DETROIT – A custody battle in Detroit involves a wealthy British investment banker who wants his young son returned to the United Kingdom, from Michigan, where he has been living.
Christopher Worcester filed a request to have his ex-girlfriend, Andrea Grieb, return to the UK with the couple’s son so he can be close to the child. Grieb lives with family she has been caring for in Metro Detroit.
Grieb said she didn’t get a copy of the request made by Worester, and found out when she went to federal court Monday in Detroit.
“I’m very strongly of the opinion that this is a matter basically of a bully who is attempting to intimidate and coerce his former girlfriend,” said Russell Brown, Grieb’s attorney. “At the beginning, he was not interested in the child that he fathered. That said this to me looks like a situation where he’s using the child to gain influence over her.”
And there’s another twist in the custody battle -- Grieb renounced her United States citizenship years ago and is now a citizen of the Netherlands. She is in U.S. on a visitor visa. Worcester claims that via is expired, but copies of both Grieb’s and her son’s visas in the request appear to be current.
A judge put a temporary restraining order in place, so Grieb must stay in the area. She turned in her visa and passport to the judge.
The judge hopes the couple can work out the matter, but if they can’t, they are due back in court March 3.
In the meantime, Brown says he may go to a local court in Washtenaw County because doesn’t believe Worcester has parental rights.