Legal Expert Spells Out Christina Hall's Best Response To Ant Anstead Amid Custody War – Exclusive
Social media has been at the heart of the ongoing, explosive custody battle between Christina Hall and Ant Anstead since its start, and in recent days, it's gotten even worse.
Hall and Anstead divorced in November 2020 and agreed to joint custody of their son, Hudson London. But in April, Hall and Anstead's cordial agreement took a turn for the worse when Anstead filed for emergency full custody, calling Hall unfit and neglectful, based in part on her past experimenting with hallucinogens, and a sunburn Hudson suffered. A lawyer ruled in Hall's favor, so instead of following through with a scheduled hearing for private mediation, per People, Anstead filed an explosive new declaration for full custody in September, accusing Hall of exploiting their son on reality television and social media.
Hall disputed Anstead's claims as "offensive and simply untrue," per Us Weekly, and said Anstead also used Hudson to "'[fish]' for endorsements" online. She accused Anstead of keeping the issue public "solely for the purpose of making these inflammatory statements" about her. On October 2, Hall addressed the situation head-on on Instagram, deciding "to no longer feature Hudson" on any of her platforms. When fans called hypocrisy on Anstead's Instagram posts of Hudson, Anstead fired back, keeping the issue in the public eye, going so far as to share an article insinuating Hall's inclusion of their son on her reality show was detrimental to his mental health. Now, Nicki Swift has an exclusive interview with legal expert Kyung Dickerson on how Hall should best respond.
Legal expert says Christina Hall should not respond online
In light of the ongoing custody battle between Ant Anstead and Christina Hall, especially as it continues to escalate on social media, Nicki Swift spoke to legal expert Kyung (Kathryn) Dickerson, Family Law attorney with SmolenPlevy in Vienna, Virginia, about Hall's next steps.
Dickerson said that it's generally not a good idea for parents to attack each other online during a custody battle. According to Dickerson, courts consider how well each parent encourages the child's relationship with the other parent, Dickerson explains, as well as the parents' capacity to cooperate with each other. "Raging at the other parent publicly does not reflect an ability to do either of these things," she said. She also pointed out the permanence of social media. "As we know, social media posts don't disappear even if you 'delete' them," Dickerson said. "So as the child gets older, he or she can find them, and they will have an impact on the child and his or her relationship with one or both parents."
Dickerson says Hall's best course of action is "not engaging in the same type of behavior by keeping her accounts quiet no matter what he posts," adding, "A public back-and-forth will not reflect well on either parent, and the courts dislike hypocrisy." She also said Hall could file for legal help if necessary, perhaps by way of a cease and desist — depending on California state laws. "Some states have more lenient or more inclusive laws with regard to social media use," Dickerson said.