HGTV HGTV's Nicole Curtis poses in the Michigan lake house she renovated for her new show
As Nicole Curtis celebrates her return to HGTV with “Rehab Addict Lake House Rescue,” a three-episode “special series” that debuts on November 3, 2022, she’s also about to head to court in her custody battle with her ex, Shane Maguire, who now wants Curtis’ law firm taken off the case. Here’s the latest…
New Court Documents Show Nicole Curtis’ Ex Wants Her Law Firm Banned From Custody Case
As Curtis prepares for her return to television, she’s also facing a new twist in her custody fight with Maguire over their seven-year-old son. According to new court documents obtained by Heavy, he wants her law firm off the case because they hired away his lead lawyer.
Curtis and Maguire went through a lengthy and very public custody battle in Detroit following the 2015 birth of their son, Harper. People Magazine reported they finally reached a joint custody agreement in 2018. When Curtis moved from Michigan to California, she created a court-ordered $250,000 trust fund to help pay for Maguire to move within 25 miles of her home, making it easier for them to share legal and physical custody.
But in May 2022, according to over 100 pages of court documents obtained by Heavy, Maguire claimed their custody arrangement was no longer working, claiming the HGTV personality had continually violated their agreement. The two completed a parent education curriculum required in California before disputing custody arrangements in court, and they also tried private mediation sessions but made no progress.
Curtis and Maguire are due back in court in mid-November, but the latest wrinkle is that Maguire’s lawyers filed paperwork in September stating that Curtis’ law firm, Skarin Law Group, should be disqualified from the case.
Maguire’s principal attorney, Joseph Land, said that Land Legal Group has represented Maguire since October 2021 with attorney Erin Brown as the “lead associate attorney” representing him. But, per Land’s filing, Brown recently left the firm and took a new job at Skarin Group, which represents Curtis.
In the motion, Land said Brown “obtained a plethora of confidential information and did the majority of the legal work on this case including but not limited to communicating directly with Respondent, preparing correspondence, notes, forms, and pleadings on Respondent’s behalf, and conducting settlement conversations.”
Land Law Group wants Curtis’ law firm recused from the case and for Curtis to pay $5,000 in sanctions and attorney fees. The former couple is due back in court in mid-November to face off on accusations and points of major contention, from how they divvy up time spent with their son on Halloween to rules around traveling with him.
Curtis’ ‘Special Series’ Set to Air on HGTV After Multiple Delays
HGTV/YouTubeHGTV’s Nicole Curtis on “Rehab Addict”
Curtis, 46, has also been actively fighting a proposed development in her hometown of Lake Orion, Michigan, where her lakehouse is located. But one of the bright spots in her fall is her return to television and being able to share that lakehouse in her new series.
Curtis found fame with her show, “Rehab Addict,” which aired on HGTV and the DIY Network for nearly a decade until the fall of 2018 when she took a two-year hiatus to de-stress and prioritize family. She returned to HGTV in January 2021 with the premiere of “Rehab Addict Rescue,” in which she helped clients whose own home restoration projects had grown too overwhelming for them.
Despite good ratings, that show was not renewed; she has since said via social media that she prefers focusing her energy on revitalizing old homes she’s personally purchased instead of other people’s homes.
The network announced in May 2022 that Curtis would star in a spin-off series called “Rehab Addict Lake House Rescue,” chronicling the restoration of an early 1900s cottage she purchased in her hometown of Lake Orion, Michigan, eight years ago.
Originally scheduled to premiere on July 13, the show has been pushed back numerous times as Curtis chronicled personal struggles with her health and stress levels on social media. The show was pulled from the schedule at the last minute in July, with Curtis telling followers, “I made a call and said I’m done.”
In August, Curtis announced on Instagram that renovations on her lake house were done, and later revealed that “Rehab Addict Lake House Rescue” would air, after all, premiering on September 8.
“I don’t have 30 people or a tv ‘set,'” she wrote. “I’m the Captain of the ship and when I go down, nothing gets steered to shore. I’ve had a great partnership with @hgtv for over a decade & we have all just been waiting for the moment when I got the all clear for my body to be able to build.”
Hours later, however, HGTV informed Heavy that though there had been a tentative plan to move the series to September, it had already been pushed back again to later in the fall. It was not clear whether Curtis knew of the scheduling change though, as she continued to push the September debut date.
Then on September 8, Curtis told fans via Instagram that the show had officially been moved to November 8, writing, “Why? Cause, I,happily,got caught up with having both my boys home & we have all been committed to this fight in my hometown. I was given the choice to move the launch out & we did. I promise, that’s the last time -better late than never”
That date has also changed — but now everyone seems to be on the same page. HGTV has confirmed that a three-part “special series” documenting the lake house’s restoration will debut on November 3.
According to HGTV, the cottage was 700 square feet when Nicole purchased it eight years ago, but to make more space, she “lifted the house, excavated the soil, poured a new foundation, created a first floor and basement and — get ready for this — took the existing cottage and made it the second and third floors of the house.”
Beginning November 3, each of the three hour-long episodes will air on Tuesday nights at 9pm Eastern and Pacific.