Katie Holmes

This is also a reason why Katie filed in New York, because in California it is very hard for one parent to get sole legal custody, and that absolutely is not the norm.

Crowbridge wrote:I think he's an idiot, but being blindsided with divorce papers is rough no matter who you are or how much money you have.

I might feel sorry for him in that regard if he hadn't done the same thing to Nicole Kidman (...while she was pregnant). The way it stands, it just seems like karma.

biakbiak wrote:

Which makes Tom's announcement that he's "going" to file in California strange to me. I mean, you'd think he'd have been on the phone to his lawyers and whichever Scienos he's got to ask permission from and filed already.

He has to deal with the NY petition first, disputing the idea that they were residents of NY as Katie is maintaining before he can file in California.

I believe only the Plaintiff has to be a resident of the state where the petition was filed for six months prior to filing, which in this case would be Katie. That is how it is in most states, and I'm guessing it is the same in NY. As far as what constitutes being a resident, there's probably a ton of case law that gives the specifics on what does and does not constitute that. But if she's been so stealth with everything else, I am not doubting that she and her team have been doing their best to make sure she has established residency for purposes of filing for divorce.

Shadowlass wrote:

Crowbridge wrote:I think he's an idiot, but being blindsided with divorce papers is rough no matter who you are or how much money you have.

I might feel sorry for him in that regard if he hadn't done the same thing to Nicole Kidman (...while she was pregnant). The way it stands, it just seems like karma.

Very true. I keep forgetting about that.

pizzagirl20 wrote:

biakbiak wrote:

Which makes Tom's announcement that he's "going" to file in California strange to me. I mean, you'd think he'd have been on the phone to his lawyers and whichever Scienos he's got to ask permission from and filed already.

He has to deal with the NY petition first, disputing the idea that they were residents of NY as Katie is maintaining before he can file in California.

I believe only the Plaintiff has to be a resident of the state where the petition was filed for six months prior to filing, which in this case would be Katie. That is how it is in most states, and I'm guessing it is the same in NY. As far as what constitutes being a resident, there's probably a ton of case law that gives the specifics on what does and does not constitute that. But if she's been so stealth with everything else, I am not doubting that she and her team have been doing their best to make sure she has established residency for purposes of filing for divorce.

I'll never be able to find it now in the flood of coverage this has gotten, but I'm sure I read something that said his plan was absolutely to discredit her claim of NYC residency. There was some kind of quote about how ridiculous it was because they only go to New York for business and to see plays. Heee. I found the disbelief in the quote so funny because without religiously following her coverage these last couple years, I feel like I was CONSTANTLY seeing pics of Katie and Suri in NYC. So yeah, I have a feeling she's probably put in the research to know what she had to do to establish residency there.

Yeah, I didn't even think about which state might be more likely to give her sole custody--she's always in New York, of course she filed in the state she lived in. But I bet that was a deliberate move on Katie's part, probably on the advice of a lawyer or several.

In the PR battle, Katie's whole Joey Potter/girl-next-door/I had a poster of him in high school! thing is only going to make everything so, so much easier. I think with someone else, the tabloids might run with "scheming to steal his kid!" but it just seems so unbelievable with her image. And it's making CoS/Cruise look even worse in comparison. I'm certain all those recent photos of her and Suri looking happy and adorable together were times when somebody on her team tipped the paps off.

(Also, re: joint custody--IIRC, when Ashlee Simpson filed for divorce, she asked for joint. Probably because Pete Wentz may be annoying but doesn't seem like a controlling creep and isn't mixed up with a cult.)

Establishing residency for legal purposes isn't all that difficult. A person just has to show they have a more than a fleeting connection with the state. By owning/renting and paying bills in the state, she establishes residency. The longer she's been doing that, the better. And if she was REALLY smart, she registered to vote in New York. That would also help show her intention to continue to live in New York rather than return to California. Something I'm sure her lawyer already advised her to do.

Thanks for the feedback about the custody stuff. I thought maybe the media was blowing a lot of this out of proportion, and that really she just wanted a run-of-the-mill divorce. But it sounds like going for sole legal and primary physical is not SOP in your usual split, so Katie is really taking a strong stand against Tom raising Suri in any way. I mean, good for her. I wonder what the last straw was. People keep referring to Suri coming to the age where CoS really steps in to try to control kids, but I mean, wouldn't she have known that was coming?

Knowing it exists and seeing it first-hand would be very different experiences though. She's not the first person to be sucked into Scientology with promises of everything it can give you and assurances that you can even still stay a Catholic. But I'm sure after the shine of the Cruise full-court press wore off and she watched the sub-par education his kids were getting, all while being cut off from their mother and basically being raised by their aunt, she started to realize what a mess she'd gotten herself into.

Adding on to everything swsa said, I can imagine there was extra time added with Katie trying to talk to Tom rationally and figure out some sort of comprimise. After that failed, then even more time of Katie sneaking around getting everything set up in New York.

Yeah, the default is generally joint legal/physical when both parents have been living together and with the kid. Her filing for sole legal, especially is huge (that's to make any medical/schooling etc. decisions for your kid, basically means that any document that has to be signed you can do alone and not both parents).

Wait, Lisa Marie Presley has left? Did I miss this or is it actually new?

She wrote a thinly veiled indictment of CO$ on her new album last year, and that's when people started talking about it.

From an article that discusses Tom's insistence on calling Katie "Kate" that is linked to in the article Cleo posted:

During an interview with All Headline News, he explained, "Katie is a young girl’s name. Her name is Kate now – she’s a child-bearing woman."

Wait, wait, wait. Is that a for real quote? Six years ago, I was unemployed and therefore really into the TomKat story and I totally don't remember that. Good Lord, that's creepy!

Francie Nolan wrote:From an article that discusses Tom's insistence on calling Katie "Kate" that is linked to in the article Cleo posted:

During an interview with All Headline News, he explained, "Katie is a young girl’s name. Her name is Kate now – she’s a child-bearing woman."

Wait, wait, wait. Is that a for real quote? Six years ago, I was unemployed and therefore really into the TomKat story and I totally don't remember that. Good Lord, that's creepy!

I remember it. I also remember thinking he's a king-sized ass, because you don't re-name your wife like she's a dog you got from the pound.

I also remember it, because I work with a couple of Katies who are grown-ass women and who were all "Eff that noise" when the quote came out.

I'll be honest, the record-scratch moment for me in that quote was "child-bearing woman." WTF.

It makes her sound like a prize cow.

Oh man oh man oh man....I never gave much of a shit during their courtship, but I can't wait to hear what other shit COS might be pulling on Katie.

GO KATIE GO.

PrincessCleo wrote:I'll be honest, the record-scratch moment for me in that quote was "child-bearing woman." WTF.

Yeah, that quote is a layer cake of crazy, but I believe that part wins. I think I vaguely remember it all now. WTF indeed.

I'm sure a lot of you guys have already seen this, but Tony Ortega at the Village Voice writes an excellent series on the CoS. Apparently, Heber Jentzch's (the President of the International CoS who hasn't been seen in public in six years [WTF]) 27-year-old son was found dead. Between this and David Miscavige's missing wife, I seriously cannot read this stuff late at night without getting the heebie jeebies.

Shelly Miscavige is totally not missing, you guys. They know exactly where she is! She's just too busy working happily and freely for the church to appear in public. Not suspicious at all!

Latest ONTD post continues the "sole custody with generous visitation" line. I don't know, remembering how Nicole's kids were turned against her, if I was Katie, I'd probably still be worried.

Edited to add: This link goes into more detail about divorce and custody in NY. Lawyers tip their hats to KH

Peggy Olson is a clam? NOOO, WHYYYY!?!

You guys, now that they're doing serious settlement talks, I theorize the end game isn't going to be Katie's escape from the marriage. It'll be much bigger: Tom's holisitic image makeover c/o leaving Scientology, whereby he becomes the beloved megawatt movie star again. They present Katie's machinations to be the impetus for Tom realizing he couldn't lose his adorable daughter and his magical wife, giving him the strength to finally separate from the Church. He then goes on Oprah and does the major mea culpa - I was vulnerable, they brainwashed me, I can't believe I told people that therapy and antidepressants were evil, I almost lost everything, here's exactly how evil they are. The public eats it up - what do we like even better than love and loss, better than schadenfreude? Reinventing yourself. He starts calling her Katie and he produces a big budget Dawson's reunion feature and then does Top Gun II where Kelly McGillis has left him for a hot nurse and he realizes his enduring love for Val Kilmer. Val Kilmer gets in shape for the role and they make out.

I don't know, It's a fantasy. I am suspicious, though. I think more than anything, his driving force is wanting to be on top of everything, to be the most adored. He's tried everything he can, what's left? By now he knows it's not that we don't like him, we hate his creepy cult and his proselytizing about it.

***golf clap***

Your conspiracy theory is even better than mine. I was thinking this whole "Katie shocks Tom" by filing for divorce was planned from the get-go, as part of the marriage contract. Divorcing Tom earn Nicole Kidman a popularity bump; they offered to do the same for Katie. "Be good, play nice for five years, then we'll make you look like a genius/supermom/master spy when it's time to parachute out. People will love you, Tom can stand the hit (notice how he's back on the movie screens in a big way this year), and we all part with a handshake."