Nicole Curtis told to pay up in parenting fight
Pontiac — “Rehab Addict” star Nicole Curtis was warned she could end up in jail if she doesn’t pay expenses incurred for missed parenting times and attorney fees.
Later in the day, she was warned to try to stay away from her mother, who appeared in court to argue for a personal protection order against the HGTV home remodeling show host. Oakland Circuit Judge Lisa Langton didn’t issue the PPO after hearing testimony from Curtis and her mother.
In the custody case, Langton told the 39-year-old from Lake Orion to get her own house in order and make payments in full to the boy’s father by this Friday.
“I’m tired of the parties being back here every other week,” said Langton, referring to five separate disputes over missed parenting time. “I consider this contempt of a court order ... and could include jail time.”
Curtis — who has rehabbed a historic mansion near downtown Detroit — is in a custody fight with Shane Maguire of Saint Paul, Minnesota, for their 15-month old son, Harper, born out of wedlock.
Maguire, 53, sued Curtis in November for joint custody and shared parenting time. He has taken paternity tests which show he is the boy’s biological father.
Curtis — who owns homes in Oakland County and Minnesota — has alleged Maguire exposed the boy to potential harm by putting him in the middle of a “Black Lives Matter” police protest in his Saint Paul neighborhood.
“I just want my son to have two good parents,” Maguire said outside the hearing.
His lawyer, Gerald Cavellier, said Curtis is standing in the way of his client having a healthy relationship with their son.
“We don’t want to see her in jail, we just want Shane to be able to see his son,” Cavellier said.
Langton denied Cavellier’s request to have Curtis submit to a psychological evaluation.
Curtis’s attorney, Ralph Pezda, who has described her as “a good mother,” declined comment as he left court with Curtis.
“This is a private matter,” he said.
Langton previously awarded Maguire joint custody and parenting time on alternating weekends. The judge ordered Maguire’s name be added to the birth certificate and changed the child’s name to Harper Wolfgang Lewis Curtis-Maguire.
Maguire also was awarded make-up visitation time this summer.
On July 13, Curtis tried to modify the custody and parenting-time arrangement by blocking Maguire from having overnight custody until Harper is at least 2, according to court records. She also said all of Maguire’s parenting time should be supervised.
In a filing, Curtis accused Maguire of letting his 17-year-old son drive Harper “in a manner that was careless, exceeded the posted speed limits and was unsafe.”
Cavellier said there was nothing to the complaint and the boy was always in a rear baby seat.
On July 20, the judge refused all of Curtis’ requests to alter parenting time, barred Curtis from taking her son to job sites where lead or other toxins are present and barred both parties from using private investigators.
In the most recent violation of Maguire’s parenting time earlier this month, Curtis was unable to turn over the boy because she had taken him with her to New York City. Pezda said Curtis stood to lose $500,000 if she hadn’t been able to attend a meeting over a planned book with her publisher in that city.
Pezda said Curtis offered to pay Maguire’s flight to New York and hotel bills but Maguire refused, citing Langton’s order that Curtis make him available in Michigan.
“What you are doing may be in your best interests and your book’s best interests but not in the best interests of this child,” Langton said to Curtis, noting the parents’ legal battles could have long-term psychological damage to the boy.
In the personal protecton order case, Joan Curtis of Clarkson has accused her daughter of threatening her during “mental fits of rage” even driving “recklessly” near her in the court parking lot in July, shouting out the window of her truck.
Joan Curtis, 57, told Langton she has received threatening and harassing calls and “horrible” emails from her daughter, dating back to disputes over the care of the elder Curtis’ mother, Nicole’s grandmother, in Florida and more recently denying them access to their recent grandson.
“She (Nicole) is a control freak and mean and nasty,” Joan Curtis said. “People in the hospital wouldn’t pay any attention to me because she was the ‘Rehab Addict’ — she was the star and had been there first.
“She calls and sends me email on how she hates me and how I have never been a mother to her and have never supported her ... I just don’t want it anymore.
“She’s crazy and I’m tired of it. I can’t trust her.”
Nicole Curtis, who said she moved out when she turned 17 years old, became quite emotional describing her version of their rocky relationship and how she had to “beg” her mother to travel to Florida to see her grandmother before she died. And how her father threatened to go to the press about her and even sent her a copy of a press release he had written.
“I’m deeply embarrassed about our family ... I do the Home and Garden Network — its not like I’m in prime time and not a celebrity, far from it,” she said. “I want this to go way.
“I love my parents but this is affecting my life. They would show up at custody hearings and sit with my ex. Stay out of my life. Don’t add fuel to the fire.”
Langton said she couldn’t issue a PPO because after reading emails provided to her by the mother and daughter, “there is clearly more here than a few sheets of paper.
“It’s just sad and I can’t heal family dynamics with a stroke of the pen,” Langton said. “I don’t know if there is anything that can be fixed. Only thing you can agree on is you don’t want contact with each other so ... here on the record ... that’s enough. I don’t know how you separate your lives but I am going to recommend you don’t have any contact. If there are additional issues you will be back in front of me.”
mmartindale@detroitnews.com
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Staff Writer Robert Snell contributed