sandra bullock's role as step parent

Joanna Grossman, If Sandra Bullock Divorces Jesse James What Rights or Privileges Will She Have With Respect to His Young Daughter Sunny, Whom She Has Helped Raise?

While we rarely address 'celebrity' subjects on SeniorWomen.com, we did find Joanna Grossman's article about the future role Sandra Bullock could play in her stepdaughter's life interesting because of its complex legal relationship questions:

"By now, the troubles in the marriage of Sandra Bullock and Jesse James are well-known: At least five women have claimed affairs with James. Bullock has moved out, and is reportedly ready to file for divorce."

"There are obvious parallels here to the Tiger Woods scandal: A claim of sex addiction by the cheating husband, a stint in sex rehab, and more and more women emerging, over time, to claim affairs. But there is an important difference, too."

"Elin Nordegren will very likely get primary custody of her children in the event of divorce – for she is their legal mother, has been their primary caretaker, and would likely stack up better than Tiger in a prong-by-prong assessment of relative parental fitness."

"In contrast, although Sandra Bullock has played a major caretaking role with respect to James's children – especially his six-year-old daughter Sunny, from his second marriage – Bullock probably will not receive legal custody, for reasons I will explain, though she may be granted visitation."

The Criteria for Legal Parenthood – and How They Apply in the Bullock/James Case

"A legal parent is someone who, by virtue of a particular tie to a child, is endowed with constitutionally-protected rights, and subject to potentially onerous obligations. A biological mother is a legal parent unless and until her parental rights are terminated. A biological father is a legal parent if he is married to the child's mother at the time of conception or birth, or if some other criterion for fatherhood is met – such as an adjudication or acknowledgment of paternity, or his openly holding out the child as his own."

"Under these basic principles, Sunny has two legal parents: her biological mother Janine Lindemulder, a porn star who was recently released from jail after serving six months for tax evasion, and Jesse James, who was married to Janine when Sunny was born."

"James and Lindemulder divorced shortly after Sunny's birth in 2004. In 2005, Jesse married Sandra Bullock. Bullock has, by all accounts, been an integral part of Sunny's life since infancy. Sunny has lived in their home and, since December 2009, James has had sole legal custody of Sunny. In October 2009, after Lindemulder was released from jail, she sought to regain custody of Sunny. But James successfully fought off her attempt; instead, the court awarded full custody to James last December, giving Lindemulder only limited weekly daytime visitation rights."

"As Sunny's stepmother, Bullock is neither a legal parent, nor a co-custodian. However, her presence in the home and her relationship with Sunny were highly relevant to the court's decision to allow James to retain full custody. And, as long as she remains married to James, and he retains custody of Sunny, she will have the chance to continue effectively (but not legally) parenting Sunny, just as she had been doing."

"But what if she files for divorce? Generally, when a relationship is created by marriage – as in the case of a stepparent or a mother- or brother-in-law – it terminates when the marriage is dissolved. Thus, for instance, a mother-in-law becomes a "legal stranger" to the person her son or daughter has divorced. ("Legal stranger" is a term coined by my colleague John DeWitt Gregory in the family law context.) And a stepmother, for the most part, suffers the same fate with respect to a stepchild, when she divorces the child's legal parent: After the divorce, she is generally a legal stranger to the child. Fortunately, in California – as I explain below – that is not quite the case."

Parents v. Non-Parents: A Battle of Constitutional Importance

"The distinction between legal parents and legal strangers is paramount in determining the rights various adults have with respect to the care, custody, and visitation of children. A battle for custody between two legal parents, neither of whom has been declared legally unfit, is straightforwardly about the best interests of the child. The court asks: Given a variety of factors, which parent is best suited to have custody? But a battle between a parent and a non-parent is completely different."

"It is virtually impossible for a non-parent to successfully obtain legal custody of a child who has at least one fit parent. Visitation is sometimes possible – but may be hard to come by."

"The leading ruling on visitation was handed down in 2000 by the US Supreme Court in Troxel v. Granville. That case concerned a Washington State law that allowed any third party to petition for visitation with a child at any time. It also permitted courts to grant such petitions over parental objection as long as it was in the best interests of the child. (The statute was not limited to any special situations – such as where one parent had been declared unfit or was divorced or widowed.)"

Read the rest of Joanna Grossman's article at FindLaw.

Relationships and Going Places, News and Issues, Grandparenting, Senior Women Web

Joanna Grossman, If Sandra Bullock Divorces Jesse James What Rights or Privileges Will She Have With Respect to His Young Daughter Sunny, Whom She Has Helped Raise?

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