Charlie Sheen Custody Battle Gone Bad

The most recent go-round in the Charlie Sheen custody war involves a fight for custody over the twin boys born to him and Brooke Mueller. Allegedly, Charlie, who has joint parenting with this ex-wife, had sought full custody based, in part, on his allegations of her drug use. Talk about the "pot" calling the kettle black! He did not prevail in a court of law, and to date, the parents share custody of their twin boys who live primarily with their mother.

The case skirts very close to the saddest of stories: those where, allegedly, neither parent is fit and proper to care for their children. While the cases that usually get the most publicity are those where two qualified parents battle over custody or visitation issues (think Halle Berry and her former boyfriend, Gabriel Aubry), there are a surprising number of divorces, both celebrity and the not so famous, where one or neither parent is fit or do not even want to win their children's custody.

It is reported that Brooke Mueller gets $55,000 monthly in child support but is pawning her jewelry and artifacts. From that, it would appear that she is not spending money only or at all on the children or, at the very least, not prioritizing them. Arguably, she is not behaving like mother of the year. By the same token, how can a father who is traveling around the country doing the equivalent of a Comedy Show actually seek his children's custody when he himself is never at home and has behaved as something between a clown and clueless? It would seem his choices are childish but not child friendly.

What I have learned as a family lawyer is that the courts do the best they can with the parents they have standing before them. The court system encourages parties to cooperate to the best of their ability and to "get past" their own issues. Generally, judges calculate that the best people to parent children are the two who gave birth to them, except in the most egregious of situations where a third party or an institution has to be involved.

The jury is out on whether or not the Sheen case is one of those situations. For the sake of their darling children, we would all hope not.

Photo by CBS.com

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Gemma Allen is a partner in Ladden & Allen, Chartered, and has practiced family law for most of her career. Ms. Allen has written more than 50 articles and lectured on topics that include divorce, child support, maintenance, mediation, cohabitation, women and money, and reconciliation. She helps you navigate modern relationships in “Relationship Gems.”