Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes Reportedly Negotiating a Divorce Settlement: Who Should Get Custody of Suri?

Well obviously it isn't up to me. It isn't up to anyone here voting on sodahead. Just expanding for the sake of conversation. And YES thank GOD I'm not the judge, I'd hate to have to deal with that mess. I don't think her having to pick up and change life every 6 months is a good idea though. 6 months in school in NY, then 6 in cali over and over until 18. It just doesn't seem like the "best" option. Not having custody doesn't give you some kind of exempt from your parental responsibility or obligation. It just means that one person is the primary care giver. He has the money to fly back and forth if/ as needed, and so does Katie. I don't think her having custody would make him any LESS of a parent to her.

Giving up custody is dangerous. I noticed you have some pictures of you and I'm supposing the father of your child on your site. Things CHANGE when you separate or divorce. Not much smiling. Who says the mother is the best caregiver? BS. That's a total myth. And 50-50 custody is a legal precedent to prevent one caregiver or another--usually the mother--from having total control over the actions of the OTHER caregiver.

Many divorced mothers want their ex--the father of the child--to have no contact at all with the child. They want the father to have NO influence on religion, schooling, behavior, etc and so on. What they want is "daddy" to pay all the bills but have no contact and no influence, meanwhile mommy badmouths dad all the time and rubs HER hurt feelings all off on to the child.

BEEN THERE. BITTER custody battle.

It won't always be 6 months here and 6 months there. It's every other weekend if possible with shared communal time at the home of each. The father has rights, too, and if it turns out to be 6 and 6 or whatever SO BE IT.

FATHERS HAVE RIGHTS TOO.

I never said fathers didn't have rights. I come from a broken home myself. Things like who has control over what can be written up in their agreement. If you don't have proper legal representation and forfeit your rights then YES, that sucks. But legally you have the right to chose what is in your agreement and what is not. That can include (but is not limited to) religion, schooling, etc.

Where does it say that she wants alimony, and child support but for him to have no say in her life, or time with his child? I must have missed that tid bit.

And are you saying that a 6 year old flying across the country every other week is a better deal? Come on. Really?

#1, she said she wanted TOTAL CUSTODY. What do you think that means?

#2: Where do you get this one lives in the East and the other lives in the West stuff?

"Katie dropped a bombshell on Tom when she filed for sole legal custody of 6-year-old Suri. And now, the custody question is the main thing holding up an amicable settlement, TMZ reports. A source told the gossip site that Tom wants "meaningful, significant contact with his daughter." As one source explained: "She is the primary concern in his life."



"We're also hearing that Tom and Katie had a pre-nup, so his pre-Katie fortune should be pretty much safe. But Katie can ask for as much child support as she wants. And for a little girl who's been wearing high heels and ball gowns since infancy, we have a feeling those monthly checks are going to be pretty large! We haven't read anything suggesting that Tom hasn't been a great dad, so we're not sure that Katie should be awarded sole legal custody as she requested. What do you think?"

Tom has every right to want his child close to him. SHE wants to divorce so SHE can move closer to eliminate the problem you are talking about. It isn't like she CAN'T AFFORD IT.

There can be fine print on that total custody. She's currently in NY he is in Cali so thats why I said that. But iff she moved closer, yeah it would work out fine. We don't know everything about why they are getting divorced, but she must have her reasons. 3rd wife to leave him at age 33. I feel bad for the guy =\

I feel bad for Suri. That's something we can both agree on.

Yeah, but they seem to be working things out easy. Katy filled and they reached an agreement within two weeks. Either there is an issue of black mail, this whole marriage was a ruse, or they are genuinely caviler about the whole situation. They did it here in NY, but even with their celeb status they will be married for at least a few more months before its finalized. I wonder if they will keep to their current agreement.

It's not fair to the kid, she should get to see them both if she loves them so much.

I don't think that one parent having soul custody would prevent the other from seeing her. Having joint custody would just make it necessary for her to spend x amount of time in one place/ with one person, and equal with the other. I'm sure with parents who are well off they'd have the funds to go back and forth as they please. It would not be "necessary" for them to have it mandated by the court unless one or more parties is not willing to comply.

Katie can have the top half and Tom can have the bottom half.

LMAO, imagine!

who would want their kid in that ridiculous cult?!

The mom should get the girl.

He will have visitation rights with her having custody. That is all he needs for "meaningful, significant contact with his daughter." He doesn't need custody to have that.

Exactly.

Joint custody is really whats best for the kid. Her dad obviously cares for her and I'm sure Katie loves her too. I mean Katie is her mom. I see no reason why she shouldn't have 2 loving parents that are always there to protect her and push her forward. Tom's Scientology really shouldn't be a factor in ripping a kid away from her father. As long as Katie can get her full medical care for the kid without Tom's say so, Suri deserves that. I'm not really familiar with how they would rule for medical say so, but I'm sure provisions could be made in the agreement.

Wonder who spent 99% of the time with the little girl???????

Her nanny?
Tom's nuts.
Katie might be a Hollywood whack-job, but she most likely doesn't believe Thetans are stuck to her because Xenu blew up the universe.

There is NO justice in our current Justice Dept., Senor.
But those Dianetics-bags are a criminal enterprise.

Though some might consider Cruise a crack-pot, I believe as long as he isn't abusing Suri he should be able to see her. A child NEEDS their father. Just because the parents don't want to be together doesn't mean the child shouldn't be kept away from one of the parents.

Maybe not 50/50 but more like 75/25...

Me and Katie Holmes.

Just keep the poor child away from Alec Baldwin

share

Both parents should have an equal share in their child's upbringing and care. It's also better for the child as he/she retains a close relationship with both parents.

I would normally say BOTH for the sake of the child, but not when one is a controlling cult member/user of other members

I don't see any reason why Cruise shouldn't be able to see his kid.

She should and he can have visitation.

there was no undecided choice...
The child should go with whichever parent can raise her the best... Tom Cruise is in a cult, weve heard plenty about that. Havent heard as much about Katie... Based on that, she should have the child.

It is less of a cult. Catholics don't enforce shunning, throw people in Catholic prison, or use information gained in confessional against the parishioner.

Nah, they just molest children and endorse the holocaust.

Those are the actions of evil men in an organization. Scientology as an organization enforces evil policies. Huge difference in scale.

What do you mean about endorsing the holocaust? I AM against priests not being able to marry...such a set up tends to attract weirdos.

I don't think you can blame anyone for the actions of people hundreds or thousands of years ago.

Give them half a chance and they'd do it again. [...] Very few of them believe people should be allowed to follow any religion but their own and there are many sects within the catholic community that engage in questionable practices. Including brainwashing, self harm, promotion of anorexia and then some priests engage religiously in Paedophilia and Sodomy. Heck the Catholic Church still perform exorcisms and believe that the best cure for mental illness is to 'expel' the demons.



Scientology is no different and Christianity is a slightly watered down version of Catholocism (regardless of who belongs to who).

Uh excuse me sir?! We Catholics are anything but, nutjobs! How dare you! And each Catholic Church is different not all are the same. So, how dare you call out the Catholics. You are going to hell for saying such a thing!