01x11 - Tween's Controversial Phone Use

[bunniefuu]

-You have one child together.
-Correct, Your Honor.

You found a phone
his father had bought for him.

This is what his mother said
she found on the phone.

That's-that's disturbing.
That is disturbing, Your Honor.

-[Judy] Yeah, it's disturbing.
-[sobs]

It would be disturbing
to me as a parent.

[narrator] This is Judy Justice.

[theme music]

William Kirkpatrick
is suing his ex-wife,

Beri Kirkpatrick, for a phone
and invasion of privacy.

[Kevin] Court, come to order.
All rise.

Be seated, please.

Hello, Judge. Case 1058,
Kirkpatrick versus Kirkpatrick.

-Thank you, Kevin.
-You're welcome.

Mr. Kirkpatrick,
you and your wife, ex-wife,

were married
for a short period of time,

and you have one child together?

Correct, Your Honor.

Your marriage was short-lived,

and based upon what I read,
for a period of time...

Your son is now ten?

Yes, Your Honor.

For a period of time
after your divorce,

and you were divorced
or separated

after about a year of marriage?

Correct.

You shared custody of him.

Correct, Your Honor.

[Judy] But then at some point
a couple of years ago,

that changed, and you have now
full custody of him.

He stays with you all the time,

with the exception
of periods of time

when he visits with his mother.

-Correct, Your Honor.
-[Judy] Is that...?

Okay. You say no.

He's ten years old.
Does he go to public school?

You don't shake your head.

Yes. Yes, Your Honor.

And what grade is he in?

He's in fifth grade.

From whose house does he
go to school every day?

His house in DeLand.

His house?

-Yes.
-[Judy] All right.

And what does he do
for the summer?

I, I, well, I...

No, no, what does he do
for the summer?

Well, I had put him in,
uh, summer programs

until COVID happened.
Then we didn't do that.

But that's-that's what
I had-had him going to.

And where does he sleep
during the summer?

In my house in his room.

[Judy] Is that correct?

Yes.

[Judy] Well, then he has
custody of him.

He has physical custody of him.

No.

I mean, well, he does.

-[Beri] I'm sorry.
-Well, but he does.

If he goes to school
from his house every day,

and if he sleeps at his house
during the summer,

then he may not have
full legal custody of him,

that may not have been decided
by a court,

but he has physical custody of him.

-May I?
-[Judy] What?

There is a, uh,
court hearing coming up

September 21st of next month
where I have filed with

the Volusia County court system
in Florida, uh, the contempt

because he has been
withholding Titan from me, and so...

Listen, I don't want to hear...

-[Beri] We have...
-He has been...

he has been living
with his father.

Did he go to school
from his father's house

in the fourth grade?

That's either a "yes" or a "no",
that's either a "yes" or a "no".

-Yes.
-[Judy] Did he go to

his father's house
in the fourth grade?

-[Beri] Yes, but...
-That was...

that was 2020.

I don't know if school is open.
Now, where you live, is it?

-It is now.
-[Judy] When did it open?

This was the first week
of school, actually.

Okay. So he's going to school
from your house this year? 2021?

-Yes, Your Honor.
-[Judy] In 2019 was when you say

he came to live with you
full time.

In what month?

July, Your Honor.

In September of 2019, did he
go to school from your house?

Yes, Your Honor.

-[Judy] October, November?
-Yes, Your Honor.

You may have a hearing
coming up, Ms. Kirkpatrick.

But for the last two years,

his father has had
physical custody of him

for the majority of the time.

So, you can shake your head
all you like, that's it.

And I don't have to get
into the reasons for it.

But his father has had
physical custody of him.

This is what this case is about.

On Mother's Day, this past year,
according to the complaint,

you brought your son over
to visit with his mother?

Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy] By the way,
are you employed, sir?

I am, Your Honor. Yes.

And aside from your son,
who do you live with?

Just myself.

Does someone take care of him
when you're not...

after school, while you work?

Either he'll come with me
and be at the office

or, um, I have it
so that he's home.

He's almost 11, and that's why
I have him... have a phone

so that if he needs to call me,
or if there's an emergency,

he can call me which,
there never is one.

What kind of work do you do?

I'm a marketing consultant.

I do advertising
for a local newspaper.

And Ms. Kirkpatrick,
what do you do for a living?

I'm a homemaker, um,
and I also do outdoor tree work

with my boyfriend
as self-employed.

You're a homemaker.
Do you have other children?

No, Titan is my only.

You mean, you stay home.

I was a stay-at-home mom
until he took that away from me.

Okay, we're talking about
two and a half years ago.

I'm asking you what you do now.

Yes, I'm...
yes, a homemaker.

-Okay. You don't have a-a child.
-[Beri] Self-employed.

You're self-employed,
and where do you live?

In De Leon Springs, Florida.

Where? House?

[Beri] Yes, it's a house.

[Judy] Who do you live with?

Uh, my grandmother.

[Judy] It's her house?

Yes, it's her house.

[Judy] How long have you
been living there?

Uh, since, uh, 2017.
End of 2017.

Your... Your Honor, may I,
may I interject just quickly?

What?

It's not actually
her grandmother's house.

She rents. And she doesn't
live in the house.

Beri lives in a detached
garage of the house.

Her grandmother
rents the house?

Yes, Your Honor.
It's-it's not her house.

Do you live inside the house
or in the garage?

It's an apartment.
It's not an actual garage.

Yes, I live
in the "detached unit."

Describe it to me.

[Beri] It's fully
remodeled, renovated.

Looks like a, a nice
apartment inside.

[Judy] Has a bathroom, shower?

No, I have
no running water yet.

But if I shower, it's inside.

You go into your
grandmother's house?

Right.

So that it has
no running water?

Correct.

I don't know quite
how to say this to you

without sounding harsh.

He works and takes care of
a ten-year-old full time.

You do nothing.

Being a homemaker
without children

and without a husband means
you take care of yourself.

[theme music]

[narrator] William Kirkpatrick
claims his ex-wife,

Beri Kirkpatrick,
invaded his privacy

and disabled his phone.

Do you live inside the house
or in the garage?

It's an apartment.
It's not an actual garage.

Yes, I live
in the "detached unit."

Describe it to me.

[Beri] It's fully
remodeled, renovated.

Looks like a,
a nice apartment inside.

Has a bathroom, shower?

No, I have
no running water yet.

But if I shower, it's inside.

You go into
your grandmother's house?

[Beri] Right.

So that it has
no running water.

[Beri] Correct.

And you live there
with your boyfriend?

He lives with... yeah.

-That's him?
-Yes, that...

[Judy] On Mother's Day weekend,

you dropped your son off
to visit with his mother.

-[William] Yes.
-For the whole weekend,

Saturday and Sunday,
or just Sunday?

He was actually there
for, uh, a week

because she wanted him
to stay longer.

While he was there,
you had given him a phone?

Yes, Your Honor.

[Judy] To have,
and according to you,

the phone was returned
with your son,

but in a disabled condition

-so that you could no longer use it,
-Yes, Your Honor.

because his mother had put
a tracker on the phone.

Yes, Your Honor.
She had put up a,

a parenting application on it,
like a parental lock

that only she could allow
things to happen.

She had set up a, a passcode
with a Gmail account

that only she knew.

In addition to that,
she also did a tracking,

put a tracking app on it
so that she could monitor it

as long as it's on,
in real time.

[Judy] Did you do that?

Yes, I did.

[Judy] Okay.
Did you buy the phone?

[Beri] No.

You want to explain to me
why you modified the phone?

Yes. I had no knowledge
that Titan had a phone.

[Judy] Okay.

So, when my son came to visit
on Mother's Day weekend,

while he was with
my grandmother, I, uh, was,

I heard a jingle go off,

and the jingle was coming
from his bookbag.

So, I pulled out the phone

and it was a bedtime alarm
that had went off.

And so I just turned it off.

And when I turned it off,
I was surprised

that Titan had a phone because
I was told that he didn't,

because I had been wanting
to buy him a phone

with a working number.

[whispers] Whatever.

-[Beri] And...
-Let's move on.

You found a phone.
So, you knew his father had...

-Yes.
-[Judy] Bought a phone for him.

-Yes.
-[Judy] And he had it?

Mm-hmm.

[Judy] And that you hadn't
purchased it.

And so what did you do?

Well, I went
through the phone.

[Judy] Why?

I'm his mother.
And I was, I mean...

First of all,
you had no knowledge

whether it was his phone
or his father's phone.

It had Dragon Ball Z
wallpaper on it,

with Titan's name all over it.

That's okay.
I have a picture

of my deceased dog on my phone
as my wallpaper.

-So, you went through the phone?
-[Beri] Yes.

Did you need a passcode
in order to go through the phone?

No. There was no lock on it.

[Judy] Okay. So, you went
through the phone and...?

I found that I was not listed
as a contact in the phone.

He and his girlfriend only
were contacts in the phone.

And messaging
was only taking place

through him and his girlfriend.

And I also checked the browser
history of the phone as well.

And I-I have,
I have some things that, um,

I would like to share with you.

Absolutely.

Which is why I put the,
uh, it's called Family Link.

It's a parental,
it's a parental lock

for the safety of your child.

How did you,
Ms. Kirkpatrick,

how did you communicate
with your former husband

about him dropping off your son
and picking him up?

Was that by phone or text?

Mostly by text.

[Judy] Okay. And so
you have a phone?

I have one, yes.

[Judy] And he has one?

Yes.

Well, is there any reason

why you didn't contact
your former husband

since he had acquiesced
to bringing your son to you

for the weekend
on Mother's Day?

Is there any reason
why you didn't contact him

and said,
"I found this phone

that I assume you bought
for Titan." Titan?

Titan, Your Honor.

[Judy] "I'm not listed as a contact."

You know, is there any reason
why you didn't do that?

I, uh... well, yeah.

[Judy] What's the reason?

No, I don't know the reason.
He never said...

No, what's the reason
you didn't call him, text him?

[Beri] Oh, I called him.

And say, "I found a phone.

I didn't know
that Titan had a phone.

I want to be listed
as a contact."

She wants to show me something
that she's going to say

explains why she took
control of this phone.

So, I'd like to
take a look at it.

[William] Your Honor, may,
may I add something quickly?

[Judy] No. First,
I want to look at this,

and then I'll ask you questions.

Sorry.

Don't give me a whole bunch
of stuff that's meaningless.

I don't want to read stuff
that's meaningless.

What is this a picture of?

That is a picture from
Titan that he took a picture

of himself sending to his dad,

stating that he still
wasn't feeling well.

-[Judy] Okay.
-That he wants

to go to the doctor.

I see that. I see that. "I still think...
[reading to self indistinctly]

...for space if I don't...

won't be able to play
any more games

because... [indistinct]
I can't play games."

What is...?

I don't know what this is.
It's nothing.

"Titan, bedtime
in ten minutes.

I'll be home soon,
sleep in your bed tonight."

Well, so far, the only thing

that would be
troublesome to me...

for a kid, these things.

Okay, so is it your son who's
doing all this cursing, sir?

Unfortunately,
it's a little, uh, side effect

he picked up from public school.

[Judy] Yeah. He... you know.

He seems to be... well, first,
I'm going to show this to you.

This is what his mother said
she found on the phone.

-[William] Thank you.
-[Kevin] Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that's-that's something

that I should have been
probably, uh, told about.

[Judy] Hmmm?

I didn't know. I had no idea
that that was on there.

Okay. And you have a girlfriend
whose name is Holly?

Correct.

[Judy] Okay. And I assume
that there's a little bit of

sometimes tension
with Titan and Holly?

No, not at all.

[Judy] Okay. There was
some suggestion there

about sleeping
in the same bed with her.

My son?

[Judy] Yeah, there's a big...
something about the bed...

bed isn't big enough for three.

Oh, [laughs] because,

uh, he still likes to
crawl in sometimes into my bed,

even though he has his own room
and bed and everything.

And I was like, "Titan, you need
to go sleep in your room."

I was trying to
play around with him.

[Judy] Okay.

[William] Yeah.

Okay. So, those things
came off the phone.

[William]
Mm-hmm. That's disturbing.

-[Judy] Hmm?
-That is disturbing, Your Honor.

[Judy] Yeah, it's disturbing.

It would be disturbing
to me as a parent.

The realities
of the situation is,

he is a single parent

raising a ten-year-old
full-time himself.

And he wasn't swift enough
and engaged enough

to see that his son
was starting to fool around

on the Internet
in places where he shouldn't.

[theme music]

[narrator] William Kirkpatrick
is accusing his ex-wife,

Beri Kirkpatrick,
of modifying his phone

without permission.

Beri claims her actions were
to protect their young son

from adult content.

Okay. So, those things
came off the phone.

Mm-hmm. That's disturbing.

-[Judy] Hmm?
-That is disturbing, Your Honor.

[Judy] Yeah, it's disturbing.

It would be disturbing to me
as a parent.

And the reaction should be,
as a parent,

to call the other parent and say,

this is what's going on
with the phone.

You may not know about it, because...

I don't know quite
how to say this to you

without sounding harsh.

He works and takes care
of a ten-year-old full-time.

You do nothing.
Being a homemaker,

without children
and without a husband,

it means you take care
of yourself.

That's what you're telling me.

So, if you're trying to juggle
taking care of a ten-year-old,

trying to have a social life,
and trying to work full-time,

I assume that you're not
paying any child support,

Ms. Kirkpatrick.
I assume that that's true.

It's true, Your Honor.

[Judy] Then, what you do is,
you pick up the phone

and call the person
who's been in charge of your son

for two and a half years
and say, "Listen,

this ten-year-old is..."

[sobs]

"...cursing.
This ten-year-old is cursing."

It's on the phone.

You've addressed it,
but clearly not enough.

"And I found these videos,

these smutty videos
that he's involved with."

Do you need a tissue?

[whispering] I'm okay. I'm okay.

-Okay.
-[Beri] Yeah, I'm okay.

That's what you do.

You don't have,
that's what you do as a parent.

And you do have to have
a certain amount of recognition

of what the realities
of the situation are.

The reality of the situation is,

he is a single parent
raising a ten-year-old,

full-time himself.

And he wasn't swift enough
and engaged enough

to see that his son
was starting to fool around

on the Internet
in places where he shouldn't be.

Your response isn't
to destroy the phone.

Your response should be,
"I'm taking the phone away,

I'm going to give it to you
and show you what I've done,"

not to disable the phone
and put on a tracking system.

Do you understand,
Ms. Kirkpatrick?

Do you understand?

Yes, I do.

[Judy] Okay. That's my view.

And I don't know
what's going to happen

when you have your hearing
next month,

but at this point, and at least
for the past several years,

his father has been
in charge of him.

And it doesn't appear to me,

at least by the fact
that he brought him to you

when you wanted to see him
over Mother's Day weekend,

and you wanted to keep him
for a week and you did,

that that could have had some,
perhaps some selfish intentions too.

You wanted a little time off.

It's very difficult
as a single parent

to have a life
in addition to raising a child,

I do understand that.

But you can't disable something
that you didn't purchase.

How much was the phone?

Uh, the phone was...

I have receipts here, Your Honor.

It came to 117.84.

[Judy] May I see it, please?

I have the other
receipt on there too,

because I gave my son my phone
and I get...

and I had to get another phone

-so that I would have a phone.
-[Judy] No.

I just want to know
how much the phone was.

That's the first receipt,
ma'am. I'm sorry.

Okay. And this was
purchased in January?

Yes, ma'am.

[Judy] Okay. That's it.
You're entitled to that.

I don't know what else
you're suing for here.

It looks... a thousand dollars,

invasion of privacy, property.

She shouldn't have done it,

but at least she brought
something to your attention

so that if you did, in fact,

buy him or get him
another phone,

something that you should have
in the back of your head,

that he's swift enough
to get on the Internet

even at age ten or 11,
and find places

that can cause
nothing but trouble.

And apparently,
based upon what I read,

you're not home
when you're working.

He spends a lot of time
by himself.

A few hours of the day.

[Judy] A few hours.

Well, in a few hours,
a lot of trouble can happen.

So, be-be much more cautious.

Judgment for the plaintiff

in the amount of the phone, 174.
Thank you.

[Kevin] Court is adjourned.

I'm-I'm very disappointed.

Well, I'm glad
that I got something back.

There's a lot of information
that was not brought up

that played a big factor.

This has been something
that's been going on

for years and years.

And it, you know,
breaks my heart.

She's always doing this,

so at least something,
uh, was-was done.

You know,
when I said homemaker,

like, I'm hoping for the day
when my son can come back home.

She has been difficult
for the last ten years, so...

Will has been
keeping him from me.

He's my... He's my everything.

I want to have the 50 percent
that I'm entitled to.

I would love for things
to be amicable,

but I don't see it happening.

I'll keep waiting for my day.

So, I'm asking your opinion,

because I know that
the defendant was very upset.

I mean, it was apparent to me
that he was parenting this child

and she probably
feels badly about it.

I don't know
what kind of situation

she hopes to present
to the court next month

when she has a hearing.

But if she's living in a garage

with no running water
and no plumbing,

with her boyfriend,

that is certainly not
a reasonable situation.

She is unemployed,
and he's employed full-time.

He probably would prefer being
in a place with fewer rules.

His father has some rules.

But his father wasn't vigilant
enough with the phone.

I think there's such a good
lesson there to be learned,

even for a kid
that's ten, you know,

they've grown up
on the Internet, like you.

-Mm-hmm.
-You have two younger siblings.

Did you grow up with a phone
when you were two or three?

No. I had a flip phone
at age 14, 15.

-[Judy] Fifteen.
-Maybe.

Maybe. But grow up
on the Internet. I mean...

No, we-we had
the one computer

in the "computer room"
in the house

that the parents also used,

so you never dabbled in
any of the, uh, non-kosher,

-you could say. [laughs]
-[laughs] Well...

On, on the family computer,

and the phone didn't have
Internet back then.

But I know now my younger
siblings can be on their phones

in their rooms for hours.

No one knows,
talking to their friends.

Even-even the little ones.

I mean, they, I see them
negotiating their little iPads

when they're two.

So, these kids,
by the time they're ten,

they're pretty sophisticated.

It's just a really good example of,

you have to be vigilant about
what your kids are doing

behind their closed door
in their room, on a computer.

It could be dangerous.

-Yeah.
-Anyway...

[narrator] Want justice?



[theme music]