Wednesday, 17 February 2010

Johnson & Johnson heiress Libet Johnson loses custody of Cambodian boy she has been raising

Lionel Bissoon and Libet Johnson have been battling for custody of a 7-year-old boy from Cambodia.

via CAAI News Media

BY Katie Nelson
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, February 16th 2010

An heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune won't get to keep custody of the Cambodian boy she has been raising, New York's highest court ruled Tuesday.

Libet Johnson - sister of Jets owner Woody Johnson and aunt of dead socialite Casey Johnson - has been batting her diet guru ex-boyfriend for custody of William, who is now 7.

Johnson and Lionel Bissoon initially spotted the boy in a Cambodian orphanage back in 2003. They brought him back to New York so he could be treated for a heart ailment and started to raise him together.

While still a couple, Bissoon got permission to adopt William through the Cambodian government in 2004. But he backtracked the next year and asked for the right to be revoked.

As the couple's relationship went sour, a bitter custody battle ensued. Both Johnson and Bissoon wanted the right to adopt little William.

In 2006, Johnson tried to secretly adopt William through New York courts without telling Bissoon. She also didn't disclose a stint in rehab, court document say.

The former flames pushed their fight all the way to New York's highest court, which today sided with Bissoon.

Bissoon should get the boy because he validly adopted William in June 2004, the Court of Appeals said, despite the request for revocation.

Johnson "should not have been allowed to adopt [William] without notice to the person who was [William's] father under Cambodian law," the ruling said.

William has lived with Johnson for his entire life, including during the bitter proceedings, and will continue to do so, according to the court decision.

"[Bissoon] has no intention of removing the child from the only home he has ever known," the court ruling said.

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