St. Petersburg,
FL — On Friday, a historic settlement agreement
was reached between Michael Kantaras, and his former
wife, Linda Kantaras. Michael, a transsexual father, has
been fighting in court for almost seven years to retain
his parental rights to the former couple's two children,
Matthew, now age 16, and Irina, now 13. As part of the
final settlement agreement, Michael will retain all of
his parental rights and responsibilities and will
continue to share legal custody of the children.
This case first made
national and international news in 2002, when Court TV
<http://www.courttv.com/trials/kantaras/>
aired the entire three week trial live. Michael's former
wife knew he was transgender when they married, but when
Michael filed for divorce, she attacked the validity of
their ten-year marriage - and Michael's status as a legal
parent to the couple's two children - based solely on
Michael's transgender status.
In February 2003, Circuit
Court judge Gerard O'Brien issued a groundbreaking 800+
page ruling declaring that based on the extensive medical
evidence presented at trial, Michael was legally male,
the marriage was legally valid and therefore Michael was
a legal parent, and that Michael was the better, more fit
parent and should be awarded primary residential custody
of the couple's two children.
In July 2004, the Court
of Appeal's reversed Judge O'Brien's historic Order,
voiding the former couple's marriage. The appeals court
sent the case back to the trial court to determine
Michael's parental rights and custody of the two
children.
After hearing about the
case, television celebrity Dr. Phil, who had been
focusing on child custody issues all year, invited the
couple to be on his show and encouraged them to mediate
the case for the sake of the children. Linda, who had
resisted efforts to resolve the case for years, finally
agreed. Dr. Phil contacted Mediation, Inc., a leading
mediation firm out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, who agreed
to send one of their top mediators, Michael Carbo, to
mediate the case pro bono. After two all-day mediation
sessions, the parties reached a settlement.
Karen Doering, Regional
Counsel, National Center for Lesbian Rights
<http://www.nclrights.org/>
released the following statement: "Today, love, patience,
and persistence, combined with a visionary judge and a
little help from Dr. Phil has led to this historic
settlement agreement.
"Michael is relieved that
his complete attention can now be focused on his
children. We are grateful to Judge O'Brien for his fair
and visionary ruling; to NCLR co-counsel Collin Vause,
who continued representing Michael pro bono long after
the money to pay attorney fees ran out; to Dr. Phil for
helping to find a resolution that has allowed a loving
father to remain with his children; to Michael Carbo for
his skillful mediation; and to Linda Kantaras for
agreeing to a settlement that serves the best interests
of Irina and Matthew."
