Antonio Brown may need to retract his wishes for wanting to be traded- and the reason has nothing to do with football. Pittsburgh Steeler’s wide receiver recently made headlines stemming from him filing for full custody of his daughter. This legal move comes after the news broke that Brown was being investigated for a domestic dispute that occurred last month. Wiltrice Jackson, the mother of one of Brown’s children, claims that Brown pushed her in January. If this is true Brown will have trouble gaining sole custody of his daughter.
When you file for custody in Pennsylvania, the judge looks at sixteen custody factors. Just for fun, let’s pretend to be the Judge and go through some of the relevant factors
1. Is there present and past abuse* committed by a party or member of the party’s household? Is there a continued risk of harm to the child or an abused party? Which party can better provide adequate safeguards and supervision of the child? (*Abuse as defined in section 6102 of the Protection From Abuse Act).
· If Ms. Jackson is telling the truth about Mr. Brown being abusive towards her then he is in trouble. Mr. Brown is asserting he moved her out of his doorway after she would not leave and that she made the abuse up. Hopefully Mr. Brown is telling the truth, if not then this Judge will not look at him favorably regarding this factor.
2. What is the need for stability and continuity in the child’s education, family life and community life?
· As Mr. Brown plays professional football and seems to want to be traded, his level of stability is not very high. He is consistently traveling for games and is not home very frequently. Mr. Brown may be viewed negatively when the Judge looks at this factor.
3. What is the proximity of the parties’ residences?
· Ms. Jackson lives in Florida and Mr. Brown plays football in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These two distances are quite far to travel for short weekend visits.
4. What is the level of conflict between the parties? Is there a willingness and ability of the parties to cooperate with one another, keeping in mind that a party’s effort to protect a child from abuse by another party is not evidence of unwillingness or inability to cooperate with that party?
· If Mr. Brown is telling the truth and Ms. Jackson really did make up the story that he pushed her then the Judge is likely to view this factor negatively in regard to Ms. Jackson. Making up a story about your child’s parent abusing you shows that there is some conflict between the two parties.
If you or someone you know is struggling with custody issues, please contact McMorrow Law for a free consultation at 724-940-0100. While we love the Steelers, we love helping people with their custody issues even more.