Divorce, child custody affidavit offers jarring portrait

On behalf of The Marks Law Firm, L.L.C. posted in Child Custody on Wednesday, June 13, 2012

There are always at least two sides to every divorce and child custody dispute. In recent days, one side of the contentious divorce and custody fight between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his late wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, has entered the public realm.

Mary, a 52-year-old mother of four, hanged herself last month.

Newsweek reported details from what it says is a 60-page sealed affidavit by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alleging physical abuse by his wife, as well as that she repeatedly threatened suicide and that she deliberately killed the family’s dog.

The Richardson family issued an angry response, saying the affidavit is “full of vindictive lies.”

Kennedy reportedly stated in the affidavit that his wife’s “violence and physical abuse” started before the couple was married in 1994.

He said Mary hit him in the face with her fist, causing permanent damage to his tear duct and then asked him to lie about the cause of his “shiner” to her family.

He also described an allegedly drunken assault launched against him by his wife in front of their son. During the assault, Kennedy Jr. claims, Mary called him a “demon” and “evil” and “sex addict.”

The affidavit also recounts Kennedy Jr.’s many affairs.

But it focuses on what he calls his wife’s mental illness; a contention her family strongly rejects.

In their statement condemning Kennedy’s version of events, they wrote, “The scurrilous affidavit was…part of a contentious custody battle and was nothing more than a brutal psychological weapon in the divorce case.”

As we can see, some wars for the hearts and minds of children at the center of a custody dispute carry on even after one of the parents has died. Unfortunately, these kinds of all-out battles rarely do the children or the parents good.

Source: nymag.com, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Affidavit Details Mary’s Decline,” June 11, 2012

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