Courtesy of Paul Staehle/Instagram
90 Day Fiance’s Paul Staehle Slams Cousin for Allegedly ‘Failing to Comply’ Amid Custody Battle
90 Day Fiancé alum Paul Staehle slammed his cousin for allegedly “ignoring” court orders amid the intense custody battle for his sons, Pierre and Ethan.
“Currently attempting to locate after failing to comply with court orders,” Paul, 40, wrote via Instagram on February 17, attaching a photo of his cousin, Lindsey Tanner, who was reportedly the last known person to have custody of the two boys.
The TLC alum accused Lindsey of “refusing to allow” his estranged wife, Karine Staehle, and his mother, Mary Staehle, “their court-ordered visitation” rights of Pierre, 4, and Ethan, 3. Paul then asked his followers to share any tips surrounding his cousin’s potential whereabouts with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
Paul and Karine, 27, lost custody of their two sons to Child Protection Services as a result of their frequent relationship issues in June 2022. After Ethan and Pierre entered foster care, In Touch confirmed that Paul’s cousin filed a motion in May 2023 to obtain permanent custody of their children. According to the documents viewed by In Touch, their motion was supported by an affidavit submitted by a worker for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and a copy of the motion was sent to Paul, Karine and legal representation.
According to the Kentucky native, Lindsey has since allegedly banned him, Karine and Mary from seeing or having any contact with Pierre and Ethan.
In another slide shared on Instagram, the dad of two uploaded screenshots of the alleged “court orders” his cousin failed to comply with. In the documents, Karine signed an affidavit on January 17, which stated that Paul’s cousin allegedly ignored her multiple text messages to see her sons in December 2023.
“Lindsey has completely ignored all my text messages,” the alleged signed affidavit read. “I reached out to CPA and they suggested a visitation center … I tried to set up supervised visits at this center. My understanding is that they tried to contact Lindsey but she is not responding.”
Paul then shared a contempt motion allegedly filed in Jefferson County, Kentucky, on January 31, by Karine and her legal team.
“For the past year, [Karine] has seen the children once a week through CPS at the L&N building. One or about December 6, the court granted Ms. Tanner permanent custody of the children,” the alleged motion stated. “Ms. Tanner has not responded to any of the text messages regarding supervised visits since that date. The court order granting Ms. Staehle supervised visits is still in effect but Ms. Lindsey Tanner refuses to facilitate the visit.”
Paul has long documented his troubled history with his cousin, claiming on social media that Lindsey had instructed Pierre and Ethan to refer to her as “mom” and Karine as her first name.
“She is adamant that they have zero future contact with myself, Karine or any of [Karine’s] family,” the father of two wrote in May 2023, alleging that his cousin said Karine’s native Brazil was “a poor country where they abuse children.”
TLC fans first met Paul and Karine on season 1 of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days, which premiered on TLC in 2017. The pair tied the knot in November 2017 and welcomed their sons Pierre in March 2019 and Ethan in February 2021.
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