Fotis Dulos' Attorney Questions Gloria Farber's Mental Capacity

NEW CANAAN, CT — In the ongoing child custody battle between Fotis Dulos and Gloria Farber, the mother of missing New Canaan mom Jennifer Farber Dulos, a new court filing calls into question Farber's mental capacity.

The Aug. 29 filing by Fotis Dulos' attorney in the matter, Richard Rochlin, seeks a court-ordered psychological evaluation of Farber, claiming, in part, that Farber has been hospitalized in the past.

Additionally, the filing also hints that she is possibly being manipulated by attorneys in the legal fight against Fotis Dulos.

"Upon information and belief, Ms. Farber has previously been psychiatrically hospitalized and had threatened to kill herself and her late husband," the filing reads. "Electric shock therapy was discussed as an option amongst the family, including Mr. Dulos. This troubling history of mental illness needs to be assessed to ensure that the children can be safely cared for by Ms. Farber. This evaluation can also assess Ms. Farber's susceptibility to coercion by her daughter's lawyers concerning a continued strategy of complete and total war against Mr. Dulos, the father of her grandchildren - a strategy that has previously only served Jennifer's lawyers and nobody else."

Farber has been granted temporary custody of the five Dulos children, and she is seeking sole custody.

In an Aug. 28 filing, Farber's attorney, Anne Dranginis, claims that Fotis Dulos is using "his children as pawns in his nuanced attempt to assert that he is a 'loving parent.' Nothing could be further from the truth."

Jennifer and Fotis Dulos were in the midst of a contentious divorce and child custody battle at the time of her disappearance on May 24.

A week later, Fotis Dulos and his now ex-girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, were arrested and charged with evidence tampering and hindering a prosecution in connection with the disappearance. The two are accused of discarding items soon after Jennifer Dulos disappeared. Authorities believe Jennifer Dulos may have been in the victim of a violent attack in her New Canaan home, and some of the items have tested positive for her blood.

Both Troconis and Fotis Dulos have entered pleas of not guilty, and Fotis Dulos is trying to get the charges dismissed.

In Thursday's filing, Rochlin claims Farber has spent more than $1.6 million in legal fees in fighting Fotis Dulos on two legal fronts, in the custody battle and in a separate civil matter in which she is suing him for more than $2 million in unpaid loans to Fotis Dulos' luxury home building business.

"Mr. Dulos wants this fight to end," the filing reads. "Sacrificing the children in this hellish conflict is wrong. But Ms. Farber has left Mr. Dulos with no choice but to press on with the hope that he can soon be reunited with his children."

In a previous filing, attorneys argued that Fotis Dulos has not seen his children since May 22, two days before Jennifer Dulos disappeared.