GRAND LEDGE -- Army National Guard Spc. Joe McNeilly claims
that he lost shared custody of his 10-year-old son because he was
serving in Iraq.
"You want to make a soldier cry, you take his son away," McNeilly,
33, of Grand Ledge, told the Lansing State Journal. "It's devastating."
The boy's mother, her lawyer and the Ingham County Friend of the
Court disagree, saying McNeilly didn't lose custody because of his
deployment. But McNeilly is getting some support in the custody dispute.
"He would still have his son if he hadn't been deployed," said Maj.
Dawn Dancer, public affairs officer for the Michigan National Guard.
Don Reisig, director of the Ingham County Friend of the Court, said
confidentiality laws bar him from saying much. He said the court's
recommendation in May had nothing to do with McNeilly's military
service.
But a report from a court hearing said the court favored Joey's
mother, Holly Erb of Mason, because she was the "day to day caretaker
and decision maker in the child's life" while McNeilly was deployed.
Erb's lawyer, Theresa Sheets of Lansing, said Erb wanted full custody
because she no longer found McNeilly to be a fit father.
"This has absolutely nothing to do with his military service," Sheets
said.
McNeilly had shared custody of Joey, his only child, before being
deployed in 2004. But Erb had petitioned the court for full custody
seven months after McNeilly joined the National Guard in 2003.
McNeilly agreed to give Erb temporary full custody until he returned
from duty.
A custody order said the issue would be revisited when McNeilly
returned from Iraq, but a court referee recommended against restoring
custody.
Comment on this story