Sister's wife's Jenelle claims Cody took 'a lot' of the pre-split family's money
Janelle Brown Taking a second look at her marriage Cody Brown After their division — with their money.
“I never felt like I had much control over my own money because everyone was pulling from the same (account),” Janelle, 55, said. Christine Brown Sunday, January 26, during its episode sister wife.
Janelle, who was Cody's second wife, noted that it was “great” to have a family fund when they were a plural single. Looking back, however, he claims money has become a problem for everyone. (Kristin, 52, announced her split from Jenelle, 55, in December 2022 after leaving their mutual partner in November 2021.)
“That's how we set our family up. But, toward the end, it was really hard,” Jenelle said. “When we all first started, there were things like (where) we weighed what bills we had to pay, how we were going to pay, who got priority. I did.”
He complains, “And then over the last couple of years, Cody would just take out funds and I don't know what for. And the money was just being spent — and a lot of it.”
Cody – who was also married to Jenelle and Christine at one point Mary Brown And Robin Brown – He denied allegation of spending money unnecessarily. (Mary, 53, and Cody confirmed their split in January 2023. He is still married to Robin, 46.)
“I was a father at 18 and a husband to more than just Janelle,” Cody said. “So we had a lot of places that needed money to go to that weren't always Janelle's business.”
She explained that since Janelle was “bookkeeping” for the family, she saw all the transactions across her desk without reasoning. “So, some of the bills that were paid by all of us were supposed to be paid by him,” Cody added.
Meanwhile, Jenelle argued that she didn't have as much access to funds as Cody claimed.
“He likes the mantra that somehow I'm (the) all-powerful one with all the financial controls,” Jenil shot back, insisting, “I was really the one who recorded the transactions and sent them to the CPA.”
Earlier this season, Janelle claimed that Cody had been lying about how much influence he had with their family's finances. She alleges that Cody told Mary during their marriage that Jenelle was “controlling the money,” which was not the case.
“I'm like, 'Dude, man, if I controlled the money, we would have paid for (coyote passes and) built a house,'” Jenelle told Kristin on the Nov. 24 episode. He alleged that he simply “recorded what was spent and sent it to the accountant.”
Cody didn't clear up the misconception at the time, telling the cameras, “It's funny, my other wives remember that Jenelle controlled the money.” He admitted he “directed where the money went” but claimed they all “had access to the account.”
On Sunday's episode, Jenelle and Mary were finally on the same page about money — and their ongoing land dispute with Cody and Robin. Cody's ex-wives each agreed to get their own lawyers so they could get an equal share of the family's Coyote Pass property in Arizona.
After Christine's split from Cody, she passed on the land to her ex-husband and his fourth wife, Robin. Janelle and Meri, however, still have the deed and therefore want to sell their respective assets and get the money.
“I believed it would work in the end. And looking back now, I'm like, 'Wow, that's really dumb. Why didn't I insist that we were all titled in all the pieces?'” Janelle told the camera. “I was too trusting, I guess.”
When talking to Mary about what each of them owes, the women both say they “paid for the land as a family” and “paid equally.”
Cody, however, claims that this is not true. “We didn't pay equally for the coyote pass. I paid for a lot myself, at least 92 percent of it,” he complained. “The rest of the property, we're all in.”
The various memoirs led to more tension between Cody and the women. “I think Cody and Robin probably have some plans of what they want to do and how they want to handle it. I think that Jenelle has some kind of plan, and I know that I do too,” Mary explained. “And neither of us are talking to each other because neither of us trust each other.”
Cody told the camera that he's “working on it” but is “in no rush” to get it done. “I'm not your slave to boss you around,” she said of her ex.
Janelle, meanwhile, revealed during the confessional that she only wants to do land issues “because it's the only thing that still connects me to Cody and Robyn.” He added, “I'm ready to close that chapter.”
sister wife TLC airs Sundays at 10 pm ET.