Christine Brown has lawyered up— and is taking her ex Kody Brown to court!
News broke on Thursday that the Sister Wives star has filed a paternity suit in a Utah court against Kody in regard to Truly, the 14-year-old daughter they share. Christine— who left Kody in 2021 and moved to Utah with Truly— is demanding Kody take a paternity test to show that Truly is his biological daughter. (As ‘Sister Wives’ fans will remember, Christine was Kody’s third wife. Since their marriage wasn’t legal and they weren’t open about being polygamists, Kody’s name didn’t appear on any of the birth certificates for his and Christine’s six kids.) Christine has also filed for child support and custody, but first needs to prove that Kody is indeed Truly’s father before she could get those things.
On September 16, Christine, using her married name “Christine Woolley” filed a “Petition for Declaration of Paternity, Child Custody, Parent Time, and Support.” Although the actual petition has been sealed and can’t be viewed publicly, The Ashley can confirm that a “Domestic Relations Injunction” was also filed alongside Christine’s paternity suit.
This injunction states that neither party can “harass, intimidate or disturb the peace of the other party, by any means, including electronically.” It also forbids both parties from committing “domestic violence or abuse against the other party or a child.”
The injunction also sets rules for both parties when it comes to dealing with Truly while the court case is active. Neither parent can take Truly on a trip unless the other party consents and has the travel details and a way of contacting Truly. They are also forbidden from saying anything to “demean or disparage (talk badly about) [about] the other party” in front of or within earshot of Truly, nor can they “attempt to influence the children’s preference regarding custody or parent time.”
The injunction forbids Kody and Christine from saying or doing “anything that would negatively affect the love and affection of the children for the other party, or involve the children in the issues of the petition.”
Both have to ensure that no one else who is around Truly can do anything that breaks these rules.
That’s not all: Christine’s filing means that her poodle-permed ex will be required to attend both “Mandatory Parenting Courses” and “Divorce Orientation” classes. (Christine is also required to take the courses.) The classes are available online, which will allow Kody— who still lives in Arizona— to complete them within the required 30-day timeframe.
It does not appear that Kody has filed any type of response in the three days since Christine opened the case.
Truly is one of Kody’s three minor children. (The other two are Solomon and Ariella, who live with Kody and his only wife Robyn.) The father of 18 is estranged from many of his adult children, and it’s unknown how his current relationship with Truly is. Last October, Christine explained during an episode of ‘Sister Wives’ that she felt that moving Truly to Utah with her helped preserve the good relationship that existed at the time between Kody and Truly.
“I knew that I was taking Truely away from her dad. I felt like the best way to preserve Truely’s relationship with Kody was to move her away from him. I know it sounds bizarre…it was almost like I froze [their relationship] in time,” Christine said. “I took their relationship while it was still good and I picked it up and I moved it. And then whenever we come back into town, I just pick it up again and I move it back. And it’s preserved.”
During the same episode, Kody gave his thoughts on Christine’s claim that moving helped to keep Kody’s relationship with Truly in a good place.
“For Christine to say that she’s saving her relationship with Truly by taking her away from me and just preserving it, that’s such BS rationalization,” Kody said. “I’m laughing now because it’s ridiculous.”
During a 2022 episode– which was filmed right after Christine told Kody that she was leaving him— Kody made it clear that he didn’t feel that he and Christine needed to involve “the government” to figure out a custody agreement for Truly. Kody was even more adamant that, if it came to a place where he and Christine needed to get a legal child custody agreement, he did not want it to be filed in Utah, as he feels that the state “hates” him.
“You have to have a child custody agreement in place, otherwise the state gets involved,” he says, later telling his ex, “We’re not doing anything ever in Utah. Don’t ever involve Utah. Even if she’s living there, we get a child custody agreement here [in Arizona].”
As The Ashley stated above, Christine went ahead and filed the paternity suit in…UTAH!
The Ashley will continue to update this story. Stay tuned…
(Photo: TLC)
26 Responses
It’s too bad they all didn’t leave sooner and sue him for child support when there were more minor children. That would have brought a quick end to the Kody and Robyn mansion!
Slightly off topic but can anyone explain to me how we watched Christine get married at the end of this season but this season she’s talking about enjoying dating (last night’s episode)?
I’m thoroughly confused!
Christine’s wedding was an special so it aired before this new season. The current season was filmed during the last months of 2022
Thank you, Ellen!
My guess is he was making little to no effort to see or support Truely. There is a difference between being a single parent and those that co-parent. He doesn’t seem to want to share the time or expenses. When I filed for divorce in my state if a child or children are involved parenting classes are required. The idea is learning how to co-parent, he flunked that part btw, and not speaking badly of one another. He failed that too. It was hard but it wasn’t for him it was for our daughter. I was also very adamant that no family or friends made disparaging remarks.
It’s about time! Deadbeat dad (more like sperm donor.) I hope Christine is successful, and I hope Janelle files for back child support for Savanah. Mr. Big Spender needs to be humbled, and his greedy wife, too! They spend like they are billionaires.
I have never commented on any forums before this but I cannot seem to stop myself after watching tonight’s episode and reading some not yet shown revelations. What happened to Garrison is devastating. I cannot even imagine the grief. My heart goes out to every member of his family and friends.
I read an article (taken with a grain of salt of course) stating Cody ‘always thought there would be more time to reconnect with his son.’ I hope he makes a serious effort with his other estranged children. Time is fleeting. We can all be here one day and gone the next. Never take that for granted.
Again side note: I have always hated how he referred to the kids as Christine’s kids, Janelle’s kids etc. How about “my kids with…”. To do that in front of the world on TV is cruel. Then not being listed on their birth certificates because the state was out to get him. Delusional narcissist. I feel for all the kids.
How is he supposed to pay child support when his 3 sources of income left? You want him and Robin to WORK!? Oh the humanity!!
At the rate Kody is taking knives to the kidneys lately (all self-induced IMO) he’ll need to get on the kidney transplant list soon. If Christine didn’t, I think she should’ve added a request for a mandatory amount of time he is REQUIRED to have Truely for his parenting time (if Truely wants to spend the time with him). That would surely shake things up in the poorly decorated, extremely tacky, delivery boxes piled to the ceiling “mansion of victim blaming and fake tears”. Wonder if Robyn would feel “safe” having Truely around her kids for an extended period of time. Robyn not feeling like her kids were safe being alone with the OG Brown children was mentioned by Gwen to be one of Robyn’s issues (I’m sure she has a whole subscription of issues 😂). I only say that about the mandatory parenting time because based on how we’ve seen him treat some of the other kids, even the minor ones, I feel like he won’t make an effort to exercise much of the time, or any at all, that he’s offered with her. I’m sure he and Robyn still have the same mentality that has been consistently shown (even as recently as this week’s episode) when they say the child should also be reaching out. So they’ll blame Truely (a literal innocent child) for any lack of communication. Also, I think he despises Christine so much, way more than Janelle and even more than Meri, that he’ll just say all of this is just another example of her being an awful person and woe is me, I’m the victim here blah blah blah- you know- the same old Kody spiel we get a couple of times a week. Anyway, I hope Truely gets to voice her opinion and that she is content with the outcome because she’s the only one in this particular scenario that matters and she deserves nothing less than to be loved and be happy.
You can’t enforce the parent to see them. It doesn’t work that way. After my daughter was left sitting on the porch again waiting for her Dad who never showed up.Visitation is a gift we have to allow him to see that gift but we can’t force him to take the gift.
I said that’s bullshit.
I absolutely agree with you that parenting time is a gift and should be treated as such. However, in most states there are repercussions for violating the terms of a court-ordered parenting plan/agreement. While unwilling parties can’t be forced to see the child, a parent that refuses their parenting time can be punished the same as a parent that violates the order by withholding the child. The violation could be considered contempt of court, but it largely depends on the state and what their laws are regarding the refusal of a court-ordered visitation. I mostly think Christine should have asked for it to protect herself against potential claims that she is interfering with Kody’s ability to see Truely (because we know who always professes to be the victim). Anyway, I am really sorry about what you and your daughter went through, that’s actually heartbreaking. I can’t imagine how she felt or how you felt watching her and having no control over the situation and no way to fix her broken heart. I hope your daughter is thriving and is surrounded by loving people that deserve to be in her life.
Same situation here with my now grown daughter. It was heart breaking. I protected her the best I could when she was young by making excuses for him until one sad day she said, “You don’t have to do that anymore Mom. I know he isn’t coming to see me.”
Meanwhile he was is taking his girlfriend’s kids on vacation. He didn’t pay child support and I didn’t push it because the last thing I ever wanted was her to say is “my father is in jail because he doesn’t want to see me.”. Little did he know I filed for back child support after her 18th birthday along with medical expenses outside standard child support. He didn’t think that was possible since she was 18 but the decree was written 16 years before and was still valid. I used that money for her college.
I know it’s off topic but wtf not being on your children’s birth certificates. Breaks my heart.
Way to go! While I understand a child support order is probably a little different than a visitation order the same principle applies. They are both a legal order of the court and both come with consequences when not being abided by, it just depends on how far you want to push it (sometimes it may not even be worth the time, money or aggravation to pursue it). My sister and her ex husband had a custody order in place and when her ex husband wasn’t following the order and not exercising his parenting time all it took was a trip back to court and a stern warning from the judge that he would be held in contempt if he didn’t start abiding by the order for him to start complying. He would’ve also had the child support increased had he not started following the order because the child support was based on him having custody of the children for a certain amount of time each week. So again I say, no, you cannot FORCE someone to see their child but IF there is a court-ordered parenting plan in place there are absolutely consequences for not following the order. Keeping good records and documentation is important if the other party is consistently breaching the terms of the order. I think the way you handled your situation was an excellent way to go about it and I hope your daughter is also thriving and living her best life. She sounds like a very intelligent person and realized early on what was going on. You sound like a great mom not wanting to hurt her even more by having to see him face the consequences of his own actions. It sure isn’t fair that one party (you in this situation) has to pick up all the slack, try to mend the broken heart while simultaneously trying to make the other party not seem like the horrible person they are choosing to be.
He did not say the state gets involved. He said if they didn’t have a custody agreement in AZ before she left the state would take Truely and have custody over her. He later said he was being ‘creative’.
Yup. He told he that the state would take custody of Truly if there was no custody order. And he claimed he wanted 50/50 custody of the kid he barely saw. Basically, he just didn’t want to have to pay child support.
For Christine to have done this, I suspect he rarely sees or talks to Truly and doesn’t provide financial support. Not surprised.
I wonder what triggered this response from Christian’s, it seems it would be a hassle for her with all this courses and arrangements she will need to take/do. So Kody must of done something really bad for her to react this way
He’s selling his multi-million dollar house, which he used family resources to pay for.
Robyn hasn’t paid anything into this family, she came in with debt made the woman pay it off, and she hasn’t worked a job. Why should she and her kids be the only ones to get so much? She has all her adult children and minor children getting all these benefits, well if Aurora and Breanna can have a house with Kody, so can Truly.
I hope Jenelle and Meri get their money from Coyote Pass.
Jenelle and Meri have had full-time jobs, Christine watched all the kids during the day, and Aspyn watched her kids at night while she worked. Jenelle, Meri, and Christine have been doing the MLM/SponCon to pay for their lives, while Kody pretends to be a businessman.
You know what he should pay child support. Truly is his daughter and he should help support her. And if the guarantees that he has to have a relationship, by court order, so be it.
I find Christine annoying, but she has never prevented Kody from having a relationship with her girls. He refused to even see Truly when he lived down the road to her, he was driving by her house every day. Not even just honk the horn and have her come run out and see him for 5 minutes. Now he will have a schedule he has to see her, and he will pay for her care.
Kody claims that he wants a relationship with Truely, that he wants to help support her. Okay, so then he shouldn’t be mad, this will allow him to do so.
I agree with you 100%, is his obligation to finally contribute to his daughter support and he should of done that from day one but I’m sure he didn’t while he furnish his and Sobyn’s house with tacky art. I’m just surprised that she decided to do it know, almost 3 years after their separation but like you said the selling of his home may be the reason why. I really really hope Janelle & Meri wise or lawyer up and get what it’s rightfully his. With him being legally married to Robyn I feel it can be tricky
I think I read that someone said, I’m not sure if they are a lawyer or not, but in Utah you can also collect up to 4 years of back pay, and 14 year old have a BIG say of where they get to spend their time.
So it was probably smart to wait until Truly was old enough to tell a court where she wanted to live, Christine could establish that her home was in Utah, and her friends and family were all there. Christine has a really big support system for Truly in Utah, David’s business is based in Utah. Plus, Truly is now in HS, they can’t just pull her out of school when this is what universities look like.
Whoever is advising Christine is really smart….
Meri should never have ended her legal marriage to Cody so he could marry Robyn. The writing was on the wall way back then. Depending on the state laws she could be entitled to her part of Coyote Pass and potentially half of his. His biggest concern isn’t his wives leaving. It is about them no longer supporting him financially. A patriarch provides without the need to have his wives sing his praises. P.S. shaved heads are popular now. Not sure what he is trying to prove with those tentacles in his head.
ohhhh… i wish I was a fly on the wall when Kody found out she was suing him for child support…
Ooh I bet was somewhere on par with the knife in the kidneys routine without walking up stage and pivoting to the left.
Seriously, can you imagine?! 🫣😳
Well played on Christine’s part. I think Truly is lovely and wise beyond her years and she deserves to be emotionally and financially supported by both her parents. I love how Grotty doesn’t want the government to interfere with his lifestyle but was fine with his “wives” accepting supplemental food assistance to feed his children. Oh, to be a fly on the wall when he was served with the papers.