Janelle Brown is ready for a fresh start after Kody Brown split — even if that means a messy battle to sell their land.
“If Kody’s not willing to buy me out … I’m going to have to do something with it,” Janelle, 55, tells sister wife Christine Brown in Us Weekly’s sneak peek at the Sunday, September 22, episode of Sister Wives.
Janelle notes they need to pay off the Coyote Pass property in Arizona but claims Kody, 55, is “not talking to me about it.”
She confesses, “I think I’m going to have to lawyer up,” alleging, “That’s the only way I’m ever going to get any kind of decision out of him.”
Kody and his third wife, Christine, 52, announced their split in November 2021. At the time, she gave Kody her share of their family’s land in Arizona, which the polygamist group intended to build five houses on. (Christine kept the money from her house sale when she moved to Utah post-divorce.)
Janelle confirmed in December 2022 that she and Kody had separated after 30 years together. The couple, who share six children, were never legally married, but they were in a spiritual union beginning in 1992. (Kody and Janelle’s son Garrison died by suicide in March at the age of 25.)
Kody’s first wife, Meri Brown, publicly announced in January 2023 that they had also parted ways. He remains legally married to fourth wife Robyn Brown.
Amid all the family turmoil, the Coyote Pass property has remained a point of contention with everyone. Janelle, however, revealed during the season 19 premiere on September 15 that she was toying with the idea of relocating to Montana with her eldest daughter, Maddie, 28, and her family.
“What changed my mind [about the Arizona land] was when I went with Maddie to look in Montana and I’m like, ‘Oh, I could have this somewhere else,’” Janelle tells Christine in the upcoming TLC episode.
Christine reveals it’s a “no-brainer” for Janelle to live with Maddie in Montana vs. “living on Coyote Pass with a house and who knows, maybe Kody and Robyn. Maybe Meri’s going to have a house there too? No.”
Janelle appears to be on board with leaving Kody and Arizona in the rearview mirror, but it isn’t easy to legally release her land ownership.
“I really have no legal rights to make any kind of claim on Kody’s property. We’re not legally married,” she confesses. “It’s not like I’m just calling a lawyer and saying, ‘I need to divorce this person.’ No, it’s really complicated because there’s no legal marriage.”
Despite the land hiccup, Janelle tells Christine that she is totally over her marriage to Kody. “He’s not talked to me for a very long time,” Janelle explains, noting the exes communicate via text.
While Janelle admits she hasn’t said the words “it’s over,” she says he doesn’t see him at all. “He avoids me,” she adds.
Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
