Levi is an idiot! Update.

From the National Enquirer:

The ENQUIRER has exclusively learned that the 20-year-old former Dancing with the Stars contestant has changed the name of she and Levi’s son to Tripp Easton Mitchell PALIN -- knocking off the Johnston surname.

A source told The ENQUIRER that Levi agreed to the name change if he didn’t have to pay child support.

“Levi is so cheap and will do anything to get out of paying any money for Tripp,” stated an insider.

“He doesn’t care about spending much time with Tripp—Bristol does everything and her boyfriend Gino has been more of a father figure to Tripp over the past couple of months than Levi.

And with that the very last shred of respect I ever had for Levi is gone.  There is NO excuse to buckle under to the Palins like this.

Maybe he doesn't get it right now but someday he will look back on this as one of the dumbest decisions that he ever made.

Update: Okay before I start I want everybody to know that I am standing by my headline.

I have had numerous male friends when I was younger, even my own brother, who gladly took what they thought was the way out when offered it to them by the girlfriends they had knocked, up only to, years later, talk about that decision as the worst one they ever made.  It seems like an easy fix when you are young and poor, and you still have wild oats to sow, but it leads to the kind of pain that no amount of drinking can ever completely deaden. 

My own father learned that the hard way.  He died of liver failure brought on by his acute alcoholism, and the broken heart that resulted from never having been a part of his children's lives.

As for Tripp's paternity, as far as I know Levi always refused to get a DNA test, but both Mercede and her mother swear that Tripp is the spitting image of Levi at his age.

In the case of the custody payments, unless either Levi or Bristol filed with the CSSD there is no agency regulating payments, and it is entirely up to them to determine how much child support either party has to pay, or if Levi can stop making payments. (However, and Levi needs to know this, IF Bristol decides in the future to file with the Child Support Agency, Levi could find himself automatically in arrears, and I don't believe that ANY legal document saying he does not have to pay support will save him from finding himself thousands of dollars in debt. Child support agencies advocate for the child and they don't usually care if the parents made some sort of side deal between themselves. If any family attorneys want to chime in on this I would appreciate any correction or confirmation.)

Somebody asked if Sadie knew about this, the answer is no.  If she had she never would have written this: "Because I know once Tripp is older he will be SO PROUD to be a JOHNSTON!"

Looks like Bristol decided that she did not want either Levi OR Mercede to feel any connection to her son.

Listen I KNOW it has been tough on Levi.  In fact I KNOW it has been tough on Bristol, but I don't care about either one of them at this point!  When you have a child, things are no longer JUST about you!

The facts are that Levi could have had a REAL book deal, he could have hired a REAL lawyer, and he could right now have his son.  Bristol should NEVER have been able to take Tripp to Arizona without Levi's okay, but nobody seems to have told him his rights.

Am I projecting my own feelings about almost losing my daughter in a custody case twenty years ago?  Of course I am.  How could I not?

But I am also speaking as one who has been down, and watched others go down, the road that Levi now finds himself.  And at the end of that road is a lot of "if only's," and "what ifs," and "If I could just go back in time's."  Children need BOTH of their parents.  You don't have to be perfect, but you DO have to present.

Some of you have suggested that just because Tripp is no longer a "Johnston," that Levi still has parental rights.  No he doesn't.  At least not in actual practice. He has only seen his son a handful of times since the custody agreement, despite having a court agreement that guarantees him several days per week, does anybody really think he will have more access now? Or ANY access?

Children are not objects to be taken away, or weapons to be used to hurt either parent, I hate to see this child missing out on a vitally important relationship just because his mother never learned to share.