last week, Loren & Alexei: After 90 Days viewers saw their parents snap during their trip to Israel.
He was opposed to the idea of a move, and he didn’t argue in an intelligent way. If anything, they drove him away.
Both Marlene and Bryan have rubbed Alexei the wrong way. He didn’t like hearing them treat his homeland as uninhabitable or unfit for his family.
However, according to one expert, Loren’s parents may have had a point. Only one, but still.
Kathleen Martinez is an immigration attorney. If you follow 90 Day Fiance news at a ridiculous rate, as we do, then your name is familiar.
He spoke to In Touch Weekly this week to give my legal opinion on this whole mess with Loren, Alexei, Bryan, and Marlene.
If Loren were her client, she would advise him to reconsider for the same reasons as Bryan: custody law.
Simply put, whenever you decide to move somewhere, you agree to a whole different set of rules about property, behavior, marriage, and child custody.
“Israel has some tough detention laws,” Martinez characterized.
He added, “If Loren and Alexei were to divorce there, Loren would use the law and the system to be able to use Israeli prison laws.”
Martinez went on to say: “Getting a divorce there and doing custody proceedings is not recommended.”
That is, he added, “if they were my clients.” Loren’s is not.
It is not Israel as some kind of lawless hellscape. While there is much to be said for other policies in the country, family and custody laws have their pros and cons just like anywhere else.
Martinez explained that the legal system is very complex, and the decision on custody can be very situational.
“Israel uses the Tender Age Doctrine,” he noted, “which is the presumption that for children under 6 years of age it is better to be left with their mothers.”
That would seem to favor Loren in the case of a hypothetical divorce, right?
“However, it is possible to appeal this,” Kathleen Martinez then warned.
So, obviously, it’s not like he’s saying that Loren will throw his family away if he moves to Israel.
However, he only stressed that the uncertainty surrounding the state’s custody laws and what the consequences would be for families made this impossible. From a personal legal perspective.
This is particularly relevant to Bryan’s concerns.
She told her daughter that she should, at the very least, check Israel’s detention laws before considering the move.
No one wants to imagine that a happy marriage will end, let alone in a bad way. But bitter divorces can happen, even for happy couples. Arguably, especially for the happy couple.
But that’s not the same as saying “hey, Bryan’s right, wrap it up.”
First and foremost, he said all this is wrong. He came across – to Loren and the viewers – as ignorant about various laws. Imagine if any country that saved your country had a barbaric detention policy not great thought.
And it sounds insulting. No one will take you seriously if you say something like that.
The second big problem with all of this is that Bryan is not an immigration attorney who only considers articles. He is her father.
He heard his father say that his marriage was doomed. That he couldn’t handle the move. And his family will be torn apart. Obviously, that must hurt.
Sometimes, even the wisest and most informed message still needs the right messenger.