In a rarity on General Hospital, two members of one family are headed toward nasty custody battles over their children. Of course, we’re talking about Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Michael (Chad Duell).
For months, Sonny has been gearing up for a big showdown with Ava (Maura West) over their daughter Avery (Ava & Grace Scarola). The dimpled kingpin vowed to keep Avery away from her mother after Ava’s last ploy to manipulate Sonny when his bipolar medication was tampered with. Then their custody dispute stalled a bit while Ava was fighting to stay out of prison for the attempted murder of Kristina (Kate Mansi). However, now that Ric (Rick Hearst) successfully defended Ava and convinced a jury she was innocent, the feud between Ava and Sonny is back on.
Then there’s Michael. Now that his marriage is officially crumbling in the wake of everyone learning about Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) and Drew’s (Cameron Mathison) tawdry affair and she moved in with Nina (Cynthia Watros), the soon-to-be exes are also inching toward a nasty custody battle over Wiley (Viron Weaver) and Amelia (Sequoia & Serenity Mork Macko). Especially, since Nina secured Martin (Michael E. Knight) as Willow’s divorce attorney and served Michael separation papers without Willow’s knowledge. Michael was holding out some hope he and Willow could reconcile, but Nina’s move just stirred the pot in a big way.
With all that being said, these two Corinthos men are in unenviable positions as they don’t want to lose access to their children, and we have to ask, will they both prove victorious in court?
Back to Sonny, he is one of the powerful people in Port Charles, with money, access to certain politicians and a knack of doing what it takes to win. Plus, he’s a great father and is likely to have plenty of people willing to testify to that fact. Now we can’t ignore that he’s also a mob boss (alleged for the purposes of court) with a history of arrests. He was convicted of murder once upon a time, even though he was pardoned by the governor of New York.
Looking at Ava, she may be a successful art gallery owner, but she is also the town pariah. She’ll probably have a harder time gathering people to testify to her “good character” and maternal instincts aside from Nina and Trina (Tabyana Ali). Additionally, Ava has had her fair share of arrests and ties to organized crime (again, alleged for the purposes of court). We can’t forget that she is currently experiencing a cashflow problem now that her Cassadine divorce settlement appears to have been taken.
So if we had to guess who would prove victorious between Sonny and Ava, we’d venture to say that Sonny may win. However, we don’t think he’ll completely shut Ava out of Avery’s life given how much the little girl loves her mother.
In a head-to-head between Michael and Willow, the circumstances are a bit different. Like Sonny, Michael also served a very brief stint in prison for murder; however, that was a while ago and he’s become quite the “model” citizen. He helps to run Aurora and once led his family business, ELQ. Plus, as a Quartermaine, he has many connections in Port Charles with judges and politicians. Additionally, he has the fighting spirit of a Spencer coursing through his veins, and if need be, he can color outside of the lines utilizing his Corinthos name.
Willow may have come to Port Charles as this sweet and innocent woman, but she’s far from that. Courts may frown upon the fact that she ruined her marriage by sleeping with her husband’s uncle in her daughter’s playroom. (Yes, Michael slept with Sasha [Sofia Mattsson], but that was reactionary to Willow and it’s a tightly held secret.) Given Willow’s actions, she also lacks allies in Port Charles sans her mother and Drew. But to her benefit, she’s not been convicted of any major crimes and she has Nina in her corner, who has no problem getting scrappy to help her daughter.
It’s harder to predict if Michael or Willow will win in a custody dispute, and we think things could boil down to one person… Carly (Laura Wright). During the week of December 16, she had a conversation with Jason (Steve Burton) about Drew sleeping with Willow, and Jason cautioned his bestie to let Michael handle the situation. She reluctantly agreed to do just that, but also said if the opportunity arose to get payback on Drew, she’d take it.
History has shown that Carly is a fierce mama bear and has a hard time just sitting idly by if her children are hurting. If she does wind up going rogue to enact revenge, we can see it backfiring and hurting Michael’s custody case.
Even if she just goes after Drew, her actions could set off a chain reaction that proves detrimental to Michael’s cause. So if she becomes an x-factor here, Michael may lose custody of his kids, temporarily at least. Also, we doubt Willow will be too vindicative and keep her son and daughter away from their father.
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