metro

Educate

Yourself

about today's retirement
living options

Request these FREE resources

to learn more about Fox Run,

Novi's most popular address for

active, independent seniors.

Don't delay. Call today!

Order your free Senior

Living Special Report and

Fox Run brochure by calling

1-800-989-6307.

Fox Run

Add more Living to your Life®

Novi

EricksonLiving.com

10900753

Parental Alienation?

Father wants sole custody of kids in
attempt to reverse estrangement.

Ronelle Grier
Contributing Writer

using a variety of means ranging from
bad-mouthing to withholding parenting
time.
hile the three children of
This acrimonious and controversial
Omer Tsimhoni and Maya
case has been going on since 2009, when
Eibschitz-Tsimhoni are
Eibschitz-Tsimhoni left Israel and filed
occupied with water sports and campfire for divorce in Oakland County. The fam-
singalongs, the ongoing battle between
ily was living in Israel after Tsimhoni,
their Israeli-born parents continues
an engineer and traffic safety researcher
in the courtroom of Oakland County
for General Motors, had accepted a job
Circuit Court Judge Lisa
there. Since the divorce,
Gorcyca. In the latest devel-
the children have been
opment (at IN press time), 1
living in Bloomfield Hills
father Omer Tsimhoni filed .2
with their mother, a pedi-
a petition for full physical
atric eye doctor, glaucoma
and legal custody of the
researcher and professor
children, ages 9, 10 and
of ophthalmology at the
14, who are spending the
University of Michigan.
remainder of the summer
The parents have joint
at a nearby Jewish camp
legal custody.
after being released from
At a July 20 hearing,
Omer Tsimh oni
temporary housing in an
where Gorcyca gave per-
Oakland County juvenile
mission for the Tsimhoni
detention center.
kids to have the necessary
In a move that drew worldwide media physical examinations required by the
attention and public outcry Gorcyca
camp, the courtroom was filled with
remanded the children to Children's
advocates on both sides of the contro-
Village on June 24 for refusing to comply versy.
with her orders to spend time with their
Esther Klein, who was in the court-
father. On July 10, Gorcyca granted the
room in support of the mother, said,
request of Tsimhoni and the children's
"We went through this when our parents
court-appointed guardian ad litem
were getting a divorce — the same judge,
(GAL), William Lansat, to release the
the same GAL (guardian ad litem), the
children from Children's Village to attend same accusations ... but our father was
camp.
verbally abusive:' Klein, 24, is the oldest
"The camp has been excellent in deal-
of three Oak Park siblings whose parents
ing with us:' Lansat said. "They really
divorced in 2007. She chose to discon-
dropped everything to get these kids in:'
tinue contact with her father 10 years
In his petition for sole custody,
ago. "I know many other people going
Tsimhoni said his ex-wife has been "cru-
through this same thine she said.
sading" to eliminate him from their chil-
John Langlois, president/executive
dren's lives and that she "is not a fit and
director of the nonprofit Dads and Moms
proper person to have legal or physical
of Michigan, believes parental alienation
custody:' The petition included a request
is at the heart of the Tsimhoni case.
for intensive therapy, at the mother's
"Children have to be taught to hate
expense, to help the children reintegrate
their parents," he said. "Parental alien-
their father into their lives, as well as
ation is child abuse, and the children
a psychological exam for Eibschitz-
must be removed from the abusive,
Tsimhoni and subsequent supervised
alienating parent:'
visitation as deemed appropriate by the
Tsimhoni is represented by
Birmingham attorney Keri Middleditch;
court.
Gorcyca has accused Eibschitz-
Eibschitz-Tsimhoni recently retained
Tsimhoni of repeatedly sabotaging her
Andrew and Jeffrey Abood of
Birmingham and East Lansing, replac-
ex-husband's attempts to have a rela-
tionship with his children. While the
ing her previous attorney, Lisa Stern of
Bloomfield Hills.
oldest son told Gorcyca he did not want
to spend time with father because he
A hearing was scheduled before
had seen him hit his mother, the judge
Gorcyca on July 22 regarding the custody
described the situation as an extreme
petition and other case-related issues. It
case of "parental alienation:' defined as a has not yet been determined where the
dynamic where one parent tries to turn
three children will go after camp ends in
the children against the other parent
mid-August.

W

❑

18 July 23 • 2015