Bristol Palin Sues for Sole Legal Custody

By Kamika Dunlap on January 04, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Now everything is out in the open with the custody battle between Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin.

Bristol Palin is suing for sole legal custody of Tripp Johnston-Palin, the former couple's son.

The Alaska Dispatch reports that the custody battle became public when two Superior Court judges issued orders unsealing the court record and denying the use of pseudonyms to protect the feuding parents' identities.

The judges opened the case file to public access and denied Palin's request to use John and Jane Doe in place of Johnston's and her own real names.

On Nov. 4, Palin filed for sole legal custody of Tripp Johnston-Palin, the former couple's son, who celebrates his first birthday this month.

A parent with "sole custody" of a child has exclusive physical and legal custody rights concerning the child.

However as previously discussed, Levi Johnston, the man who fathered former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's first grandchild, is planning to seek joint custody.

Joint legal custody means that both Levi Johnston and the mother Bristol Palin would share in major decisions affecting the child.

Johnston, 19, has claimed that Sarah Palin and the rest of the family are making it difficult for him to see his 10 month old son Tripp.

According to an affidavit, Johnston said "I do not feel protected against Sarah Palin in a closed proceeding."

He also states, "I hope that if it is open she will stay out of it. ... I think a public case might go a long way in reducing Sarah Palin's instinct to attack and allow the real parties in this litigation, Bristol and I, to work things out a lot more peacefully than we could if there is any more meddling from Sarah Palin."

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