Very recently, Paul Staehle announced that Karine Martins will soon regain custody of their sons, Pierre and Ethan.
Not all 90 Day Fiance fans are jumping to take Paul at his word, but it’s clear that he believes it. And likely that Karine does, too.
He also recently revealed that one of his own relatives is pulling out all of the stops to prevent them from regaining custody. Even making allegedly false allegations about Karine.
Now, that cousin has filed for full custody of both boys — wanting to change their names and end all contact with their mom.
Paul Staehle took to his Instagram Story on Wednesday, May 24, to discuss this unfolding (extended) family drama.
“My cousin has filed a motion to attempt to keep custody,” he announced.
“And,” Paul continued, “to remove all Karine and my parental and custodial rights permanently.”
According to him, his cousin’s motion asks for Karine’s visitations to come to an end.
In addition to terminating all visitation with their mother, his cousin also wants Pierre and Ethan to receive new last names.
At present, both boys have a last name of Staehle.
In Touch Weekly has confirmed that Paul’s cousins are seeking permanent custody of both children.
They also submitted an affidavit by an employee of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Paul, Karine, and their legal representation received copies of the motion.
In a previous statement, Paul alleged that his cousin has instructed 4-year-old Pierre and 15-month-old Ethan to refer to her as “mom.”
Meanwhile, they are allegedly to refer to Karine by her first time.
Paul has claimed that his cousin becomes unhappy if the boys, who have only been out of Paul’s custody for about a year and Karine’s for another six months beyond that, do not abide by this.
“She is adamant that they have zero future contact with myself, Karine or any of [Karine’s] family,” Paul stated.
According to Paul, his cousin claims that Brazil is a “poor country” where child abuse is rife.
Just for the record, child abuse is commonplace in countless countries — the United States is no exception.
Some evils do not know any national borders, and some countries very deliberately have not outlawed some forms of child-abuse.
In fact, the United States is one of those countries. And if you’ll look at this national list, you can see that Brazil is not.
That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen. It just means that using Karine’s nationality, of all things, to suggest that she is a danger to her children doesn’t make much sense. And there are plenty of legitimate criticisms of Karine, so why go that weird route?
Meanwhile, Paul alleges that his cousin’s husband has a criminal history.
According to him, 90 Day Fiance fans will soon know the facts surrounding that.
Some may note that Paul’s own criminal history could be just as relevant. But we don’t know anything about his cousin or her husband except what Paul has said, and what we learned from one court filing. Which isn’t much. No matter how strange Paul may be.
“Karine is completing her final court ordered requirement to get custody back,” Paul wrote. “Very sad she has worked so hard for this.”
He alleged that his cousin is trying to “keep custody and prevent proper reunification of her and our children” and to “completely erase Karine from their life.”
Paul also expressed concern that one of his sons is lashing out at other children, and suggests that he learned this from his cousin.
There are a lot of facts of this case that we do not know.
Fans know what a nightmarish mess Paul and Karine are. The cousin and her husband are total unknowns, and we’re only hearing about them through Paul. Which is … not exactly a neutral conduit of information.
We hope that whatever happens, it gives Pierre and Ethan their best chance at life. Maybe that’s not in the card, but their well being is truly the only thing that matters.