Celebrity Divorce Blog | MyFamilyLaw » janine lindemulder

Judge Allows Jesse James to Move Daughter to Texas

K. McKinney — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:57:20 +0000

An Orange County, California judge issued an order earlier today, granting television personality Jesse James’s motion to relocate his daughter Sunny to Texas. James’s ex-wife, porn star Janine Lindemulder, had been fighting the request to move. James has had primary physical custody of the six-year-old for almost two years, since Lindemulder was sent to federal prison for income tax violations.

Judge Thomas Schulte ruled that James will have physical custody of Sunny and Lindemulder, who was recently released from a halfway house, will share legal custody. Lindemulder will have visitation with Sunny once a month in California and will have visitation for half of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, two-thirds of summer vacation and all of spring break.

The judge ordered that Sunny will stay with Lindemulder for the remainder of the summer before moving to Texas to attend school in the fall. Financial issues will be determined at a later court date.

Judge Schulte said he based his decision on Sunny’s bond with her siblings that live with their father and the fact that “she is doing well in her father’s care.” James recently indicated that he planned to move to Austin with his children from a first marriage, Chandler, 15, and Jesse Jr., 12, for business purposes and so that the children could maintain a relationship with their former stepmother, actress Sandra Bullock. James’s third ex-wife, Bullock moved to Austin after their split this spring. Bullock recently adopted an infant son, to whom Lindemulder has said Sunny is close.

The judge had concerns about that Lindemulder was in a “fragile position to make poor decisions,” including the one to marry an ex-con while incarcerated (from whom she is already separated), despite it being a probation violation.

Although she sobbed upon hearing the judge’s decision, Lindemulder said, after court, “[Sunny] will be fine. It hurts. Sandy is good. Jesse is good. Sunny loves baby Louis. She’s excited to move to Texas. [Bullock] will be good for her.” She also indicated that she couldn’t compete with James and Bullock and the “nice things they provide.” She then indicated that she may though allow Sunny to move to Texas early.

Lindemulder previously accused James of moving to simply try to win Bullock back at the expense of Lindemulder’s relationship with Sunny.

In most states, the custodial parent must provide the non-custodial parent with notice of an intention to move the child out-of-state or even to a local or in-state location which might affect visitation. The non-custodial parent then has an opportunity to oppose the move and force the relocating parent to seek the court’s approval.

In considering such a request, the court will look into the reasons the custodial parent wishes to move, the negative impact, if any, the move may have on visitation and the child’s relationship with the non-custodial parent as well as potential advantages to moving the child, such as continued relationships with siblings. When a move is authorized, the court will generally adjust visitation to accommodate longer but less-frequent periods of visitation (as in this case) and require transportation costs to be borne by the moving parent.

Library Topics: visitation, custodial parent request to move, sole physical custody, joint legal custody

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Jesse James and Janine Lindemulder Continue Custody Battle

K. McKinney — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:33:51 +0000

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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Sandra Bullock Faces Losing Stepkids if Divorcing Jesse James

K. McKinney — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:20:53 +0000

This week’s celebrity news has been overwhelmed by news of Jesse James’ alleged infidelity in his marriage to Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock. Bullock reportedly moved out of the couple’s home in southern California after another woman reported that she had carried on an 11-month affair with James last year.

Bullock and James have been married for five years and Bullock is, by all accounts, an involved stepmother to James’ three kids (Chandler, Jesse Jr. and Sunny). She even testified in court in support of James’ efforts to keep custody of six-year-old Sunny against James’ ex-wife, porn star Janine Lindemulder.

Now, though, Bullock faces a possible divorce from James and the loss of the children. As a stepmother, she does not have any legal rights or obligations regarding the children of an ex-spouse.

She is not a biological or adoptive parent to any of the children. So, despite the fact that she apparently has been very involved in raising Sunny for as long as the child can remember, any visitation she may have will be dependent on what the children’s parents determine. As both mother and father of all three children (the older two were from James’ first marriage; Sunny from his second) are all still living and involved in their children’s lives, it is unlikely that a court would grant stepparent visitation over the objection of either legal parent.

Another potential implication of this split could be renewed turmoil in James’ custody case against Lindemulder. James and Bullock presented a united front and a stable household when seeking custody of Sunny. Now that his home life seems less than stable, Lindemulder could go back to court with a modification request.

Library Topics: adultery, custody, divorce, visitation, stepparent visitation, modification of child custody

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Jesse James Wins Custody Battle Against Janine Lindemulder

K. McKinney — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:09:37 +0000

Jesse James, motorcycle builder, host of TV shows such as “Monster Garage” and husband of Sandra Bullock, won the latest custody battle between he and his ex-wife, Janine Lindemulder, over their five-year-old daughter, Sunny. Lindemulder is a former adult film star and is still working in the adult entertainment industry – although apparently not in front of the cameras.

A California judge denied Lindemulder’s request for extended custody of Sunny. Lindemulder, a former adult film star, sought to expand her current visitation to include overnight stays. Her visitation is still restricted to daytime hours only.

James took full custody of Sunny earlier this year when Lindemulder was sentenced to federal prison for tax law violations. She was released from prison this summer but has been required to live in a halfway house until recently.

While in the halfway house, Lindemulder met and married Jeremy Aikman, a convicted felon. Aikman was finishing up a four year sentence for being a felon in possession of a weapon.

After she was released from the halfway house, the family court commissioner granted Lindemulder daytime weekend visitation rights on the condition that she not consume any drugs or alcohol and that she keep Sunny away from Aikman. Then, more recently, Lindemulder requested the now-denied overnight visitation as well.

Despite James’ protests, the court did grant Lindemulder the ability to keep Sunny overnight on Christmas Eve. She must return Sunny to James by noon on Christmas.

In my experience, there is a high likelihood that the court’s custody decision is not based entirely on Lindemulder’s failure to pay income taxes and six months in prison. The commissioner must determine what custody arrangement is in the best interests of the child. The drug and alcohol abstinence conditions for visitation lead me to believe that Lindemulder has (or had) a drug and/or alcohol dependency – which addiction forms the basis for James’ allegations that she is unfit to make decisions for the child or have unsupervised, overnight visitation.

Lindemulder is scheduled to appear for a hearing next week on a possible violation of the terms of her supervised release, relating to her tax violation sentence.

Jesse James Goes Back to Court Over Daughter With Janine Lindemulder

K. McKinney — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:19:50 +0000

Motorcycle builder/reality television star Jesse James was in an Orange County, California court last week, where a judge was to decide whether his ex-wife Janine Lindemulder is fit to share custody of their 5-year-old daughter, Sunny. James owns the West Coast Choppers motorcycle shop and stars in the Discovery Channel show, “Monster Garage.” Lindemulder is a former Penthouse model and porn star. She has recently been serving a federal prison term for tax evasion.

The judge ruled that, for the next sixty days, Lindemulder will get six hours of visitation every Sunday and may pick up and drop off the child from 10:00am-4:00p.m. She may take the child on trips to the park and does not have to be monitored. Presumably, the custody arrangement will be reviewed after sixty days. The next hearing is scheduled for December 7th 2009.

James was granted full custody of Sunny while Lindemulder served her six-month prison term. Lindemulder has more recently been residing in a Los Angeles halfway house. James took Sunny to visit Lindemulder several times after she moved to the halfway house this summer. He claims that Lindemulder demanded that he leave the little girl there for three hours during a September visit, then called and asked him to pick her up early.

In his court filings, James asked the court to conduct a review upon Lindemulder’s release from custody to determine if their daughter will be safe during any custody/visitation time with Lindemulder.

In her court income declaration, a standard filing in family law cases, Lindemulder indicated that she works for Earl Miller Photography as a set designer. The company’s Web site carries a warning: “Contains explicit hardcore sexual images – minors under 18 (or under 21 where applicable) must leave now!”

At the hearing, James’ attorney raised concerns that Lindemulder had recently married someone she met at her halfway house. Her new husband has a criminal history including numerous felonies. His convictions include possession of a sawed-off shot gun, methamphetamine manufacture and possession, several DUIs, and driving without a license.

James and Lindemulder divorced in 2004, when Lindemulder was about eight months pregnant with their daughter. James married actress Sandra Bullock the next year.

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Jesse James Gets Custody as Ex Heads to Prison

Jesse James Gets Custody as Ex Heads to Prison

K. McKinney — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:25:40 +0000

TV personality and motorcycle builder Jesse James (West Coast Choppers and Monster Garage) has been awarded temporary full custody of his five year old daughter Sunny by a California court. Sunny’s mother (James’ ex-wife and porn star) Janine Lindemulder was recently sentenced to six months in prison by an Oregon federal judge. She reports to prison next month.

From 2000 through 2006, Lindemulder spent over $750,000 on homes, vehicles, furniture and a piano, while failing to voluntarily make any payments to the IRS. Those purchases included a home in Eugene, Oregon. During this period, she owed the IRS over $200,000.

Lindemulder was married to James from 2002 to 2004. Based upon the court documents, it appears that she owed income tax for the six years prior to her marriage to James and also failed to pay taxes upon separating from James in 2004.

After Lindemulder serves her six months in federal prison, she will be on one year of supervised release (probation). As a condition of her supervised release, she will be required to live in a “residential re-entry center” (commonly known as a halfway house) for up to six additional months. In addition, she must pay all her outstanding taxes,which currently are about $294,000.

So, it looks like James and his current wife, actress Sandra Bullock, will have full custody of Sunny for somewhere close to a year. James began dating Bullock just a month before Sunny was born, having split with Lindemulder while she was pregnant (they later divorced). James and Bullock reportedly sought to modify custody of the child several years ago due to suspicious marks and bruises they observed.

One note: OK! Magazine and The National Enquirer both report that Lindemulder was convicted of tax evasion. She was not. Maybe it’s just the picky attorney in me, but their fact-checkers need to do a better job. Lindemulder was convicted of failing to pay taxes, a federal misdemeanor. Failure to pay taxes is a different crime than income tax evasion. It may seem like technicalities or semantics – but there’s a difference and they should get it right before reporting it. (Oh, and the Enquirer may win the most-distasteful headline award for “Sandra Bullock Gets Porn Star Kid”. Unbelievable.)