Visitation Privileges Upheld in Beresford-Redman Case

A judge Monday once again declined to change visitation privileges in a renewed custody dispute concerning the two children of former "Survivor" producer Bruce Beresford-Redman, who is accused of murdering his wife.

The body of Beresford-Redman's wife, Monica, was found in April 2010 in a sewer at the Moon Palace Hotel in Cancun, Mexico, where the two were vacationing without their children.

On July 25, a federal magistrate ordered that he be sent back to Mexico, where he has been charged with her killing. He currently is still in custody in Los Angeles.

The producer's parents and his wife's two sisters reached a settlement last Nov. 10 allowing the paternal grandparents have permanent guardianship over both children. The children continued to have visitation with their aunts, Carla Van Bastelaar and Jeane Burgos.

However, tension between both sides was renewed last month with David and Juanita Beresford-Redman asking that their grandchildren's visitation with Van Bastelaar and Burgos be suspended. The sisters countered by filing court papers asking that they be given guardianship rights for 6-year-old Camila and 4-year-old Alec and that the paternal grandparents be removed from that role.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff said on Sept. 8 that he would resolve the visitation issue first. But he said at the time that he would not decide anything until he heard testimony from psychologist Anthony Aloia, who he appointed to prepare a report with recommendations regarding how much time the aunts should have with the children going forward.

However, that hearing has been delayed from today until Oct. 4, and Beckloff said the current visitation scheduled will remain in place until then.

Meanwhile, Patricia Phillips, an attorney for Burgos and Van Bastelaar, criticized the paternal grandparents' lawyers for filing papers Monday that purport to state some of Aloia's recommendations. She said the report's contents are supposed to be confidential and that she has not yet had a chance to question the doctor in court.

The statements brought a sharp rebuke from attorney Rachel Silverman, who on behalf of the paternal grandparents said she resented what Phillips said. She also claimed that Phillips is the one trying to taint the proceedings before a hearing is held.

Silverman also asked that one upcoming visitation by the aunts be suspended because the children and their grandparents recently moved from the home where the siblings had lived with their parents. She said Alec and Camila are still adjusting to their new environment.

Beckloff declined the request.

In a sworn declaration in support of reducing the aunts' visitation time, Juanita Beresford-Redman criticized Burgos for allegedly calling the police twice to speak with Camila after the girl declined to go with her aunts for their scheduled visitation.

But in her declaration, Burgos said she called the Lomita Sheriff's Station on July 24 to enforce a visitation order after Juanita Beresford-Redman said Camila did not want to go with her aunts. A deputy told the children's grandmother that she was not supposed to allow a 6-year-old to make a decision regarding visitation, according to Burgos.

In their petition to substitute themselves as guardians for their niece and nephew, Burgos and Van Bastelaar say the grandparents' focus has been on their son's criminal case and the related costs, all to the detriment of the two children.

Meanwhile, lawyers in the case are engaged in separate talks with Beckloff to try and settle a dispute over which of two wills states what Monica Beresford-Redman wanted to do with her assets in the event of her death.

Burgos and Van Bastelaar say the one their sister wrote in 2004 is the authentic version, but the paternal grandparents and their son say she replaced that will with another four years later, before Bruce and Monica Beresford- Redman took a trip to Australia. The settlement talks began last week.