you feel being in one is in the children's best interests?" I think we can all say "amen" to that.
As insightful as the piece is, though, I have to question how much Phillips practices what she preaches. As reported here on First Wives World, Phillips recently filed a motion in Orange County Superior Court on behalf of Bobby Brown, seeking to overturn his divorce from Whitney Houston. Brown claims that since the judgment became final in April, custody and visitation issues have arisen, depriving him of contact with fourteen-year-old Bobbi Kristina.
While the motion claims Brown lacked sufficient time to respond to Houston's filings, the unusual request to overturn the entire divorce judgment — rather than the more routine appeal or request to modify custody determinations — has led some to suggest Brown may be using custody issues as a way to revisit other portions of the decision.
It would seem that in the Brown case, Phillips is masterminding exactly what she condemns: using children to get back at the ex. In the end, her article presents valuable insight for parents in divorce, and the Brown case doesn't change that. It's very hard, though, to maintain credibility when preaching at the choir if you're the one leading them into temptation.
Click here to read the press release.
This should be everyone's first consideration
Think of the kids. I've seen friends of mine act so neanderthal in front of their kids when they were fighting or going through a separation. Wake up you idiots! Kids don't understand! Give them a chance in life to understand and recognize they need dialogue to help them through everything.