Tom and Kat : A big step closer to just being
Tom and Kat : A big step closer to just being
Tom
Cruise and Katie Holmes reach divorce settlement. Holmes is said to get
primary custody of Suri and control her religious upbringing.
Katie Holmes and daughter Suri Cruise in New York City last week.
(James Devaney, WireImage / July 2, 2012)
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For Tom Cruise, a quick resolution to his divorce from Katie Holmes
looked like "Mission: Impossible" just last week. But the Hollywood
action hero appears to have extinguished the tabloid firestorm with an
agreement that one source said grants Holmes primary custody of their
daughter, Suri, and control of her religious upbringing.
The
confidential deal was hammered out over the weekend in New York and
announced Monday, 11 days after Holmes took the industry and her husband
by surprise with the filing of divorce papers in Manhattan. A key issue
in the split was the Church of Scientology, of which Cruise is the most
prominent member.
With a prenuptial agreement governing the
distribution of assets, talks between lawyers for Cruise and Holmes,
who
was raised Roman Catholic, centered on the role of Scientology in the
upbringing of 6-year-old Suri, according to the source who was familiar
with the negotiations but not authorized to discuss them publicly. The
agreement provides Cruise with visitation rights but gives Holmes the
lead role in choosing how Suri will be educated, the source said Monday.
PHOTOS: Tom Cruise and katie Holmes through the years
"She
is the primary caretaker right now and Tom is the one who primarily
goes away on movies. So little will change," the source said.
Holmes
initiated divorce proceedings on June 28, reportedly identifying the
parties as Anonymous versus Anonymous. Cruise had not yet responded in
court when the parties began settlement discussions. The deal avoids a
long court battle that could have become a public-relations nightmare
not only for the 50-year-old "Top Gun" veteran, who has several
big-budget movies upcoming, but also for Scientology.
Tabloid
coverage of the split has portrayed Cruise and Scientology negatively,
with headlines such as "Katie Holmes 'Felt Like She Was in Rosemary's
Baby'" and "Katie Free at Last." While Cruise has remained silent beyond
a brief statement saying he was "deeply saddened," Scientology has
dispatched spokesmen to defend its practices.
Cruise and Holmes
appeared to refer to the religious component of their split in a joint
statement: "We want to keep matters affecting our family private and
express our respect for each other's commitment to each of our
respective beliefs and support each other's roles as parents," they
said.
Holmes had hired three law firms with experience handling
high-profile breakups and she relied on her father, Martin, a Toledo
attorney who lists family law among his specialties. Jonathan Wolfe, a
New Jersey lawyer for Holmes, said Monday: "The case has been settled
and the agreement has been signed. We are thrilled for Katie and her
family and are excited to watch as she embarks on the next chapter of
her life."
Cruise was represented by longtime legal counsel Bert
Fields, and Dennis Wasser, who handled the "Mission: Impossible" star's
divorce from Nicole Kidman. "Tom is really pleased we got there, and so am I," Fields said in a statement.
Holmes
and Cruise married in 2006. It was his third marriage and her first.
Cruise's net worth far outstrips that of Holmes, who is 16 years his
junior and best known for her role on the TV show "Dawson's Creek."
(Forbes magazine estimated last week that Cruise earned $75 million in
the 12 months ending in May.)
The couple signed a prenuptial
agreement spelling out what Cruise would pay Holmes in the event of a
divorce, according to the source familiar with divorce negotiations.
"Katie does not get any significant money or property," the source said.
When
Cruise and Kidman ended their marriage in 2001, they shared legal
custody of their two children, Connor and Isabella. Cruise, however,
became the primary caretaker, raising the children in Los Angeles while
Kidman moved to Nashville and remarried.
Experts said that no
matter what the terms of the separation agreement, Cruise will still
have a legal right to teach Suri Scientology when she is in his care.
Authorities in so-called "spiritual custody" disputes said that while
family law judges try to ensure that the interests of children of
divorce are protected in matters like medical care and housing, they
give both parents broad leeway in choosing a religious upbringing.
PHOTOS: Tom Cruise and katie Holmes through the years
"The
general rule is the courts will defer unless the consequences are
really detrimental to the health of the child — a threat of immediate
and substantial harm," said Jeffrey Shulman, a professor of law at
Georgetown University who has written extensively about the issue and
believes that standard doesn't protect children sufficiently.
In
the case of Cruise and Scientology, a judge could intervene if the
religion was used to turn Suri away from Holmes because she was not an
adherent, Shulman said. "The courts could say to Cruise, 'You cannot
conduct yourself in a way that alienates the child from Katie Holmes.'
But mere doctrine may not be enough for the court to do that."
Courts
won't rule on the merits of a particular religion, New York lawyer
Malcolm Taub said. "They would not say that Scientology is not a valid
religion so we're going to award [sole spiritual custody] to Katie
Holmes," Taub said.
Speaking generally and not in particular
regard to Scientology, Alton Abramowitz, a family law attorney in
Manhattan, said, "There are ways of dealing with radical beliefs that
still allows the parents to practice what they believe and expose the
child to those beliefs."
But there are limits. Not that long ago,
Abramowitz was involved in a case where a father's religion called for
animal sacrifice. The mother objected, the lawyer said, with the court
ruling "that no animal sacrifices will be performed in the child's
presence."
story collect from ....
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-cruise-divorce-20120710,0,597918.story
