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Some people want to have their cake and eat it too. That might be a pretty good depiction of Brooke Mueller, Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife and mother of his two 4-year-old twin boys. The case is not from Michigan but is instructive with respect to child custody. It’s also receiving some national attention for its unique and effective resolution of a difficult custody problem.
Mueller is currently in the Betty Ford clinic in her twentieth rehab stint for drug abuse. Her situation was recently critical enough that child welfare services removed the boys from her custody, and surprisingly, placed physical custody and temporary legal custody with another Sheen ex-spouse, Denise Richards. This was perhaps not so surprising, however, in that Richards also has children with Sheen and she took care of the twins previously. The move did bring the siblings together for probably the best course of action under the circumstances.
Mueller had no objections at first to Richards taking over custody. However, Mueller’s newfound sobriety may have started her thinking. She appears to have realized that she could likely lose her $55,000 per month child support payments from Sheen.
With that as a likely motivation, she abruptly switched strategy and had a lawyer file to have legal custody transferred to her brother. This would have allowed Mueller to continue to control the child support money. She is widely reported to be a lavish spender who uses the support money for a luxurious lifestyle that does not necessarily include her children.
Sheen had approved the idea to allow Richards to step in and take care of the children. However, he objected to Mueller’s turnaround attempt to switch legal custody to the brother. He told the family law judge that he thought Mueller was just trying to hang onto the money.He added that he would gladly pay the money to Richards.
The judge, however, saw through Mueller’s ploy quite readily and flatly ordered child custody to remain in Richards. The decision would have very likely been the same in Michigan or anywhere else. After losing the children and being found to be a danger to their welfare, Mueller could hardly stop the wheels of justice and demand her preference so that she could continue to consume the money for her own purposes.
Source: The Hollywood Gossip, “Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller Legally Brawl Over Custody, Child Support Payments,” Hilton Hater, May 15, 2013
