Jesse James and Janine Lindemulder Continue Custody Battle 0
After being released from federal prison and a halfway house, former porn star Janine Lindemulder was awarded unsupervised visitation with her six-year-old daughter, Sunny, last week. Sunny’s father, Lindemulder’s ex-husband (and Sandra Bullock’s soon-to-be ex-husband) Jesse James, isn’t too happy about the latest courtroom developments though.
James apparently refused to hand Sunny over this week for visitation because he felt she would have been at risk. Lindemulder responded by filing a motion to have James held in contempt of court for violating the visitation order.
James’ lawyers went to court on Friday to argue that Lindemulder is a drug addict and that unmonitored visitation would be dangerous to the child. They were armed with a letter from Lindemulder’s current husband, Jeremy Aikman (whom she met and married while in the halfway house). Aikman’s letter indicated that Lindemulder is a prescription drug abuser who buys pills off the street in addition to her legal prescriptions. He said that their home was not a safe environment for children.
Lindemulder presented a second declaration by Aikman though, this one claiming that Lindemulder was fine.
It is not clear exactly what the judge thought of the dueling declarations but, ultimately, the judge denied both sides. James was not held in contempt of court and Lindemulder is to have visitation as originally ordered. Any custody exchange is to be monitored by a third-party.
It is not unusual in a high-conflict relationship for child exchanges to be monitored. Sometimes the third-party monitor is someone mutually agreed upon whom the parties know. Other times, the monitor is part of a court monitored-exchange program and is completed unconnected to the parties.
The monitors serve as an incentive for a conflict-free exchange – as they can and do report an negative incidents to the court if necessary.
Next up in the James-Lindemulder battle: James’ lawyer announced that James intends to move from Southern California to Austin, Texas soon. This move is presumably to be closer to estranged wife Sandra Bullock and the infant that the two intended to adopt together before their sudden split over his infidelities earlier this year. Look for Lindemulder to fight any request to move Sunny to Texas.
Library Topics: visitation, custodial interference, custodial parent request to move
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