Padma Lakshmi and Adam Dell Custody Issues

Romances between the rich and famous may seem to be all glamour and glitz, but as news stories about nasty breakups serve to remind us, most celebrity relationships are not as ideal as they appear. One such story involves the breakup and ensuing child custody battle between Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, and Adam Dell, a venture capitalist and former partner of Lakshmi.

Dispute settled out of court

Lakshmi and Dell began a romantic relationship in November 2007. Sometime after the summer of 2009, the relationship of the couple became strained. On February 22, 2010, Lakshmi gave birth to a daughter, Krishna. Because Laskshmi had also been involved with another man—financier Ted Forstmann—at around the time she became pregnant, uncertainty surrounded the identity of the father.

While a paternity lawsuit eventually revealed that Dell is indeed the father (Forstmann, in the meantime, passed away last November), Lakshmi made it clear that she did not want Dell to be a part of her daughter’s life. This prompted Dell to file another lawsuit for custody of Krishna, who is now two years old. The case was finally settled out of court in March 2012. The settlement resulted in “improved visitation and custody rights,” according to a source for the New York Post, in addition to a new last name for the little girl: Lakshmi-Dell.

As a Knoxville child custody attorney can tell you, there are several unique legal challenges in situations where unmarried couples have children. This is especially true if there are questions involving paternity. If the parents are furthermore estranged, determining the rights of each in regards to the child may be even more complicated.DNA tests must prove whether a male, in this case Dell, is the father before the mother can seek support or the father can seek visitation rights.

The out-of-court settlement of this case seems to bode well for Krishna’s future relationship with both her parents: even if Dell and Lakshmi are no longer together, at least they can see eye to eye when it comes to co-parenting their daughter.