What's more innocent than taking your 7-year-old son to Wrigley Field for a ballgame, perhaps munching on a hot dog while watching the Cubs play ball? The non-kosher meal might not seem so innocent to devout Jewish mother Elina Margolina, who is engaged in a fierce custody battle with non-Jewish ex-husband Nelson Derbigny, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. This interfaith battle for custody seems like a familiar issue for Chicago family law attorneys.
The story is very similar to the highly publicized custody dispute between Catholic father Joseph Reyes and his Jewish ex-wife, Rebecca Reyes. In that case, the father was barred from taking his daughter to Catholic mass, but a judge most recently ruled that he is now free to do so.
The case involving Elina Margolina and Nelson Derbigny also is being heard in the same downtown Chicago courthouse as the Reyes case.
Illinois family lawyer David Grund, representing the 7-year-old boy's mother, helped his client secure a temporary court order requiring the father to help raise their son in the Jewish tradition:
"We're asking to restrain Dad's conduct, which has adversely impacted on the child. He's, in effect, sabotaging the child's religious upbringing."
Nelson Derbigny, who is Catholic, claims his ex-wife never maintained a kosher household or observed the Jewish sabbath while they were married. Insisting that her demands would effectively change the divorce agreement, he said he never intentionally obstructs his son from living a Jewish lifestyle.
Enrico Mirabelli, a divorce attorney in Chicago representing Nelson Derbigny, claims his client's ex-wife is using religion to deprive him of his parental rights:
"And the concern here is that, if this keeps going, the boy is going to come to him and say, 'Dad, I can't come visit you because you're not Jewish.' "
Katheryn M. Dutenhaver, who directs DePaul University's Interfaith Family Mediation Project, said divorced individuals often are pressured by their "original families" to return to more strict religious roots, often causing such disputes.
I've said it before but it's worth repeating: What about the children who are caught in the middle?
Child custody can possibly become a contentious battle between two parents. If you have child custody questions, and you are looking out for the best interests of your children, speaking with an Illinois family lawyer may help.
Related Resources:
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Child Custody and Religion (FindLaw)
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Five Tips on Child Custody and Visitation (FindLaw's Law & Daily Life Blog)
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Search Chicago Family Law Attorneys (FindLaw)
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