S05.E18: Divorce

[ladle]

Also, I watched the commercial where Meri signs the documents and talks about her heart pounding (and I also saw Robyn's gross fake-crying face), and I wondered if Meri was talking and moving so slowly because -- even IF she was a part of the decision -- deep down she was hoping the Kody would yell, "STOP!  Don't sign it!  I can't let you do this, I love you too much!"

Watching that scene, I felt a weird emotion I'd never felt before.  I felt legitimately sorry for Meri.

 

Janelle must be dead inside not to have paper cut Robyn to death with her own Victoria Secret credit card statements.

 

This is fantastic prose.

[AZChristian]

I'm not sure if I've seen this opinion espoused before - here or elsewhere.

 

Knowing how good these bottom feeders are at milking a system, I'm pretty sure that Robyn's son (whatever his name is this week) is getting SSI for his disability.  It may be that by marrying Robyn, Kody has figured a way that he can get his hands on "her" income - child support and SSI - for his own personal gain.  And he's cutting Meri in on the action so she can extend her wet bar.

 

Makes as much sense as any other reason they're going through with this charade.

[Absolom]

SSI has family resource and income limits.  I'm not sure David/Dayton qualifies.  The disability also has to be severe enough for him to meet the disability standards and he seems to be mild enough to be in regular classes so may not meet that qualification either.  

[AZChristian]

SSI has family resource and income limits.  I'm not sure David/Dayton qualifies.  The disability also has to be severe enough for him to meet the disability standards and he seems to be mild enough to be in regular classes so may not meet that qualification either.

Robyn is probably employed on paper for a pittance by Brown Family Entertainment. She's a single mom with 4 kids. They probably have next to no equity in any of the homes. I'm pretty sure that on paper, she looks financially destitute, And if she needs lessons on how to milk the system, she can always watch Judge Judy to see how the real pros do it..

[Absolom]

He would still have to qualify medically and he doesn't seem severe enough. I think the Browns are well enough known that they might be required to produce the books for the corporation.  I reviewed trust documents where people tried to hide things when I was making determinations. 

 

The requirements:

 

 

 

Impairments that Qualify for Autism Disability Benefits
Medically documented findings of all three of the following:
Qualitative deficits in the development of reciprocal social interaction; and
Qualitative deficits in verbal and nonverbal communication and in imaginative activity; and
Markedly restricted repertoire of activities and interests.
AND

The findings in Paragraph A must result in the criteria listed in Paragraph B1 of Section 112.02 to demonstrate the severity of the impairment:
For older infants and toddlers aged 1-3, having no more than one-half the age appropriate level of functioning in one of the areas set forth in subparagraphs a-c below, OR having no more than two-thirds the age appropriate level of functioning for two or more of the areas set forth in subparagraphs a-c below:
Gross or fine motor development; or
Cognitive/communicative function; or
Social function.
OR

For children aged 3-18, marked age appropriate impairment in two of the areas set forth in subparagraphs a-d below:
Cognitive/communicative function; and/or
Social functioning; and/or
Personal functioning; and/or
Maintaining concentration, persistence, or pace.

 

[AZChristian]

I've heard of something called a "crazy check" that's not uncommon in some communities. Parents have one or more kids and know how to have them deemed as special needs or some other hard-to-challenge health issue. It's one way to draw more government assistance. I've heard references to this on several court shows.

[Absolom]

That's one reason the children's standards of disability were changed.

[AZChristian]

That's good to hear.  I must admit then when Kody said that David/Dayton DIDN'T have Aspergers or autism . . . and Robyn immediately piped up with, "He's been TESTED, and he IS" . . . I made the assumption that she was panic-stricken at the idea of someone "official" hearing Kody's opinion.  I still wonder about that. 

[Absolom]

It could be school rather than SSI.  He's probably entitled to special services at school. David comes across to me like a friend of mine does.  She has no symptoms that really stop her from living a relatively normal life.  She does come across as somewhat naive or immature in certain settings though.  In dealing with her in texts or email you don't pick up on anything at all wrong.  It's only when you take her out to something a bit more complex like a tourist attraction or a nice dinner that you get that different feeling.  

 

ETA:  I forgot part of what I wanted to say.  While my friend is an adult and can work and not be thought more than slightly eccentric or a bit immature, she hangs onto the diagnosis like a lifeline when maybe she'd function better in life without making it such a thing.  It could be something similar with Robyn.  The BUT he's DIAGNOSED!!!!  I fear sometimes it's used an excuse or an I'm special and don't you forget it.  

Edited March 27, 2015 by Absolom

[GEML]

He's almost certainly entitled to services at school, but he's a highly verbal, obviously high functioning young man in a family living in a home recently purchased for nearly half a million dollars. He's not receiving SSI. Promise.

[BlackWidow]

 Even if she does get something for her son, I don't care, that is a mere raindrop in all that has been siphoned into the giant slop bucket in all the collective plyg-styes .

[purpleflowers]

Not that this is anything new, but wow the Browns are bad liars! I got really bored one day recently and watched this episode again from my DVR and in the first scene with the lawyer, the lawyer essentially tells Meri  "yes, you can get a divorce because you agree to it and Kody agrees to it." And then a little bit later, we see Kody in a talking head saying he has no idea what Meri wants to talk about! What a fail. 

[nightmeri]

Reality tea claims Mary is leaving Kody http://www.realitytea.com/2015/05/04/meri-brown-quitting-sister-wives-leaving-kody-brown/

[SometimesBites]

Much as I'd love to see Meri or any one of the women leave the Kody Brown Traveling Road Show, I don't believe it will happen. She's going through a big life shift, with Mariah in college and her marriage tossed away like a broken shoe. I think Meri's twitter postings about transformation, etc., are just the usual weird way they have of trying to express themselves. I mean, WHAT is with these women and the Jack Handy faux wisdom sound bites? They have to have multiple posters on every wall saying deep things--I've never seen anything like it.

[Galloway Cave]

 

I mean, WHAT is with these women and the Jack Handy faux wisdom sound bites? They have to have multiple posters on every wall saying deep things--I've never seen anything like it.

It's one thing to wake up every morning and reassure yourself that everything is going to be OK and life will work out; it's another thing to post some insipid saying on social media every three hours. Are people supposed to respond to them? Do they really make her feel better? She must spend hours searching online for them. 

[SometimesBites]

I watched a big chunk of the divorce episode yesterday for the first time. After seeing still shots and reading discussion about the particulars here and at CJ's blog, I simply couldn't bring myself to actually watch it until yesterday when I got extremely bored. I still haven't seen the whole thing...I watched a while, fumed a while, yelled at the TV in disgust, and turned it off again. I've gotten as far as the day of the paper signing, and Meri saying that there's sort of a solemn feeling about the whole thing. *facepalm

 

No shit, Meri. YOU'RE GETTING A DIVORCE.

 

For now, I'll just say that Robyn's facial contortions during Meri's "announcement" were the worst acting I've seen since my 33-year-old son was 2 and used to track me down and say, "I didn't do anything," often with some sort of contraband held behind his back. Robyn's need to look sorrowfully grateful was wrestling with her inner GLEE...and the glee was definitely winning. You could see that both Robyn and Kody were absolutely delighted. DELIGHTED.

 

Also: 1. Kody was a pussy to not be there when Christine and Janelle were told. 2. When Meri kept remarking that Janelle wasn't saying anything, that wasn't concern for Janelle's feelings. That was Meri being pissed that one of the wives was DARING not to rush over and hug her for her uber-sacrifice.

[BlackWidow]

I watched a big chunk of the divorce episode yesterday for the first time. After seeing still shots and reading discussion about the particulars here and at CJ's blog, I simply couldn't bring myself to actually watch it until yesterday when I got extremely bored. I still haven't seen the whole thing...I watched a while, fumed a while, yelled at the TV in disgust, and turned it off again. I've gotten as far as the day of the paper signing, and Meri saying that there's sort of a solemn feeling about the whole thing. *facepalm

 

No shit, Meri. YOU'RE GETTING A DIVORCE.

 

For now, I'll just say that Robyn's facial contortions during Meri's "announcement" were the worst acting I've seen since my 33-year-old son was 2 and used to track me down and say, "I didn't do anything," often with some sort of contraband held behind his back. Robyn's need to look sorrowfully grateful was wrestling with her inner GLEE...and the glee was definitely winning. You could see that both Robyn and Kody were absolutely delighted. DELIGHTED.

 

Also: 1. Kody was a pussy to not be there when Christine and Janelle were told. 2. When Meri kept remarking that Janelle wasn't saying anything, that wasn't concern for Janelle's feelings. That was Meri being pissed that one of the wives was DARING not to rush over and hug her for her uber-sacrifice.

 

   Agree with bad acting. "Ahr yew shure?" Who knows, maybe she really was sure, but she didn't want it to be like "Oh, OK, cool, well that's done then. Thanks. Bye." Maybe she was hoping both of them would have resisted it more, not just the pathetic "I want to make sure nothing will change." Umm it already has changed quite a bit but thanks for that barely-there show of 'Ya still lurve me babe, dontcha? Kewl! OK gotta go!"  He didn't want to be there because he knew they would all turn to him with either disbelief, shock, disapointment or hope or all of the above. Can just hear him saying "it's better this way, you're so good at this, I buhhleeeveee in yew...if yew lurve somethin, set it free...and I'll come back to yew baby, I prahmuss I weelll"...

 

The comment about Janelle not saying anything I'm not sure if it was what you read in it, or if it was more of putting her on the spot as maybe the only person who might throw a fit and try to veto it, or if it wasn't that, maybe it was that it was both the shock of what a stupid idea it was number one, not knowing whether the father would even sign off on the kids and it sounded like a made-up plot device at best and at worst, Meri was ready to jump ship and number two, it was kind of a surprise slap to Janelle, as being second wife maybe there is some presumption of order of who 'succeeds' who in the lineup. Oh right, and the tons of kids that are not maybe-going-to-be-adopted-kids but actually his own kids, grown or not. There's that.

 

So that might have felt like an extra FU to Janelle from  all three: Meri, Kody and Robin, each in their own way. One maybe "I never liked you and was mean to you, but you held onto it and put it out there in public, so na na, I gave him to Robin. I'd throw myself under the bus to take another stab at you.."  Another (Kody) maybe like "Oh come on, be a sport, we were always 'friends with benefits (and tons of kids) anyway, right ol' pal? I knew you'd be cool! See you next weekend for binge watching (whatever)!" and yet another, totally not even thinking about anyone else. Robin: "whose mad again? omg omg I'm ssoooooo happy! wheee! "

[kassa]

I wouldn't call those tweets evidence of pending divorce.... yet if Kody's wishing her a happy 25th and hoping for 25 more and she's not acknowledging anything he's tweeting?  While she's actively retweeting other people's stuff?  Hmmm.