|
Playboy
Ma Ko'd in Court
By Dareh Gregorian
New York Post
January 19, 2007
A state appeals court has
shot down an ex-Playboy model mom's bid to hold a court-appointed
psychiatrist accountable for her losing custody of her twin
daughters.
Bridget Marks had
filed a malpractice suit against Dr. Stephen Billick, charging the
shoddy and biased work he did as a court-appointed "neutral"
resulted in her losing custody of her girls for 10 months.
In its ruling yesterday,
the state Appellate Division agreed with a lower-court judge that
Marks' suit should be thrown out because Billick was protected by
"judicial immunity."
Marks' suit said a Family
Court judge had assigned Billick to make recommendations for the
girls' visitation with their dad, casino king John Aylsworth, but
the shrink overstepped his bounds by recommending the dad get
custody.
To read opinion go to:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/3dseries/2007/2007_00243.htm
Model in
Tug-o'-love Sues Shrink
By Dareh Gregorian
New York Post
June 2, 2005
Former model Bridget Marks
has filed suit against the man she holds responsible for her losing
custody of her kids 覧 a court-appointed psychiatrist.
In papers filed in
Manhattan Supreme Court, Marks, 39, charges it was Dr. Stephen
Billick's biased, negligent and unprofessional work that forced her
to lose custody of her twin daughters for 10 months.
"These two little girls
suffered immensely because of this. It's time the people who made
them suffer be held accountable," Marks' lawyer, Tom Shanahan, said
of the suit, believed to be the first of its kind in New York. It
seeks unspecified money damages for causing Marks and her daughters
"permanent physical and emotional trauma, great pain, suffering and
mental anguish."
Billick didn't return a
call for comment.
The suit says it was his
report that led Manhattan Family Court Judge Arlene Goldberg to
strip Marks of custody of her girls Amber and Scarlett. The handover
to their father, casino king John Aylsworth, a year ago yesterday,
degenerated into a circus as Marks turned the hysterical girls over
in front of TV and news cameras.
A state appeals court gave
custody back to Marks earlier this year after finding in part that
Goldberg had relied too heavily on Billick's recommendations.
Tycoon &
Model End Tug-o'-Love
By Dareh Gregorian
New York Post
May 26, 2005
Bridget Marks' war with the
father of her twin daughters ended in a surprise cease-fire
yesterday, when a Manhattan judge set up a visitation schedule for
the clashing couple for years to come.
"In essence, this case is
over," Marks' lawyer, Tom Shanahan, said.
His former-model client
said, "It's been a long hard road, but I'm seeing light at the end
of the tunnel."
Marks and her lawyers went
into the hearing before Judge Patricia Henry ready to do battle with
casino mogul John Aylsworth over visitation and other issues
concerning their 5-year-old twins, Amber and Scarlett.
Marks had complained that
the visitation Aylsworth had been demanding since losing custody of
the girls would have been disruptive to the twins' lives and their
relationships with their mom.
Aylsworth contended that he
was just trying to maximize his time with his girls, who've lived
most of their lives with Marks.
Henry nipped both arguments
in the bud in an order that seemed to satisfy both sides. The mother
and father have already agreed on child support.
Green Gives Twins'
Model Mom Moral Support
By Helen Peterson
New York Daily News
May 26, 2005
Likely state attorney
general candidate Mark Green showed up in court yesterday to provide
moral support to the mom in a high-profile custody case.
Ex-model Bridget Marks, 39,
who has been battling casino mogul John Aylsworth over their 5-
year-old twin girls, sat
with Green during breaks at Manhattan Family Court.
She said she has known
Green, a former city public advocate and mayoral candidate, for
years.
Casino
King: Deal My Kids Back
by Jennifer Fermino
New York Post
April 30, 2005
The
ugly battle over Bridget Marks' two beautiful children drags on.
A lawyer for the onetime
Playboy Playmate said yesterday that her ex-lover, casino king John
Aylsworth, has petitioned the state's appellate court to reverse its
unanimous ruling giving Marks custody of their twins.
"We will oppose their
application," said Michael Joseph, the attorney.
Meanwhile, Marks, 39, filed
a request for child support yesterday at Manhattan Family Court,
charging
HI, MARKS:
With New York Post
Aylsworth with not paying a
dime for their 5-year-old
n hand, Bridget Marks arrives at
daughters, Amber and
Scarlett.
Manhattan Family Court yester-
day to sue her twins' dad, John
"He's got all this
money for litigation and he doesn't
Aylsworth, for child support.
have money for
child support," she fumed.
Photo: William Farrington
Aylsworth 覧 a
casino-company exec 覧 rolled the dice on his decades-long marriage
when he began an affair with Marks in 1998. They broke up bitterly
in 2002 and Marks promptly sued him for failure to pay child
support. A court expert then said Marks coached her kids to say
their dad had touched them inappropriately.
Marks denied the charges
but a Manhattan judge believed them. The judge then stripped her of
custody and gave it to Aylsworth in May 2004.
The state's Appellate
Division reversed that decision on March 31 and returned the kids to
Marks.
Lawyers for Aylsworth
didn't return calls seeking comment yesterday
Tug-o'-love Dad Bets on City Casinos
By Brad Hamilton
New York Post
April 24, 2005
John
Aylsworth, the philandering casino king who battled ex-Playboy model
Bridget Marks for custody of their love twins, has anted up in the
drive to revive riverboat gambling in the city.
But Aylsworth is a man with
a past when it comes to business, too.
His company, President
Casinos Inc., has been forced to sell most of its assets after a
Bankruptcy Court examiner found he likely engaged in a "breach of
fiduciary duty" with a suspect land deal that funneled
JOHN AYLSWORTH
$40.5
million to the company's chairman, John
Bid to revive riverboats
Connelly. So, what's left for Aylsworth?
New York City, where he's
been working behind the scenes to help pave the way for a new
operation here, sources said.
As The Post reported last
week, President and two other firms are negotiating for licenses to
reopen the riverboats.
Aylsworth has a powerful
political ally in Karl Andren, a President officer who owns the
Circle Line and World Yacht, Inc., which runs dinner cruises around
Manhattan.
Circle Line gave more than
$62,000 in political donations since 2000, including $8,000 last
year to state Sen. Martin Golden, election records show.
Andren is also chairman of
the executive committee of NYC & Co., the city's tourism
promoter
Dad's
Diss in Custody War
By Dareh Gregorian
New York Post
April 15, 2005
Bridget
Marks got a not-so-nice birthday surprise from the father of her
twin daughters yesterday a long wait in Manhattan Family Court.
The dad, casino king John
Aylsworth, showed up with his lawyer more than an hour late for a
hearing on his request for visitation with his 5-year-olds.
Aylsworth, 54, had had sole custody of the kids until two weeks ago,
when an appeals court returned the girls to Marks, who'd raised them
since they were born.
Yesterday's hearing was the
first time the clashing
LONG WAIT: Bridget Marks arrives at
couple had been
in the same room since the ruling
Manhattan Family Court yesterday,
although neither
acknowledged the other. Marks
where John Aylsworth, the father of
was visibly
frustrated by the delay, because she'd
their twins, was an hour late.
had to rush out
of a lunch with her daughters in
Photo: N.Y. Post/Don Halasy
celebration of her 40th birthday.
Aylsworth's lawyer,
Patricia Grant, blamed their delay on "miscommunication" about the
time the hearing was supposed to start.
Despite the bad start, the
two sides did manage to strike a deal on temporary visitation, said
Marks' lawyer, Michael Joseph.
There is still plenty of
bad blood in the couple's now-infamous custody fight, however.
When Joseph complained to
Judge Patricia Field that Aylsworth had fired the girls' therapist
and was refusing to pay any more of the doctor's bills, Grant said
Marks should just pay up herself.
"She indicated she had
access to $40 million and wasn't worried about money," Grant said,
referring to a TV interview where the former Playboy model said her
sister had just come into a fortune.
Grant also said she's
planning on battling Marks' custody award, and would appeal to the
state highest court, the Court of Appeals.
|
Twins' Dad Sees 'Em as Bi-coastal
By Nicole Bode
New York Daily News
April 8, 2005
Bridget Marks won the battle for custody of her twins, but the
ex-Playboy model's war with a casino mogul over their daughters
isn't over yet.
Just days after the
5-year-olds were returned to their mother's custody - reversing
an original decision to award them to dad John Aylsworth - the
father is trying to force the girls to fly to California twice a
month to see him.
"That is the fear, that
the kids end up on a cross-country odyssey every other week,"
Marks, 38, told the Daily News in front of her upper East Side
apartment building.
"What this has done is
to strip them of their childhood. I beg John to stop and just
give them their childhood," Marks said.
She said visitation
negotiations are still in the works, but that she fears the
frequent plane trips and three-hour time difference could wreak
havoc on little Scarlet and Amber.
She added, however,
"We're perfectly willing to abide by any court order to
facilitate the best possible relationship with the father."
Aylsworth, 54, is a
casino tycoon with homes in California and New York. He fathered
the children during an extramarital affair with Marks and later
won custody of the twins after a Family Court judge found Marks
was falsely accusing him of sexually abusing the girls.
Last week, the state
Appellate Division unanimously reversed the custody ruling,
while still condemning Marks' inappropriate accusations.
Aylsworth's attorney
Patricia Grant did not return repeated calls for comment.
However, under state
law, Aylsworth has until April 15 to file for permission to
bring the case before the Court of Appeals.
Since returning home
Tuesday, their routine has consisted of reading along with her
in their children's Bible before bed each night, she said.
They're also doing well
in school, and scheduling regular play dates with classmates.
Marks said she'll
continue to battle for her girls - as an example for other moms
and dads fighting for their kids.
"I would march to hell
and back - and I have - to get my children," she said. "And I'd
do it again and again, just to see their smiles."
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'Ecstatic'
Over Twin Win
By Dareh Gregorian
New York Post
April 7, 2005
She's
been through a year of hell, but now Bridget Marks can't stop
smiling.
"I'm ecstatic. I'm so
happy. I'm so happy to have the girls home safe and sound," Marks
told The Post yesterday in her first interview since regaining
custody of her twin daughters.
The model was reunited with
her girls Tuesday afternoon, 10 months after a Manhattan Family
Court judge stripped her of custody and ordered them to live with
their father, casino king John Aylsworth.
Marks said the day that
happened, June 1, 2004, "was the worst day of my life."
"Besides the day my angels
were born, [Tuesday] was the most wonderful day of my life," she
said with a smile.
HAPPY FAMILY: Bridget Marks
with twin girls
Scarlett and Amber this week after she
Marks
declined to comment on what she and
regained custody.
and her kids
did to celebrate, but she said
they were as
thrilled to come back to her
East 72nd Street apartment as she was to have them.
"They knew that they were
coming home to live with mommy. This has always been their home,
their only home. From the time they were born, they were raised in
this very building," Marks said.
She said Amber and
Scarlett's joy should have been obvious to anyone who saw pictures
of the beaming kids walking home with Marks in yesterday's Post.
"The pictures said it all.
Of course, I'll probably be accused of coaxing them and brainwashing
them into their smiles," she said.
The quip was a reference to
her ugly custody fight with Aylsworth, a married man she'd had an
affair with.
He sued Marks for custody
of the girls after they turned 3, and later accused her of
"brainwashing" them against him. The dispute got even uglier when
Marks said the girls told her he'd touched them inappropriately.
A court expert later
determined the claims were made up and the girls had been coached
into making the statements, charges Marks denies. Judge Arlene
Goldberg sided with the expert and ordered Marks to give up custody.
The state Appellate
Division overturned that decision last week, finding that, overall,
Marks was "a good mother" and it was in the girls' best interests to
stay with her.
"My faith in the system has
been restored," Marks said, thanking her "godsend" of a lawyer, Tom
Shanahan, who she said, along with financial investigator Anthony
DeRosa, "worked day and night on my case."
Mommy Cheeriest
By Brad Hamilton and Dareh
Gregorian
New York Post
April 6, 2005
For
the rest of the country, it's still a month away, but for Bridget
Marks, yesterday was Mother's Day.
The beaming model was
reunited with her twin daughters yesterday afternoon just days
after an appeals court reversed the controversial ruling stripping
her of custody of the 5-year-olds.
"Everybody's really
excited," Marks' mother, Molly Bennett Aitkens, said after she and
her daughter picked up little Amber and Scarlett at their
prestigious Upper East Side private school.
Marks, 39, didn't speak to
reporters camped JOY:
Bridget Marks takes her daughters
outside her East 72nd Street
apartment as
Scarlett and Amber in hand yesterday, 10
she left to go get her girls,
and she declined
months after losing custody.
comment as she walked
home with them
Photo: N.Y. Post: Luiz C. Ribeiro
but she looked as if
she was floating on air.
The excited girls were
telling their mom all about their day at school and she was
lapping up every detail.
The scene was in stark
contrast to the one that unfolded outside of Marks' apartment last
June, when the former Playboy model was forced to surrender custody
of her girls to their father, casino king John Aylsworth. The
handover quickly deteriorated into a sad and ugly public spectacle,
with Marks and her daughters screaming and crying as Aylsworth put
the girls into his car.
Manhattan Family Court
Judge Arlene Goldberg awarded custody of the twins to Aylsworth, who
impregnated Marks while cheating on his wife, after finding the mom
had made up charges that he'd acted inappropriately with the kids.
In a decision released last
Thursday, the state Appellate Division agreed what Marks did was
"abhorrent," but said there was no reason to remove the girls from
her custody. The judges said that overall, Marks was a "good
mother," and the decision to remove the girls from the only home
they'd ever known was more of a punishment to the mom.
The two sides agreed to
make the handover yesterday, but sources close to the case said
that agreement didn't come easily.
Aylsworth, who has homes
around the country, balked at the idea of handing the children over
before getting an assurance that he could visit them whenever he was
in town, for as long as he wanted to, the sources said.
Marks' side refused the
demand and Aylsworth's side eventually relented, paving the way
for yesterday's happy reunion.
Marks' lawyer, Tom
Shanahan, said, "We still don't have an amicable agreement on
visitation, but we hope to have that done this week so he can
continue to spend time with the children."
Aylsworth's lawyer,
Patricia Grant, didn't return a call for comment. In a radio
interview Sunday night, however, she blasted the Appellate Division
decision and Marks.
She told the syndicated
radio show "His Side with Glenn Sacks" that Marks was found to be
"an unfit mother" who had abused her kids "emotionally and
physically."
She added that "if this
decision is not reversed, which we hope it will be, it opens the
floodgate, it really invites parents of both sexes . . . to make
false sexual-abuse allegations."
If the two sides can't work
out a visitation agreement, the appeals court ruling said they
should go back to court to have one worked out for them.
Twice as
Nice! Victorious Mom's Twins Home to Stay
By Nicole Bode
New York Daily News
April 6, 2005
 |
| Flanked by twins Scarlet and Amber,
Bridget Marks beams on family's way home from school.
|
|
|
Bridget Marks brought her twins home yesterday - this time for
good.
The Manhattan mom - who
won full custody of her 5-year-old daughters last week after a
bitter, nearly year-long court battle with the girls' father -
cooed and clutched the joyful pair's dainty hands as they
skipped home from their elite upper East Side school.
"Hip, hip, hooray!"
Marks, 38, cheered as she walked the girls home from the Birch
Wathen Lenox School on E. 77th St. shortly before 3 p.m.
Marks was prohibited
from speaking directly with reporters, and asked them to keep
their distance out of respect for a court-mandated order. But
Marks' joyful mood was clear from her 1,000-watt smile, and from
her adoring glances at her girls, Amber and Scarlet.
"They look so cute,"
gushed Marks' mom, Molly Bennett Aitken - who drove in from
Massachusetts for the occasion. They were joined by Marks' nanny
and one of her friends.
The girls, in matching
pink pleated uni-dresses and short-sleeve white blouses along
with puffy red jackets, couldn't wait to get home to Marks'
nearby apartment, turning down grandma's offer to go out for a
celebratory bite. The pair brought Marks up to date on the
latest news at school and eagerly anticipated an afternoon play
date with a classmate.
Once inside Marks' chic
E. 72nd St. apartment building lobby, her daughters each got a
long bear hug before snuggling beside her on a couch overlooking
a waterfall outside.
The joyful stroll under
balmy spring skies was a far cry from the heartbreaking scene
last June, when the former Playboy model screamed and sobbed as
she lost the girls to their father, casino tycoon John Aylsworth.
Marks conceived the
twins during an affair with the then-married Aylsworth, 54, who
gained custody after a Family Court judge deemed that Marks was
turning her children against him.
"We are just so
grateful to God and the court for returning them to their mother
where they belong," Aitken added. "Hallelujah, hallelujah. What
a beautiful day."
According to Marks'
lawyer, Thomas Shanahan, she still faces an uphill battle over
Aylsworth's visitation rights.
But Shanahan said that
everything is being done to ensure the twins' return remains as
stress-free as possible.
Aylsworth's lawyer blasted the decision to return the twins to
Marks' custody, telling a radio program that it "opens the
floodgate" for false sex-abuse claims during custody battles.
"She was unfit as a custodial parent," Patricia Grant told radio
host Glenn Sacks on Sunday.
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Ruling
Favors Ex-model in Custody Fight
The New York Times
April 1, 2005
win 5-year-old girls who
were the subjects of a bitter custody battle between their parents -
John Aylsworth, a casino executive, and Bridget Marks, a former
Playboy model and actress who lives in Manhattan - are to be
returned to their mother's custody, a state appellate court ruled
yesterday.
A panel of judges from the
Appellate Division of State Supreme Court overturned a decision last
May by Judge Arlene Goldberg of Manhattan Family Court placing the
girls in the custody of Mr. Aylsworth after the judge found that Ms.
Marks had tried to alienate him from the girls by coaching them to
say that he had abused them. Judge Goldberg determined that the
allegations were false.
In their decision, the
appellate judges deplored the false allegations, but said it
appeared that they had not had a lasting effect on the girls'
relationships with their father.
The judges also noted that
Mr. Aylsworth travels often, and that the girls would be left in the
care of his wife, who is their stepmother, or paid caregivers. They
said the girls should be placed with their mother, because they were
"entitled to be raised by a parent."
(To read the Opinion of
the Appellate Court - First Dep't.
Click here.)
|
Model
Gets Her Girls Back
By Helen Peterson
And Dave Goldiner
New York Daily News
April 1, 2005
|
 |
| Bridget Marks with her twin girls,
Scarlet and Amber |
|
|
Ex-Playboy model Bridget Marks celebrated a "wonderful victory"
yesterday after a unanimous appeals court gave her back custody
of her twin daughters.
"I knew I would be
vindicated and my children would be coming home," said Marks. "I
always believed that right is might."
The 4-0 victory gives
Marks, 38, control of the cute twin 5-year-olds, Amber and
Scarlet, who had been living with their casino mogul dad John
Aylsworth, 54, since a Family Court judge handed them to him
last year.
"It's a wonderful
victory for me and my daughters," the redhead said. "I am
absolutely paralyzed with joy."
The identical twins are
vacationing with their father and Marks was not permitted to
talk to them yesterday.
"The most important
thing is that two little girls got their life back today," said
Thomas Shanahan, a lawyer for Marks. "They got to go back to
their mother."
Marks has been
nervously waiting by the phone every Tuesday and Thursday, when
the Appellate Division releases its rulings. This week, she
decided to ease the unbearable tension by jetting out for a
skiing vacation.
"Lo and behold, my
prayers have been answered," she said, adding that she credited
news reports with helping her win her kids back.
Aylsworth's lawyers did
not return calls for comment on the ruling. Because the decision
was unanimous, Aylsworth must ask for permission to appeal the
decision to the the state's highest court.
The judges in
yesterday's ruling called Marks a "good mother" to the identical
twin girls, who were conceived during a steamy bicoastal affair
with Aylsworth.
"It [is] in the best
interests of these very young girls to [stay] in the care of
their mother with whom they had lived - and for the most part
thrived - for all their lives," the judges said in a 32-page
order.
The judges agreed with
Family Court Judge Arlene Goldberg that the girls were coached
into falsely accusing their father of abusing them - a tactic
they branded as "abuse."
But they declared it
was too harsh a punishment to take away the kids.
The girls are now
living with Aylsworth and his wife in Manhattan, but they spend
two nights a week with their mom.
The judges said
Aylsworth's busy schedule - he often travels to casinos on the
Gulf Coast and elsewhere - effectively meant the kids would be
raised by their stepmother or nannies.
"The children are
entitled to be raised by a parent," they ruled.
|
Tug-o'-love Twist
By Dareh Gregorian
New York Post
April 1, 2005
An "overwhelmed" Bridget
Marks won the fight of her life yesterday when an appeals court gave
her back custody of her two little girls.
"This is a wonderful,
wonderful day," an ecstatic Marks told The Post shortly after
learning the state Appellate Division had restored custody of her
twin 5-year-olds, Amber and Scarlett.
"My prayers have been
answered."
Her lawyer, Tom Shanahan,
said Marks and her girls "got their lives back today."
The unanimous four-judge
decision overturned a controversial ruling by Manhattan Family Court
Judge Arlene Goldberg giving custody of the twins to their father,
casino king John Aylsworth.
The father had impregnated
the former Playboy model while cheating on his wife, and then barely
saw the children until they were 3. But he was awarded custody last
year after Goldberg found Marks had been turning the kids against
him.
The ruling resulted in an
ugly public spectacle last June, when a sobbing Marks handed the
hysterical girls over to her ex-lover and his wife in a
gut-wrenching scene that was caught on camera on East 72nd Street.
Shanahan quickly filed an
appeal and said Marks has been calling him in tears every Tuesday
and Thursday 覧 the days the Appellate Division issues its
decisions.
The custody switch takes
effect as soon as Marks, 39, returns from a ski trip she'd
ironically taken to escape from the stress of losing the girls. "I
could hardly breathe," she said of learning the good news. "I was
just overwhelmed."
Aylsworth's lawyer didn't
return a call for comment.
Goldberg's decision to
strip Marks of custody was largely based on the report of a court-
appointed evaluator, who
found the mom had made up claims that Aylsworth had touched the
children inappropriately.
The Appellate Division
judges agreed that Marks likely made up the allegations, which was
"abhorrent."
But the judges note that
even the evaluator who recommended Marks lose custody conceded she
was a "good mother."
The judges also found
Aylsworth's claim that he "will parent the children '24/7' rings
hollow," because he's often away for work, and the bulk of the kids'
time would be spent with Aylsworth's wife or paid caretakers.
One appeals judge, David
Saxe, said Goldberg's ruling was more of "a punishment to the mother
for her misconduct than an appropriate custody award in the
children's best interests."
2
Transferred Judges Breaking 'Family' Ties
By Brad Hamilton
New York Post
February 6, 2005
Two headline-making
Manhattan judges who oversaw controversial custody battles will no
longer hear family cases because they have been transferred to other
courts, The Post has learned.
Family Court Judge Arlene
Goldberg, who ruled against ex-Playboy model Bridget Marks in a
nasty custody fight pitting Marks against her married ex-boyfriend,
and Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Judith Gische, a target of an FBI
probe, both got new assignments Jan. 3.
The embattled Gische is
best known for handling Rudy Giuliani's high-profile split from
Donna Hanover and the couple's ensuing custody fight in 2002.
But she's also a focus of a
federal investigation into allegations that she and other judges
issued favorable rulings to pals and associates.
Gische's transfer from the
matrimonial division to civil court came as part of a normal
rotation, said court spokesman David Book-staver.
Goldberg, who was in Family
Court for three years after coming over from the Supreme Court
criminal division, had intended to transfer back to her old job a
year ago but was asked to stay on for another 12 months, Bookstaver
said.
Judges
Grill Love-twin Father's Lawyer
By Bob Port
New York Daily News
December 1, 2004
State Appeals judges
repeatedly fired tough questions yesterday at the lawyer for a
married corporate executive who won custody of twin girls born
during his affair with a former Playboy model.
The hearing, oral arguments
at the Appellate Division, gave new hope to Bridget Marks in her
custody tug of war with John Aylsworth, president of President
Casinos Inc.
Marks is asking to reverse
a May ruling by Manhattan Family Court Judge Arlene Goldberg giving
Aylsworth custody of their identical twins, Amber and Scarlet, now
5. The appeals court granted Marks an expedited hearing, and judges
asked detailed, probing questions.
Justice Joseph Sullivan
asked how it could be in the best interests of children to be taken
from a "good enough" mother, who reared them alone for four years.
"These children, in
essence, are going to be raised by [Aylsworth's] wife," Sullivan
said. "Why are they going to be better off?"
In Family Court, Goldberg
ruled Aylsworth should get the twins because Marks had engaged in
parental alienation by making false sex abuse allegations against
him.
"We don't take away
children from their biological mother in every case where they come
up being short in their skills as a mother," Sullivan said.
Justice David Saxe
suggested Marks' behavior, rather than being "delusional," as a
court-appointed psychiatrist had found, was "perfectly
understandable."
Bridget Marks on Dr. Phil Show
September 15, 2004
Bridget Marks became
pregnant with twin daughters as a result of an affair with a
married man. When he found out she was pregnant, she says he
wanted her to get an abortion, and once the
children
were born, he refused to
sign an acknow-ledgement
of paternity, therefore relinquishing any legal
responsibility. She continued her relationship with the man
after the birth of the girls, knowing he was married.
Bridget says she tried many times to end their relationship,
but he always threatened her with taking away the girls.
"Over a period of time I discovered that he was reckless and
inappropriate with the children and every time I sought to
break the relationship off, he would threaten me with taking
the children away," she tells Dr. Phil. She finally broke up
with him, and he was allowed visitation with the girls.
After sexual abuse allegations by Bridget, the father filed
for custody of the girls, and the drawn-out custody battle
ensued. The court determined that Bridget lied about the
molestation, and therefore they gave custody of the children
to the father. On June 1, 2004, Bridget was devastated to
hand over her 4-year-old daughters to their father.
Bridget defends her molestation accusations. "I did not lie.
I was a fit mother. I am a fit mother whose children came
home with stories," Bridget tells Dr. Phil. "I took them to
professionals to investigate whether or not what they said
was
true. I was given an affidavit by an M.D., a child
psychiatrist from Columbia University saying that my
daughters had been inappropriately touched, or that she
thought that there was about a 60-70 percent chance that
they had been touched. She gave me an affidavit to go to the
court and to tell the court that the father should only have
the strictest access to the children under court
supervision."
Dr. Phil notes that a court appointed psychiatrist did an
evaluation and determined that she had coached the children.
"He did not examine the children after the second
allegation, so he basically, without even examining the
children or asking them any questions, determined that it
was false," Bridget explains to Dr. Phil.
Dr. Phil explains that when Bridget visits with her girls
now, it costs at least $700 a day, because the court says
that they have to be fully supervised visits. There have to
be monitors in the room so she doesn't coach her children to
say something.
Dr. Phil makes clear that the show tried to contact the
father of the girls, and there has been no response from
him.
Bridget says
that she will never stop fighting for her daughters.
"I will fight until my last breath," she tells Dr.
Phil.
Dr.
Phil introduces Dean Tong and Kathie Mathis, two
individuals who are helping Bridget fight her
custody battle. Dean is an author and a consultant
on contested custody abuse cases, and has been
working for 20 years on these types of cases. He
says that he has seen a lot of errors in this case.
"We believe that this is a case of bad science
producing bad law."
Dr.
Kathie Mathis is a psychologist who works with
mothers who are in a similar position to Bridget and
their children. She has helped Bridget write an
affidavit stating the impact of what's taken place.
Dr. Phil mentions that Bridget has written a
romantic thriller exploring love, loss, deception
and redemption called September. "I wrote
it as an outlet for all of my pain and stress and
frustration," she explains. "I will fight anywhere I
have to go to get my girls back." |
|
Playboy Mom's 9/11 Cash
Cow
By Richard Johnson
Sep 13, 2004
Bridget Marks, the former Playboy
model who lost custody of her twin daughters earlier this year in a
bitter court case, has written a post-9/11 potboiler called
"September" so she can pay her lawyers.
"I wrote the book for the girls,
during the trial, and it incorporates many of the things I went
through. These were my darkest moments," Marks told PAGE SIX. "My
poor children. I just feel so sorry for them."
The twins, Amber and Scarlett,
celebrated their fifth birthday on Wednesday with their mother, who
was allowed unsupervised visitation for the first time since their
father, gambling tycoon John Aylsworth, got custody in June.
The court found that Marks had
coached the twins to lie that Aylsworth had molested them and that
she was poisoning the youngsters' relationship with their father.
He's a better custodian for our
kids?" Marks fumed. "Judge Arlene D. Goldberg should be tarred and
feathered. She's not fit to sit in traffic court."
Marks will appear Wednesday on the
"Dr. Phil" TV show to talk about both the novel and her personal
ordeal.
"It's a romantic thriller about a
beautiful New York socialite who loses her son on 9/11," she said.
"She risks everything and travels the world to find out if the
greatest love of her life was one of the masterminds behind the
attack. It's a love story that spans 30 years and three continents."
Newscaster Linda Ellerbee liked the
book so much she gave it a blurb: " 'September' is more than a
novel. It's a first-rate lesson in the survival of love. No small
thing, that."
Marks is showing the same grit as
her protagonist in pursuing her case in the Appellate Division. She
also plans to sue several court-appointed "experts" 覧
psychiatrists, social workers and guardians 覧 over their testimony.
"There is an epidemic in Family
Court of good mothers losing custody of their children," Marks told
us. "The court system is embarrassed.
"I'm thinking of running for the
City Council on the Upper East Side," she added. "If there's any way
I can help other women and children, I will do it."
Without Minders
By Bob Port
New York Daily News
August 27th, 2004
The wealthy father of love twins Amber and Scarlet Aylsworth waved a
flag of truce yesterday, agreeing to drop demands that his
ex-mistress be supervised while visiting their daughters.
Manhattan Family Court Judge Arlene Goldberg agreed.
That clears the way for Bridget Marks to spend time alone with
the 4-year-old girls for the first time in months.
Marks raised the twins from birth but lost custody when Goldberg
ruled the former Playboy model had falsely accused the father, John
Aylsworth, 54, of sexually abusing the girls.
"Today was a victory," said Marks, 38, who has lost round after
round in the bitter custody fight. She paid $17,000 this summer to
social workers to monitor some 500 hours of visits and numerous
phone calls to the kids.
"I won't give up until I have my girls back," she added.
A psychiatrist seeing the twins has advised that "supervision is
harmful for the children and disruptive," according to their
court-appointed lawyer.
On June 1, Marks handed over the identical twins to Aylsworth,
head of President Casinos Inc., in a heart-wrenching spectacle recorded by news cameras.
Goldberg ruled that Marks' "unbridled anger" toward the married
tycoon was alienating the children from their dad. The judge made
Aylsworth and his wife move to New York.
Since then, Marks, who has tried acting and writing romance
novels, has appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" and ABC's "Primetime
Live" to air unrelenting criticism of New York's child custody
system.
Now, TV's Dr. Phil McGraw is on the case. Marks taped a segment
with the CBS pop psychologist that is tentatively set to air Sept.
15. In court, various parties said McGraw has been telephoning them.
"There's definitely going to be some followup," a show spokesman
said yesterday. "One of the things that Dr. Phil prides himself on
is extensive aftercare for folks who are on the show."
|
Twins' Mom Loses Again
|
By Bob Port
Daily News
July 28, 2004
|
 |
| Bridget Marks |
|
|
Bridget
Marks, the mom who lost her 4-year-old twins to their casino
executive father, begged a judge yesterday to stop making her
pay thousands of dollars to visit her daughters.
But Manhattan Family
Court Judge Arlene Goldberg said no.
"It's not time yet,"
the judge said, ruling that paid social workers, at $25 an hour
around the clock, must continue.
"We are looking out for
the best interests of the children," Goldberg said.
The social workers are
there to assure Marks never bad-mouths John Aylsworth, president
and chief operating officer of President Casinos Inc., based in
St. Louis.
Aylsworth fathered the
identical twin girls, Amber and Scarlet, while he was having an
affair with Marks.
Goldberg awarded
Aylsworth custody in May, ruling that because Marks was
alienating the twins against their father, they would be better
off living with him.
Since then, Marks has
spent $9,000 for phone calls and three visits totaling 12 days
with her daughters, whom she reared alone from birth at her
upper East Side apartment.
"She doesn't have the
resources to pay for ongoing supervision," Michael Joseph, her
attorney, protested. The children are in therapy and "we believe
it is not necessary," he said.
Aylsworth, who appeared
in court with his wife yesterday, objected. His attorney,
Patricia Grant, said that if money is a problem, Marks could
visit her girls free at one of the city welfare agencies set up
to supervise visitation.
Molly Murphy of Lawyers
for Children, the public-interest law firm appointed to
represent the 4-year-olds, also objected. "Now is not the time,"
Murphy said. "It's very early."
Lawyers for Children
has argued that supervision is in the best interests of Amber
and Scarlet.
Marks "has been very
cooperative," said Richard Spitzer, the director of
Comprehensive Family Services, the firm supplying live-in social
workers to accompany the twins. "There is room for improvement,"
he added.
Spitzer disclosed that
the twins have a problem with "hysterical screaming" during
"transitions" - when the time comes to return to their father.
In fact, the twins are
repeatedly refusing to leave their mom. Scarlet, for example,
once forced Spitzer physically to carry her, crying and
screaming down Third Ave., away from the building that was once
home.
The twins also have
refused to answer questions from a new psychiatrist appointed by
the court to help them.
"I am saying exactly
what the psychiatrist told me to say," Marks said yesterday. "I
say I love you and I'll miss you and tell them when I'll see
them again."
"The kids," she said
outside court, "just plain don't want to go back there."
|
|
Their
Sunday Best
Mom & Twins Reunite for Mass, Joined by a Big-bucks Chaperon
By Nicole Bode
New York Daily News
July 19, 2004
|
 |
| Bridget Marks is flanked by her
twin 4-year-old daughters, Scarlet (l.) and Amber, after
they all attended Sunday Mass. |
|
|
Any Sunday she can
take her twin daughters to Mass is precious to Bridget
Marks.
The embattled
Manhattan mom who has been fighting for custody of
4-year-old Scarlet and Amber got a now-rare opportunity to
foster her daughters' faith yesterday morning at St. John
the Martyr on the upper East Side.
Marks paid little
mind to the press throng, there to cover the ouster of her
longtime priest - and personal favorite - Msgr. John
Woolsey. Instead, she focused on the joy of having her
preschoolers snuggled close on either side of her in the
pew, reading with her from the hymnbook and beaming as she
caressed their hair.
"I am very happy to
be with them, no matter what the circumstances," Marks, 38,
later told the Daily News, her voice choked with emotion.
"[But] It's very, very important for any people in crisis to
have their faith."
Marks said she's
terrified the girls have been blocked from their faith since
she lost custody of them to their casino tycoon dad, John
Aylsworth, on June 1.
The one-time
Playboy model also lives under constant fear the courts
could strip away her tenuous visitation rights - which could
be cut off if she lets slip a single nasty word about
Aylsworth, or discloses the girls' whereabouts to the media.
So it was with
trepidation that Marks told The News she still has no idea
how often her daughters will be able to accompany her to
Mass in the future.
She said she could
not disclose what the rest of the girls' summer will hold -
whether they will go to California with their father or stay
with her.
But after spending
the hour-long Mass doting on her daughters, who clambered
onto her lap and showered her with hugs and kisses as a
court-mandated $1,000-per-day social worker looked on, Marks
said she could not bear the thought of being without them.
"They don't even like me to leave the apartment," Marks
wept. "It's just a sad thing."
Marks had reared
the twins - the result of an affair with the married
Aylsworth - since birth. But the 54-year-old millionaire was
awarded custody after a judge found Marks had bad-mouthed
him to the girls.
For now, Marks is
hoping the judge will allow her more time with her
daughters, so that she can bring them to church for First
Communion classes. Marks and the girls lit a trio of red
prayer candles at Mass' end. "Just to bring us back together
permanently, it's their greatest wish," Marks said.
(Msgr. John Woolsey, is under
investigation for $1million in missing church funds, of St.
John the Martyr. Woolsey, stepped down last week after an
audit by the Archdiocese of New York found about $1 million
in church funds went missing during his eight years at St.
John's. Rev. Joseph Baker was conducting the services.)
|
Twins' Trip Hinges On Shrink
Rap
By Barbara Ross and Owne Moritz
New York Daily News
July 10, 2004
A court-appointed
psychiatrist had her first meeting yesterday with the twin
daughters of Bridget Marks while a judge decides whether to
permit the 4-year-olds to vacation with their father in
California.
Marks said after a
court hearing in Manhattan that the unidentified psychiatrist
told the court "it is not a good idea" for the twins to leave
New York.
Lawyers for Marks, 38,
a former Playboy model and the twins' father, casino millionaire
John Aylsworth, 54, clashed in court over several issues.
Family Court Judge
Arlene Goldberg awarded custody of the girls, Amber and Scarlet,
to Aylsworth on June 1. Goldberg and several court-appointed
experts said Marks had alienated the girls against Aylsworth and
falsely accused him of sexually molesting them.
Marks is appealing.
Aylsworth, who is under
court order to move to New York, has agreed to enroll the girls
in a Manhattan preschool in September. But he has asked the
court for vacation time in California, where he and his wife
live.
Marks lawyer Michael
Joseph challenged Goldberg's order that the mother's contacts
with the children be supervised by social workers at a cost of
up to $5,000 a week.
But Goldberg rejected
the suggestion that the father should pay for the supervision.
"How is it his responsibility to pay when it's her wrongdoing
that requires it," Goldberg snapped.
Aylsworth attorney
Patricia Grant said Marks had assets of $266,790 and has a
fiance picking up her rent and legal fees.
|
OK Twins' California Summer
By
William Sherman
New York Daily News
July 7, 2004
|
It's going to be a long, lonely summer for Bridget Marks, whose
twin daughters will go back to California with their father next
week, under a Family Court judge's ruling yesterday.
Marks' attorneys argued
the 4-year-old girls should remain in Manhattan, to permit
frequent visits with their mother, who raised them from birth.
But Judge Arlene
Goldberg said the girls could go back to the West Coast with
their father, wealthy casino tycoon John Aylsworth.
Goldberg gave a little
something to both sides in the custody battle, however,
stipulating the twins could not stay away from Manhattan and
their mother as "long as Mr. Aylsworth wants."
And Goldberg hinted
that the restrictions on Marks' visits with her kids - now
supervised 24 hours a day by social workers - could end during
the next six months.
Marks has to pay the
social workers $5,000 a week.
The continuing custody
battle pits Marks, 38, a former Playboy magazine model, against
Aylsworth, 54, a married grandfather with whom she had an
affair.
Goldberg awarded
custody of the girls, Amber and Scarlet, to Aylsworth on June 1.
Goldberg and several court-appointed experts said Marks had
alienated the girls against Aylsworth and falsely accused him of
sexually molesting them.
Marks plans to appeal
Goldberg's custody decision in the Appellate Division of
Manhattan Supreme Court.
She lost a round in
that battle yesterday. Appellate Justice John Burke denied her
request for an emergency stay of Goldberg's custody ruling
pending the appeal.
|
Interview
With Bridget Marks on Larry King
Aired
on CNN
July 5, 2004 - 21:00 ET
To read transcript of interview
click here.
See Twins
- for 5g!
By Bob Port
New York Daily News
July 1, 2004
It looks like Manhattan mom
Bridget Marks finally will get to see her little girls - but it's
gonna cost her, big-time.
The feisty mom, who lost
custody of her 4-year-old twins to casino tycoon John Aylsworth, can
have home visits, a judge said yesterday, but only if she shells out
$5,000 a week for court-appointed social workers to watch her every
move.
Based on the number of
planned visits, that could mean as much as $50,000 a year.
Manhattan Family Court
Judge Arlene Goldberg also told Marks that if she says anything bad
about her daughters' father - an ex-lover she despises - the social
worker has the authority to terminate the visit on the spot.
"It's obviously punitive,"
said Marks, whose custody battle will be the subject of a report on
ABC's "PrimeTime Thursday" program tonight.
Goldberg approved the
visitation rules, ending weeks of uncertainty for Marks, who lost
her children on June 1 after the judge granted custody to Aylsworth.
Yesterday, Goldberg also
ordered Marks not to allow the news media access to her twins for
the next year or reveal their "precise whereabouts."
The judge said the children
will be harmed by reporters interviewing them or photographers
taking their picture. "I can't have that," she declared.
"My job is to protect these
children," Goldberg said. "That's what I intend to do."
Goldberg awarded Aylsworth
custody, ruling that the trauma of taking the girls from their
life-long home with Marks was better than letting Marks further
alienate the girls from their father.
Marks, a former Playboy
model, went public, lambasting the court, its overpriced forensic
psychiatrist and what she views as gross injustice in the state's
custody system.
Yesterday, she was stunned
again at the price tag of visitation. She said Comprehensive Family
Services, the firm appointed to supervise her, has warned her to
expect costs of $4,500 to $5,000 per week.
"It's like a poll tax and
it basically is like terminating my parental rights," Marks said.
"As long as I've agreed not to let the children be interviewed, I
don't see why I need supervised visitation."
The social workers must
accompany her and the girls everywhere - even the bathroom - and are
preparing a script for things she should say, Marks said. "It's just
bizarre," she said, "and completely insane."
Judge
Balks Bridget's Twin Hopes
When Will She See Her Girls?
New York Daily News
June 28, 2004
Bridget Marks has no idea
when she will see her 4-year-old
twin daughters
again.
A month after transferring
custody of little Amber and Scarlet to their millionaire dad and his
wife, Manhattan Family Court Judge Arlene Goldberg stunned Marks
this week by indicating she might let the twins stay at their dad's
Malibu, Calif., estate all summer.
Then again, she might not.
The judge might allow the
children to stay overnight at their mother's home for a visit.
Bridget Marks
hugs
her twins, 4-year-old
Then again, she
might not.
twins Amber (r.)
and
Scarlet, shortly
And, despite repeated pleas from Marks, Goldberg has yet
before they left her
to
to settle how many thousands of dollars the mom must pay
go live with their
court-appointed supervisors when she does visit her kids.
father.
The judge also is not
responding to new questions about whether the girls will be allowed
to attend Catholic church services or Sunday school.
"I miss them so much,"
Marks said Friday, as she began to cry. "I miss them more than I
ever imagined I could."
All month, Marks has been
required to pay court-appointed social workers to monitor daily
phone calls with her kids.
"They keep asking me,
'Mommy, when are we coming home?' - and I'm not allowed to say
anything," she said. "It's just not fair."
In May, Goldberg ordered
the twins given to their father, John Aylsworth, president of
President Casinos Inc., on the condition he move within 40 miles of
Marks' upper East Side home. But when he will make the move remains
unclear.
Marks, a former Playboy
model, began an affair with Aylsworth in 1998. She became pregnant,
resisted pressure from Aylsworth and his wife to have an abortion,
then reared the twins alone.
Goldberg ruled that because
Marks, 38, was denigrating Aylsworth, the children would be better
off living with their 54-year-old father.
Aylsworth, the judge's May
order declared, could take the girls anywhere on vacation for a
"consecutive four-week period" beginning June 1. "The children shall
then have supervised visitation time with the mother for a one-week
period," she ruled.
But for weeks, Goldberg,
who is the subject of an abuse-of-judicial-authority complaint by
Marks to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, has failed to
give her lawyers guidelines for how the distraught mom can visit her
daughters.
"It's becoming surreal,"
said Tom Shanahan, Marks' attorney. "It's out of control."
Shanahan said he expects
Goldberg to issue a more detailed order today. Aylsworth's attorney
did not respond to a call seeking comment.
Although courtrooms in
Family Court are supposed to be open to the public, and despite
public interest in the case, Goldberg has begun holding hearings by
telephone with lawyers - making it impossible for the public to hear
what she says or observe what the elected judge does.
Before leaving their
mother, Amber and Scarlet Aylsworth had attended Mass at a Catholic
church most Sundays with Marks.
Aylsworth, Marks contends,
is refusing to allow them to continue going to church. Marks had
hoped to have her daughters attend Sunday school to prepare them for
their First Communion in two years.
"Now, John even wants to
take Jesus away from them," Marks said.
Courts
See Moms as Guilty till Proven Innocent
By Amy Neustein and Michael
Lesher
New York Daily News
June 20, 2004
Bridget Marks' tearful
farewell to her 4-year-old twins after a Manhattan Family Court
judge ordered them into the custody of a father they accused of
touching their private parts is a scene reenacted in custody trials
across the country, in which mothers bring good-faith allegations of
sexual abuse.
All too often, young
children are taken from the only home they have ever known, not
because their mother has been found unfit, but because she was
concerned about improper sexual contact between her children and
their father.
Judges in New York and
other states have adopted a bizarre rule that a mother alleging sex
abuse in a custody dispute is guilty until proved innocent: If her
abuse charge is not supported by overwhelming evidence, she will
lose custody for making an accusation that "poisons" the
relationship between father and child.
In fact, as we are seeing
in the Marks case, she can end up being doubly penalized: After she
loses custody, the accused abuser can actually hit her up for child
support.
Marks' suspicions were not
without support. A baby-sitter reported that the children told her
their father had "touched their peepee." A police investigator was
concerned enough about the charges to recommend that a prominent
forensic psychologist interview the children (an interview that was
never allowed to take place). Another psychologist recommended
strict supervision for the father's visits with the girls.
Judge Arlene Goldberg held
the mother to a Kafkaesque standard: While rejecting evidence that
explained the mother's suspicions, the judge required Marks to prove
she would foster a "loving" relationship between the man accused of
abuse and the children she was desperately trying to protect.
Adding insult to injury for
Marks, supervisors appointed by the court actually left the father
alone with the children on several critical occasions, court papers
show.
What happened to Marks has
happened to mothers across the country. We have studied two decades'
worth of custody litigation, and we have found that mothers who
raise allegations of sexual abuse against the children's fathers are
likely to be punished with the loss of custody even when there is no
proof that the abuse charges were fabricated or that they did
anything to harm their children's welfare.
Courts focus instead on the
supposed evil of making a charge that, by its very nature, is
extremely difficult to prove. Then, with the fathers presumed
innocent, the mothers bear the burden of proving that their
intentions were good.
If they fail, they end up
like Marks, who cannot even speak to her children without
professional supervision but who now may have to pay child support
to their rich father.
Neustein and Lesher are
authors of "From Madness to Mutiny: Why Are Mothers Running from the
Family Court?" due out in spring 2005.
Give Press Boot - Twins' Daddy
By Bob Port
New York Daily News
June 18, 2004
|
|
Lawyers for John Aylsworth and his twin love children asked a
judge to throw the press out of court yesterday, saying the
media attention to his custody battle was frightening the
4-year-olds.
Then, Aylsworth,
connected by phone to a court loudspeaker, began to cry.
He recalled the scene
June 1 when news cameras surrounded the girls on a Manhattan
streetcorner as he took them from their sobbing mother, his
ex-mistress.
"The girls bring up all
the time that they were scared," the riverboat casino exec said,
his voice cracking. "They were nervous. Why were all these
people in their face?"
"It's just very sad to
see all the pain they have from that experience," he said,
crying.
Both Aylsworth's
attorney and Lawyers for Children Inc., a taxpayer-financed
agency appointed to represent the twins, urged Manhattan Family
Court Judge Arlene Goldberg to eject reporters from the
courtroom.
It would be "in the
best interests of the children," they said.
Goldberg declined, but
invited the lawyers to file written requests to be argued later
with news media attorneys.
Yesterday's hearing
then degenerated into an argument over supervised visitation for
the twins' mom, Bridget Marks, 38, the upper East Side socialite
who gave birth to the girls during an affair with the married
Aylsworth.
In May, Goldberg
awarded custody of the girls to Aylsworth, 54, and his wife on
the grounds that Marks had harmed the children's relationship
with their father and made false accusations that he sexually
abused them.
The identical twins,
Amber and Scarlet, are with their father in California on a
four-week vacation. They return for a one-week visit with mom in
early July.
Both Aylsworth's lawyer
and Lawyers for Children said Marks should have 24-hour
supervision if the judge allows the girls to sleep at their
mom's home, where Marks reared them alone from birth.
|
Twins'
Daddy Twists Knife
By Bob Port
New York Daily News
June 17, 2004
He got her kids, and now he
wants her money, too.
The big-bucks corporate
exec who stunned New Yorkers by taking 4-year-old twins away from
his ex-mistress sued her yesterday for child support.
John Aylsworth makes
$521,000 a year as president of riverboat casinos in Missouri and
Mississippi.
Bridget Marks, 38, the
former Playboy model who lost legal custody of her daughters to
Aylsworth last month and does not have a job, was nearly speechless.
"I just don't understand," she said. "It's just too ridiculous."
"It's like pulling the
wings off a fly," said Raoul Felder, the city's dean of divorce law,
who is not involved in the case. "This shows a kind of arrogance, to
even attempt something like that."
Aylsworth's attorney was
unavailable for comment. A hearing in the bizarre custody drama is
scheduled in Manhattan Family Court today.
Aylsworth, 54, a married
man for 34 years, began an affair with Marks in 1998 that ended
bitterly in 2002. He had paid Marks $6,000 a month after Amber and
Scarlet were born in September 1999. He stopped the payments in late
2002, but in early 2003 a court ordered him to fork over $4,200 a
month.
On May 21, Manhattan Judge
Arlene Goldberg awarded custody to Aylsworth and his wife on the
grounds that Marks alienated the girls against their father and made
false accusations that he sexually abused them.
Under New York law,
Aylsworth may win child support from Marks, but probably not much.
Using a legal formula, a judge would start with $80,000 or more as
an annual child-rearing cost, then divide that amount in proportion
to each parent's income. Marks then would owe a fraction of that
amount.
With no job and legal bills
of nearly $800,000, Marks relies on her mother, fianc鳬 and others
for help. She got a $25,000 book advance this year for a romance
novel but owes an editor one-third of that and an agent 10% to 15%.
Still, the law would let a
judge "impute" an income figure for Marks based on odd sources of
cash. The judge could also calculate extra costs for the custodial
parent, such as private school and medical care - and even
baby-sitters to help Aylsworth's wife, who cares for her cheating
husband's love twins.
Hal Mayerson, co-chairman
of the state Bar Association's custody law committee, called the
child-support suit "nothing more than harassment."
"This is the dumbest thing
this guy could do, because he's now opened his finances to Bridget
Marks," Mayerson said. "I don't understand why this was done other
than to to just drive her crazy."
Fed Judge Turns
Twins' Ma Away
By Bob Port and William
Sherman
New York Daily News
June 8, 2004 |
| Bridget
Marks lost another round yesterday in her custody fight for her
twin daughters and now probably will not get to see them until
the end of the month.
A federal judge
rejected her request for the girls to be temporarily returned to
her, pending her appeal of a Family Court decision giving their
father full custody.
So the 4-year-old
twins, Amber and Scarlet, will stay with their father, John
Aylsworth, who lives in an estate in Malibu, Calif. Marks lives
on the upper East Side.
"This court is not a
Family Court," said Manhattan Federal Court Judge George
Daniels, after hearing extensive arguments from both sides.
Marks was grim but
composed, as Daniels told her to fight it out in the appellate
division of state court. "That is the appropriate place," he
said.
But he added that Marks
is entitled to more explanation of the Family Court ruling and
he invited her to come back to federal court if "there is an
unreasonable delay" in getting that information. Marks had no
comment when she left the courtroom to face a phalanx of
reporters.
Her attorney, Thomas
Shanahan, said, "This is not going away, not by a long shot."
Appeals will continue, Shanahan promised, with the next stop, at
the state's appeals court.
Aylsworth, a
54-year-old casino president, fathered the twins during an
extramarital affair with Marks, 38, a former Playboy model and
actress.
(To read the complaint in the federal case go to
http://www.shanahanlaw.com/marks/Marks.VerifiedComplaint.pdf
To read legal papers on case go to
http://www.shanahanlaw.com/cases.htm#MARKS
Diane Sawyer interview
with Bridget Marks and attorney Thomas Shanahan
http://www.shanahanlaw.com/marks/shanahan.mov )
Court
Blow to 'Molest' Accuser
By Heidi Singer
New York Post
June 8, 2004
A federal judge yesterday refused to step into the bitter
custody battle between a former Playboy model and the casino
mogul ex-lover she wrongly tried to paint as a child molester.
Lawyers for Bridget
Marks, the mother of the 4-year-old twin girls, argued she lost
custody of the girls for no good reason last month because the
judge relied on court-appointed experts 覧 and the current
system of court-appointed experts is corrupt, with assignments
handed out to the politically connected, not the most qualified.
But federal Judge
George Daniels refused to accept the case, saying the appeals
court now handling it is capable of addressing her concerns, as
long as the process is handled in a timely manner.
Last week, the children
were taken from their mother by court order. Judge Arlene
Goldberg gave custody to casino mogul John Aylsworth, 54, and
longtime wife Karen, because she found Marks was poisoning the
girls' relationship with their father by coaching them to say he
had molested them.
Marks can't appeal the
Family Court decision until July 5.
A disappointed Marks
left federal court yesterday stone-faced and silent.
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Mom's
Pain
Spelled Out
New York Daily News
June 6, 2004
 |
| An aching heart and a photo of her
twins are constant companions of Bridget Marks.
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Bridget Marks last saw her daughters five days ago, when their
wealthy father, Marks' ex-lover, took custody under a Manhattan
Family Court parental alienation order.
She's talked with them
on the phone, but only by paying a $75-per-hour court-appointed
social worker to monitor her every word. If Marks cries or says
anything to trigger her children's emotions over losing her, the
call will be cut off, by order of Manhattan Judge Arlene
Goldberg.
The Daily News invited
Marks, 38, to write an open letter to her 4-year-old twin girls,
Amber and Scarlet - and she did. "Thank you, thank you so much,"
she said, as she began to cry. "Thank God for the First
Amendment."
"Remember," she writes
to her daughters, "don't go to the swimming pool alone," whic | |