Reality show star Kate Gosselin has asked a Pennsylvania judge to dismiss her ex-husband’s request for primary custody of their eight children and a review of his $20,000+ a month child support obligation. Kate’s lawyer says that almost every aspect of Jon Gosselin’s legal filing violates court rules and other legal requirements.

Kate Gosselin filed an objection to her ex’s request, stating that it improperly combined child custody and child support requests which, she claims, should be filed in separate actions and separate court offices. Kate’s lawyer also points out that Jon’s pleading fails to set forth the basic information required for any custody request.

Finally, Kate argues that Jon’s request that the child support award be reviewed “de novo” – which is basically an appeal (and is unexplicably late, as noted in our previous post) – is inappropriate and that it fails to meet any of the procedural requirements for modification.

Kate Gosselin’s lawyer told gossip website TMZ the papers filed by Jon are “incoherent and filed by someone who clearly didn’t know what he was doing.”

Although I’m certainly no expert on Berks County, Pennsylvania family law’s procedural requirements, I have looked at Jon Gosselin’s filing (you can too – it’s here at TMZ.com) and I’m inclined to agree with Kate Gosselin’s position on this one. Jon’s pleading doesn’t appear to cite or comply with most standard modification procedural requirements. The child support portion of it, especially, leaves me scratching my head.

My guess is that Jon’s lawyer (who, if his firm’s website is to be believed, appears to have no family law experience) will find a local divorce lawyer to affiliate with and the pleadings will be amended before the parties proceed.

Library Topics: Pennsylvania family law, primary residential custody, child support, modification of support, divorce lawyer

See Also:

• Jon Gosselin Seeks Modification of Custody and Support