S06.E01: A Secret Marriage and Sister Wives Unseen

[Toaster Strudel]

Maybe they have a family of goldfish that the internet sales help keep in fish flakes.

[SometimesBites]

I just did a quick perusal of the Clark County recorder's office records, and there have been no title changes recorded either Robyn's house or Kody and Meri's house. The last thing recorded for Robyn's house that I found was a release from a hospital lien on the property in August of 2014.

[Xena]

Not that I am defending Kodouche and Sobbyn, but speaking as someone whose step-father legally adopted me when I was 8 years old, my parents asked me first, before filing. Of course, if was for appearances. What would have happened if I had said, "no thanks?" 

 

 

ChicksDigScars, thank you for responding as someone who has been there - maybe there are circumstances where it might be good to bring the kids in at some point - and in your case, I also see how confusing it is for the kid, either way  :(

 

I think what is sad is that with the Brown klan - I don't think they even did a basic Google search, spending five minutes to find out that ultimately they will most likely need for Jessop to relinquish his rights.  W/out knowing if an adoption is even a possibility, they brought the kids into the discussion.  Maybe - after laying the groundwork, speaking with lawyers, and seeing if there is a chance - THEN it might have been a time to broach the subject... it also brings to mind (albeit on much less serious matters) how disbelieving the older Brown children were when discussing their parent's plans - it was obvious that the Brown adults are very accustomed to promising the kids things that simply never happen.

 

And btw - you never have to start any post with 'not that I'm defending' any of the Browns.  None of us here have that ability.  :)

Edited September 15, 2015 by Xena

[greekmom]

I just did a quick perusal of the Clark County recorder's office records, and there have been no title changes recorded either Robyn's house or Kody and Meri's house. The last thing recorded for Robyn's house that I found was a release from a hospital lien on the property in August of 2014.

Why would there be a hospital lien on Sobin's house?

[CofCinci]

The hospital lien is hysterical because of all the debt out in the world, hospital debt is usually the easiest to manage. $25/month usually keeps the hospital happy. As long as you discuss the debt with them, they're usually very receptive to receive whatever they can. Robyn couldn't even manage that?

Again, I'm very interested to see what happens with these four half-million dollar houses in the next few months.

[Kohola3]

As long as you discuss the debt with them, they're usually very receptive to receive whatever they can. Robyn couldn't even manage that?

 

She was very busy managing the massive income from the Closet that Kadoofus says maintains the families in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.

Better start downsizing their expectations.  Those houses will be history very soon.

[AZChristian]

I think it's from when Dayton hurt his eye.

The lien was from before Dayton hurt his eye.  And it takes a long time of neglecting hospital bills before they go to a collection agency and then have a lien filed.

[Oldernowiser]

IIRC, the board rumor was that it was for the birth of the last Robyn/Kody baby. Because, as everyone knows, granite counters > paying the people who delivered your child.

[AZChristian]

Solomon was born at home, so it's unlikely there was a hospital bill.

 

AND, the lien was against Robyn and David Jessop, so it had to involve one of their children.

[Rhondinella]

Why does Merri need an office?

 

 

Because she has 14 rooms, or whatever, to fill and no one else living with her, I guess?

 

I am surprised they got this season and I am thinking that it's because the Duggers were cancelled and TLC needed to fill in a time slot.

 

 

 

Except this season was fully filmed before the Duggar scandal and subsequent cancellation.  But I agree that Duggar-gate could well buy them a season 7.  Lord help us all.

 

the inbred Habsburg jaw

 

 

islandgal140--will you marry me?

[SometimesBites]

The hospital lien is hysterical because of all the debt out in the world, hospital debt is usually the easiest to manage. $25/month usually keeps the hospital happy. As long as you discuss the debt with them, they're usually very receptive to receive whatever they can. Robyn couldn't even manage that?

Again, I'm very interested to see what happens with these four half-million dollar houses in the next few months.

Interesting point. All hospitals that I know of will work out a payment plan (if you're not too lazy to speak to their billing department...), but often your payment is based on your income. On paper, Robyn may appear to have a pretty decent income, so if she defaulted on her payments, that could escalate into collections pretty quickly. After my small local hospital outsourced much of their billing, the process became so computerized, they seem to have given the task over to data entry clerks who don't have to exercise any critical thinking skills. A couple years ago, my husband transposed some numbers in a check he wrote, and they sent it into preliminary collections for 38 cents!

Whatever the specifics for Robyn, no one goes from "here's your medical bill" to "we just put a lien on your house" without several notifications or interim steps. If you have the means to pay and refuse, you're a lazy grifter. If you don't have the means, you sure shouldn't be having a fifth/fifteenth child.

Because she has 14 rooms, or whatever, to fill and no one else living with her, I guess?

 

 

Except this season was fully filmed before the Duggar scandal and subsequent cancellation.  But I agree that Duggar-gate could well buy them a season 7.  Lord help us all.

 

 

islandgal140--will you marry me?

*waves at Rhondinella

[Feline Queen]

The lawyer should've advised them that Kody wouldn't be able to adopt Robyn's children unless their bio dad allowed his parental rights to be terminated. Which doesn't seem likely. If he's not paying child support as Robyn claims, it could be because that's the deal they made.  My father-in-law wanted to marry his (married at the time) mistress so badly that he told the bio dad of her kids he'd assume all financial responsibility for them if he fast-tracked the divorce. 

 

Seems like Meri divorced Kody for nothing. Although I think the adoption excuse was just that ... an excuse - and Kody was going to find a way to marry Robyn by any means possible. Either Meri is one of the most gullible people on the planet and bought the adoption excuse or Kody insisted he be allowed to marry Robyn and let her save face by pretending it was all her idea.  

 

Robyn's attempt at sad panda face was a total fail. I'm sure she was working hard not to show her total glee at getting her own way. I agree with those of you who said she's been systematically chipping away at their family dynamic since the moment Kody started courting her. And if Meri brought her into the fold to screw over Janelle and Christine, then I have no sympathy for her. 

Edited September 15, 2015 by Feline Goddess

[MaryMitch]

I think for any "normal" couple, having the prospective adoptive parent married to the biological parent is probably seen as a positive by a family court. However, I don't know if in this case it will make much difference, unless the judge is used to such shenanigans.

[Galloway Cave]

I read on another blog that in Nevada, the man does not have to be married to the woman to adopt her children. I would think that fact that the Browns are polygamists despite the attempt at the appearance of a monogamous marriage between Kody and Robyn would be a big huge hurdle to overcome with the judge. The last thing they need to do is drag the whole herd of kids into the courtroom, like we saw on the previews. What judge would look at the kabillion kids and four sad-sack wives and think this is a good situation for an adoption? 

[gardendiva]

I just finished watching the courthouse marriage segment and had two observations to make: 1.) Nothing says "douchecanoe" quite like a guy in a ponytail talking into a Bluetooth earpiece, and 2.) everyone seemed to be falling all over themselves to downplay the significance of the "legal marriage". They can try to convince themselves that this is nothing but a "business transaction" or a bunch of "paper pushing", but I think they all understand this is a seismic shift in the underpinnings of the family structure. They can insist it means nothing all they like, but "legal wife" means power no matter what they say.

[algebra]

I think I missed something: Kody took Robyn to Hawaii? When did that happen?

That must have been nice, since they can't afford to send their kids to college.

Also the "inbred Habsburg jaw" snark, does Robyn claim to be descended from the Habsburg line? Jay Leno and John Kerry have that jaw but I don't know about their ancestry except that Kerry and I are very distant cousins and I don't know about Leno. so I wondered where that joke is coming from, or is it the same place Elizabeth Warren got her "I have high cheekbones so I must be Cherokee" nonsense?

[riverblue22]

No, you have it wrong.  Robyn took Kody to Hawaii.  And they insisted it was not a honeymoon.  Just a lucky coincidence, I guess.

[Galloway Cave]

 

I think I missed something: Kody took Robyn to Hawaii? When did that happen?

Robyn took Kody to Hawaii. Said she had saved up her money to go on a vacation (grocery money, maybe???) and decided to take Kody. Kody tweeted from Hawaii in the days following the marriage. Tell me that's not a honeymoon.

 

ETA: Ack, riverblue beat me to it!

Edited September 15, 2015 by Galloway Cave

[Feline Queen]

My cousin (who lives in Arizona) tried to get her ex-boyfriend's parental rights terminated and it took her a decade to get that accomplished. The guy had a rap sheet a mile long and kept failing drug tests, but the courts still wouldn't terminate his rights. Eventually he agreed to do it because he lost interest in their son. However, his visitation privileges transferred to his mother.  My cousin wanted her new husband to adopt her son but was told they'd have to wait until they'd been married a year. That actually never happened because they separated after only a few months.

 

Jessop would have to be an absolutely heinous individual for the courts to force a termination of his parental rights. Also, I don't think Kody, Robyn and Meri announcing on TV that they're playing marriage roulette basically just to commit fraud in court is doing themselves any favors. 

 

 

[camom]

I had to laugh when they basically said that the court didn't even need to know that they are polygamists now that Robyn is legally married to Kody.  Sorry, folks, but you've put your polygamist lives on TV for several years now, I don't think you'll slip that little detail past a judge.

[leighroda]

I don't buy Robyn's "he doesn't want to see them" "he doesn't pay child support" battle cry... He may not even be ordered to pay child support as she likely makes more than him with her TLC income (it never seemed like he had a whole lot of money to begin with) and we already know that he did actually have a visit within the time period she states on the show that he hasn't seen them since... Because it was in the show.

As I was writing this the preview came on where Kody is asking the kids if he wants him to adopt them, and he is saying how his lawyer has been trying to serve Jessop for weeks now... I can't say I wouldn't hide from Kody's lawyer either. And Kody's proclamation that he's willing to go to war... Why doesn't that shock me that he is willing to get involved in something that did not initially involve him, that he inserted himself in, and is now trying to strip someone else's children from him, we don't know if Jessop is willing to give up the children or not, but I want to hear it from him before I'm willing to be ok with it. I hate the scene of him asking the kids about the adoption, because save for editing we don't know if it's even possible, but asking them with cameras isn't probably the best tactic. Normally since it's a reality show I'd be willing to bet it's a reenactment... But with this bunch of wouldn't shock me one bit if it was an initial.

[DakotaJustice]

I stopped watching this boring mess several seasons ago, the comments and blogs are far more amusing.

Wow. .03 for the first part and .05 for the second part on Sunday? Ratings I mean??

Family Guy reruns did much better on Sunday.

[DakotaJustice]

I don't buy Robyn's "he doesn't want to see them" "he doesn't pay child support" battle cry... He may not even be ordered to pay child support as she likely makes more than him with her TLC income (it never seemed like he had a whole lot of money to begin with) and we already know that he did actually have a visit within the time period she states on the show that he hasn't seen them since... Because it was in the show.

They lie like a dirty rug. And have done so throughout the show's sordid history.

I still can't forget the trip to Nauvoo where they out and out said they weren't allowed in the museum because they were plygs - even after the museum said that wasn't the case, it was because they were small and didn't want filming inside or something. Not a word of apology from TLC or the Browns.

Edited September 16, 2015 by DakotaJustice

[Absolom]

Full numbers:  9 PM 1.527 M viewers and a .5 rating.

 

7 PM 1.102 M viewers and a .3 rating.

 

I don't understand why, but they remain a solid middle ground performer for TLC. 

[Kohola3]

This whole issue on the show is a bunch of nonsense.

 

Pretty much sums up this entire load of BS.  

 

I can't imagine those ratings holding up for long. There isn't anything interesting to see here folks. Move along.

[terrymct]

I read on another blog that in Nevada, the man does not have to be married to the woman to adopt her children. I would think that fact that the Browns are polygamists despite the attempt at the appearance of a monogamous marriage between Kody and Robyn would be a big huge hurdle to overcome with the judge. The last thing they need to do is drag the whole herd of kids into the courtroom, like we saw on the previews. What judge would look at the kabillion kids and four sad-sack wives and think this is a good situation for an adoption? 

 

 

Especially if he asks the adults about their employment situation.

[Kohola3]

Especially if he asks the adults about their employment situation.

 

I can see them rambling incoherently like they did with that group of phony "investors".  That ought to impress the heck out of the judge.

[AZChristian]

Judge:  Well, let me check out the website for your "successful online business."  Hmmm.  Nice website.  Now may I see your company's balance sheet and profit and loss statement?  (Met with looks of total confusion from the plaintiffs.)  It's the documentation from your accountant that shows how much money you're making.

 

Kody:  Your honor, we don't have those.  Our CFO did not provide them.  But we have CHARTS and GRAPHS in COLOR of our POTENTIAL SALES!!!!

 

Judge:  Request for adoption denied.

[zenme]

Judge:  Well, let me check out the website for your "successful online business."  Hmmm.  Nice website.  Now may I see your company's balance sheet and profit and loss statement?  (Met with looks of total confusion from the plaintiffs.)  It's the documentation from your accountant that shows how much money you're making.

 

Kody:  Your honor, we don't have those.  Our CFO did not provide them.  But we have CHARTS and GRAPHS in COLOR of our POTENTIAL SALES!!!!

 

Judge:  Request for adoption denied.

 

Kody: "But Your Honor, our  My Sister Wives' Closet website gets thousands of hits a day!"

 

I wonder who is paying for the adoption lawyer.  Is it coming out of all the wives' funds, or is it from Robyn's share? Kody's share?

[AZChristian]

Probably out of all of the wives' funds. It IS a family issue, right?  Not just a Kody/Robyn issue.  (Hey, if they can convince three women that one woman with no children at home needs a bigger house than the rest of them, the gullibility factor is through the roof with this gang.)

[VioletNevermind]

My cousin (who lives in Arizona) tried to get her ex-boyfriend's parental rights terminated and it took her a decade to get that accomplished. The guy had a rap sheet a mile long and kept failing drug tests, but the courts still wouldn't terminate his rights. Eventually he agreed to do it because he lost interest in their son. However, his visitation privileges transferred to his mother.  My cousin wanted her new husband to adopt her son but was told they'd have to wait until they'd been married a year. That actually never happened because they separated after only a few months.

 

Very good points made there.  Children are transported to jails in buses to visit their incarcerated parents.  What on earth makes this moronic family think that they can just swoop in and orchestrate the termination of a father's parental rights simply because they deem it to be a good thing?  I can't begin to imagine the manipulation of Robyn's kids that goes on behind the scenes.   

 

Their arrogance makes me genuinely angry.  I can just hear them in court: "Your Honor, I divorced my legal wife and married my third spiritual wife just so that I could adopt these three children from my now-legal wife's first marriage."  If any judge in this nation signs off on that nonsense, I officially give up.

[Palomar]

What on earth makes this moronic family think that they can just swoop in and orchestrate the termination of a father's parental rights simply because they deem it to be a good thing?

 

 

Especially since they are bad mouthing the kids' father on national TV!  If there was any chance before of him agreeing to this, I imagine that ship has sailed. 

 

And, Kody, would YOU give up your parental rights if one of your wives left and hooked up with another man that wanted to adopt them?  Why should this guy feel pressured to do so? 

[islandgal140]

Maybe they have a family of goldfish that the internet sales help keep in fish flakes.

I died!!  Stuff like this is what keeps me coming back to the show and more importantly this board.

 

islandgal140--will you marry me?

Aw shucks!! This is all so sudden. LOL!

 

Robyn's attempt at sad panda face was a total fail. I'm sure she was working hard not to show her total glee at getting her own way. I agree with those of you who said she's been systematically chipping away at their family dynamic since the moment Kody started courting her. And if Meri brought her into the fold to screw over Janelle and Christine, then I have no sympathy for her. 

 

Meri got hoisted by her own petard! In a big way!!

 

Also the "inbred Habsburg jaw" snark, does Robyn claim to be descended from the Habsburg line? Jay Leno and John Kerry have that jaw but I don't know about their ancestry except that Kerry and I are very distant cousins and I don't know about Leno. so I wondered where that joke is coming from, or is it the same place Elizabeth Warren got her "I have high cheekbones so I must be Cherokee" nonsense?

 

It was just a joke that plays on all the alleged inbreeding in the plig community.

[zenme]

Does anyone know if there could be some kind of document, like a will, where Robyn and Kody can go to the ex and ask him if he would have any objections to leaving the kids with Brown family should anything happen to Robyn?  Could they have done something like this without Meri and Kody divorcing?  It just seems that a lot could have been discussed beforehand.  One would think that Robyn and Kody could have gone to speak with her ex about some sort of custody arrangement should anything happen to Robyn. The ex is also very familiar with fundamentalist Mormon and polygamy lifestyles, so one would think this conversation would be an important one to have.  So important that it should have been discussed before Robyn and Kody were married.

Edited September 16, 2015 by zenme

[Absolom]

Don't worry about wasting the court's time, a clerk will review the documents and if they don't have the father's consent, it won't make it to court.

 

I believe they would have to sue the father in the state where he lives if he isn't willing to sign away his rights voluntarily.  I think it's all more Brown pipe dream either as drama for the show or just their pie in the sky mentality.

 

I don't think a will would work for custody after death.  I've seen friends try that and it didn't matter in family court as any more than the mother expressing her wishes.  The children went to biological relatives.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Absolom

[camom]

My guess is that what the Browns are saying is technically true, that Robyn's ex doesn't pay child support.  I also guess that their agreement doesn't require him to.  Perhaps it was part of letting Robyn move his kids out of state.

[SometimesBites]

Does anyone know if there could be some kind of document, like a will, where Robyn and Kody can go to the ex and ask him if he would have any objections to leaving the kids with Brown family should anything happen to Robyn?  Could they have done something like this without Meri and Kody divorcing?  It just seems that a lot could have been discussed beforehand.  One would think that Robyn and Kody could have gone to speak with her ex about some sort of custody arrangement should anything happen to Robyn. The ex is also very familiar with fundamentalist Mormon and polygamy lifestyles, so one would think this conversation would be an important one to have.  So important that it should have been discussed before Robyn and Kody were married.

Unfortunately, you're using reason and logic. That's not part of the Brown ethos.

 

Even if they stipulated custody arrangements in a will, David Jessop would still be first in line to take the children. Granted, he might not want custody and might be willing to work out a guardianship arrangement with Kody in the event of Robyn's death. But the bottom-line motivation of Robyn and Kody is not "how can we foster the best interests of the children by helping to nurture their relationship with their father." No. THEY ARE GOING TO WAR. They have now used those exact words more than once, in front of a television camera.

 

They want what THEY want, and they are prepared to slander and undermine David Jessop to get their way. Every week Robyn says, "It's like destiny. Like we all shoulda been together from the beginning." She is a fabulist. She is a teller of fairy tales. She feels like an outsider, a Janie-come-lately, and she desperately wants to re-write history. In her secret heart she wishes Kody had met her first. She's managed to help alienate her children from their father, and she's managed to get herself as close to first wife status as possible. But the picture wont be complete until David Jessop is eradicated from the picture as fully as possible.

 

Every time Jessop is mentioned on the show, he is damned in mealy-mouthed terms, bad-mouthed sweetly so that it appears that they are actually trying NOT to demean him. It is horrible and insidious. They are awful people for pulling this shit. If Jessop WANTS to terminate parental rights, of course, he can do that, and should be able to do so without the entire country watching it happen on television. But based on what the Browns are actually saying, they expect a fight--that's what going to WAR means.

 

Fuck them and fuck TLC. This is every bit as ugly as all the other awful fallout from their other reality shows. It's a nasty business.

[algebra]

I died!! Stuff like this is what keeps me coming back to the show and more importantly this board.

Aw shucks!! This is all so sudden. LOL!

Meri got hoisted by her own petard! In a big way!!

It was just a joke that plays on all the alleged inbreeding in the plig community.

Oh well as a joke it bombed with me. Maybe it's because I was a tech in a human genetics lab years ago. The Habsburg jaw is autosomal dominant and has nothing to do with inbreeding.

Was watching a movie last night and noticed Channing Tatum has it though. It works for men.

I just did a quick perusal of the Clark County recorder's office records, and there have been no title changes recorded either Robyn's house or Kody and Meri's house. The last thing recorded for Robyn's house that I found was a release from a hospital lien on the property in August of 2014.

So...Robyn still owns her house all by herself, but Meri shares hers with Kody.

This is like watching a friend stuck in an abusive relationship who so desperately wants to believe her husband loves her she'll put up with anything

[OldWiseOne]

Robyn's girls are as pushy as she is. They keep talking over the other kids to say how awesome Kody is. Looks like Robyn has coached them well.

And when the other kids said that Christine was the most fun, they kept insisting that ALL that moms are funny, in case we might not realise that Sobyn is a bundle of laughs.

[DakotaJustice]

just another plot device.  The Cult De Sac, the surrogate/IVF offer, the Lets Meet Other Polygamists Tours, MSWC, and now...the divorce/marriage and of course big whoop, just like a bazillion other women, Robyn's with child.  zzzzzzzz.

 

Dayton's what, 16, 17?  the girls must be teens, or close to that by now.  Why do they NEED to adopt - they'll be out of the house soon, if they follow the pattern of every other kid in that convoluted family.

 

Every single person involved with this show knows the adoption is just a plot device and just like the surrogacy, the big loan/success of MSWC, and everything else, it's just going to sink without a whimper.  Just as long as they can pull another season out of it.  I'm sure that Kody is counting on "Baby Brownie" to eke another season out of TLC (didn't help the Brady Williams family but their trainwreck quotient isn't even as remotely high as the Browns').

[camom]

I think that Kody honestly believes that he is so awesome and famous that he should get whatever he wants.  It works pretty well with his wives, after all.  He is probably stunned that he can't just walk into a courtroom  and have someone else's kids handed over to him legally.

[zenme]

Every single person involved with this show knows the adoption is just a plot device and just like the surrogacy, the big loan/success of MSWC, and everything else, it's just going to sink without a whimper.

 

And this is why I was wondering whose money was paying for the adoptions.  Family fund or Robyn and Kody?  Partly because if all of these 17 or 18 kids are all theirs--like Robyn's kids, then why aren't they ALL funding college for all the kids. 

[Kohola3]

I think that Kody honestly believes that he is so awesome and famous that he should get whatever he wants.

 

Heck, they all do.  GOD wants them to have free houses, GOD wants them to be able to be granted everything their hearts desires without working, GOD wants them to pop out umpteen kids, GOD wants the public to subsidize their lives by handing them food stamps and public assistance, and GOD wants TLC to keep shoveling this BS at us every week  After all, it's a "religion" and since they make up their own rules, screw the rest of the world.  It's the Church of All About Me.

[Soobs]

I love to snark on this show. More than half the fun comes from coming here and reading the comments because hell nothing really ever really happens on the show. However, this Kodouche and Meri divorce so he can marry Gopher Gulch's answer to Lady MacBeth, Robyn, seemed like it would be the most interesting thing to happen to this family since Robyn entered the picture (honorably mention to fleeing to LV to escape from religious persecution LOL!). Last night wasn't interesting or fun. I think most people tune in to see the cracks in the facade and damn were they tap dancing for their lives last night and it really wasn't at all entertaining. They are controlling the narrative so damn tightly that the general audience probably won't ever even know that this so-called re-alignment that changes nothing necessitated a honeymoon for the newlyweds.

 

I don't expect any of the sheep wives to rage against the machine but to not see the writing on the wall and know you are aiding in your own disenfranchisement from your own damn family is ludicrous to me. All this solidarity only strengthens Robyn's position. It will only be a matter of time before she is controlling the household expenses and she is getting more spending money because she has the youngest kids in the family. Just you watch. That woman may look and talk like a bumpkin and have the inbred Habsburg jaw but she is down right Machiavellian.  She laid back in the cut for years and leaped into #1 position from being dead last with a simple "won't someone please think of the children" argument and all these dummies brought it. 

 

But as she says in the opening credits, "It was dessiny".

[leighroda]

I wonder what would happen in the case of Robyn's death, they mentioned previously that was the reason they wanted to pursue this.

I'm sure it varies to some degree by state, but I'm from Houston, when I was in high school one of my teachers from when I was younger, I had babysat a few times for the older boy (he was 3 when she was murdered, and she was 8 months pregnant with their second)... Long story short... The husband (who was also a coach at my high school) was having an affair with another teacher at my school, and murdered his pregnant wife a'la Scott Peterson (but this all happened before that). The connection I am trying to make is this; the husband wound up marrying the woman he had an affair with, I'm not sure if she actually adopted the son or not, but when the husband was finally convicted and sentenced to life for the murder of his wife and unborn child, the mistress had custody of the son, and to this day has effectively cut him off from having any contact with the wife's family (granted he is in college now, so she doesn't actually "have custody" anymore). All of that was to say, I feel like that's what will happen if anything were to happen to Robyn, they have already separated her kids from her ex husband, and I'm sure that also applies to his family, but whose to say even if her ex does give up custody, what about aunt/uncles/cousins/grandparents, none of them will ever see them again either. That's what bothers me about this rampage Kody is on about claiming her ex's children as his own, there is no consideration for anyone on the echidna do side of the family, not just the ex husband.

[Galloway Cave]

 

whose to say even if her ex does give up custody, what about aunt/uncles/cousins/grandparents, none of them will ever see them again either.

But during the last season finale, Robyn slipped up and said that when Kody adopts her kids, they will still have a relationship with their father. It was almost like she didn't understand the concept of giving up parental rights and adoption. That comment tells me it is all about getting rid of the Jessop name and adding to Kody's official body count (if the adoption storyline is actually real, which I don't believe it is).

[leighroda]

I agree... It's funny how the legality of marriage and adoption are necessary when it benefits them, like seeming to think now that they are married he has fair claim to the children, but when the law says you can't have more than 1 wife, they are just silly pieces of paper, the spiritual marriages are all that matter.

Someone said something unthread that felt was very spot on about all of this, how they are acting like meri's divorce is only a technicality and nothing can break the spiritual bond, but as far as Robyn and janelles first husbands are concerned, those divorces broke those bonds no problem.

[algebra]

I was just reading on another blog that in Nevada, if a woman is the legal wife of a man who owes another woman child support, the legal wife can be held responsible for the payments. Her income can be figured into the calculations for the amount to be paid (years ago I met someone in Georgia who thought it was hilarious that her ex-husband's second wife was paying her child support since the kids' father was unemployed, so I guess it works in Georgia, too)

Anyway, that means if Kody has no money, Robyn can be required to pay child support to Janelle and Kristine. Meri is now off the hook.

For some reason this makes me feel better.

[Adiba]

I wonder what would happen in the case of Robyn's death, they mentioned previously that was the reason they wanted to pursue this.

I'm sure it varies to some degree by state, but I'm from Houston, when I was in high school one of my teachers from when I was younger, I had babysat a few times for the older boy (he was 3 when she was murdered, and she was 8 months pregnant with their second)... Long story short... The husband (who was also a coach at my high school) was having an affair with another teacher at my school, and murdered his pregnant wife a'la Scott Peterson (but this all happened before that). The connection I am trying to make is this; the husband wound up marrying the woman he had an affair with, I'm not sure if she actually adopted the son or not, but when the husband was finally convicted and sentenced to life for the murder of his wife and unborn child, the mistress had custody of the son, and to this day has effectively cut him off from having any contact with the wife's family (granted he is in college now, so she doesn't actually "have custody" anymore). All of that was to say, I feel like that's what will happen if anything were to happen to Robyn, they have already separated her kids from her ex husband, and I'm sure that also applies to his family, but whose to say even if her ex does give up custody, what about aunt/uncles/cousins/grandparents, none of them will ever see them again either. That's what bothers me about this rampage Kody is on about claiming her ex's children as his own, there is no consideration for anyone on the echidna do side of the family, not just the ex husband.

I remember reading about that case, and thinking how messed up it was that the murdered mother's family had no claim to the child. Seemed really unfair.

In the Brown's situation, if Kody adopts Robyn's kids and she dies, who actually would do the heavy lifting of caring for them? Which house would they live in, and who would be in charge while Kody goes to the other sister wives' homes for their time? Meri might be a likely candidate, but would she be willing?

[RealityCowgirl]

But during the last season finale, Robyn slipped up and said that when Kody adopts her kids, they will still have a relationship with their father. It was almost like she didn't understand the concept of giving up parental rights and adoption. That comment tells me it is all about getting rid of the Jessop name and adding to Kody's official body count (if the adoption storyline is actually real, which I don't believe it is).

That's my thinking as well - if it's legit. All for the Klown's big ego and eternal brownie (heh) points. Nothing related to the children's well being. He doesn't take full financial or emotional responsibility for his own biological children.