Mom in Bitter Custody Case Wants Kids' Guardian Removed

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI – The mother of the three Bloomfield Hills children caught in an acrimonious child custody dispute has asked that guardian ad-litem William Lansat be removed from the case.

Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Joan Young, who is overseeing the case after Judge Lisa Gorcyca disqualified herself, will hear arguments on the motion filed by attorneys for the children’s mother, Maya Eibschitz-Tsimhoni, on Wednesday, The Detroit News reports.

The case drew international attention after Gorcyca ordered the three children to Oakland County Children’s Village for refusing to have lunch with and take other steps to rebuild a relationship with their estranged father, Omer Tsimhoni, of West Bloomfield Township.

The oldest of the three was led from the courtroom in handcuffs.

Eibschitz-Tsimhoni, who has been ordered not to have contact with the children, claims Lansat has ignored therapists’ reports that the current situation is damaging to them.

When the children’s parents divorced in 2011, Eibschitz-Tsimhoni was granted full custody and Tsimhoni was granted visitation. In earlier proceedings in the long-running dispute, the children — two boys, now 14 and 11, and a girl, now 9 — said Tsimhoni was violent and they were afraid of him.

Gorcyca, who removed the children from Eibschitz-Tsimhoni’s custody on the advice of Lansat and other youth professionals, withdrew from the case on Dec.28 after the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission filed a complaint about her handling of the case.

She said at the time that she wasn’t biased against either party, but said the looming Judicial Tenure Commission complaint “may create an appearance of impropriety.”

Last week, Gorcyca filed her response to the Judicial Tenure Commission complaint and apologized for a “display of frustration.

Catch Up

• Judge Sends Kids to Detention for Refusing Lunch with Dad
• New Twist in Case of Kids Sent to Juvie for Refusing Lunch with Dad
• Dad Seeks Custody of Kids Sent to Detention for Refusing Lunch with Him
• New Attorneys Defend Mom Whose Kids Refused Lunch with Dad
• Kids Who Refused Lunch with Dad Now Living With Him
• Judge in Bitter Custody Dispute Could Recuse Herself
• More Twists Bloomfield Hills Custody Case
• Chief Judge Steps Out of Bitter Child Custody Case
• New Judge Finds No Bias in Bitter Custody Dispute
• Judge Who Cuffed Kids For Missing Lunch With Dad Faces Discipline
• Judge Who Cuffed Kids for Missing Lunch with Dad Disqualifies Herself
• Judge Gets More Time to Respond to Complaint
• 50 Attorneys Sign Statement Supporting Embattled Judge
• Gorcyca Apologizes for ‘Frustration’ in Custody Case