Ruby Franke and Kevin Franke‘s marriage is officially over following her child abuse arrest — but what are their custody arrangements?
A judge signed off on Ruby, 43, and Kevin’s divorce earlier this month, according to Utah’s local news station KSL News. Kevin, 46, who was previously given custody of their children, agreed to consider any child support owed by Ruby paid.
The divorce decree stated that Kevin was given full custody of the four children who are still minors. Ruby, meanwhile, was ordered not to have contact with the children. She also requested to keep the last name Franke instead of returning to her maiden name.
Kevin and Ruby agreed to transfer their Springville home to him, in addition to a property in Scofield, Carbon County. Ruby will keep the $85,000 she withdrew from their financial accounts but the remaining shared money — outside of an investment account under Ruby’s name — will be given entirely to Kevin.
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The former couple didn’t ask for alimony from each other. Kevin originally filed to end their marriage after Ruby and her life coach friend Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested and charged in 2023 with six counts of felony child abuse. Ruby pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse in December 2023 and admitted she tortured her children. As part of her plea deal, she agreed to serve a prison term and that her sentences would run consecutively. She also agreed to testify against Hildebrandt, who pleaded guilty.
Kevin, for his part, claimed to authorities that he had not been in communication with Ruby or their kids for over a year when the arrests took place. The former couple share six kids, with the eldest two — Shari and Chad — being the only ones who have preferred to remain in the public eye.
“He just wants to do what’s best for his kids and get them back, get them under his tutelage and his fathership and protect them,” Kevin’s attorney Randy Kester said in a 2023 statement. “[Kevin] is making an effort to rebuild and bridge these relationships rather than sling mud and point fingers. He is focused on doing what is best for his kids at this point, even if that means undergoing some introspection.”
Kevin spoke out about his current relationship with Ruby in Netflix’s Hulu’s three-part docuseries Devil in the Family, which premiered in February.
“Definitely. I always loved her,” he noted. When a producer asked if Kevin still felt the same way “even though she abused the kids,” Kevin stood by his initial statement, adding, “Oh, yeah. The actions that she did are atrocious. But I still feel a longing and I miss her.”
Kevin continued: “All of the delivery rooms and all of the moments holding our children. It is easy for the world to hate that woman and so many people want me to join in that chorus and I cannot turn off all of those other memories.”
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Despite his complicated connection to Ruby, Kevin couldn’t excuse her actions. “I found it very difficult to look at Ruby [in the courtroom] so I chose not to,” he added. “To hear this woman — that I had worshiped — admit to destroying our family, that hurt.”
Ruby is currently serving a 4- to 30-year sentence at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City. She won’t appear before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole — which determines the exact length of her sentence — until December 2026. The same applies for Hildebrandt, who is also serving her sentence at the Utah State Correctional Facility.
YouTube has banned Ruby and Hildebrandt, and deleted the channels associated with their names. Hildebrandt’s counseling license was frozen following their arrest.
To report child abuse, consult the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Welfare Information Gateway for state-specific reporting phone numbers.
