Olivier Martinez has secured a significant courtroom win in his ongoing custody dispute with ex-wife Halle Berry over their 13-year-old son, Maceo.
The latest legal dispute began earlier this month when Martinez accused Berry of physically abusing their son. Berry has denied each of the allegations.
According to the latest report from TMZ , Martinez, 60, has been granted primary physical custody of Maceo, while Berry, 60, will no longer have overnight visits with their son.
A representative for Berry told the outlet that the actress continues to share joint legal custody and retains the deciding vote if she and Martinez cannot reach an agreement.
The former couple had previously shared custody of Maceo equally. Martinez was also granted a temporary restraining order earlier this month involving both himself and his son in relation to Berry.
But on Thursday, the judge also shut down Martinez’s request for a domestic violence restraining order, according to Page Six.
“We are extremely pleased that the Court has dissolved the TRO,” Berry’s attorney, Marina Beck, told Page Six. “As we move forward, Halle is determined to continue to focus on the well-being and best interests of her family.”
Halle Berry’s ex Olivier Martinez has secured a significant courtroom victory amid their contentious custody dispute over their 13-year-old son, Maceo. Berry is pictured arriving at court with fiancee Van Hunt on Wednesday
A representative for the actress said Berry still has joint legal custody and retains the deciding vote if she and Martinez cannot reach an agreement
The conflict intensified after Martinez alleged in a court filing that Berry had physically abused Maceo during a September 26 incident, claiming she “jumped on him and choked him.” Berry has rejected the accusations.
A Page Six source described the dissolution of the temporary restraining order as “a huge win” for Berry.
Martinez’s attorney, Patrick Baghdaserians, told TMZ that Berry’s legal team had requested the restoration of their former 50/50 custody arrangement, but the judge declined to grant it.
The custody arrangement is expected to be reviewed again by the judge next month.
Photographs showed Berry smiling as she left the courthouse with her fiancee, Van Hunt, and her attorney on Thursday.
The Daily Mail has contacted attorneys for both Berry and Martinez for comment.
The court ruling came two days after lawyers for Berry and Martinez faced off during another hearing in their ongoing custody dispute.
At the hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court, Martinez’s attorney asked Judge Shelley Kaufman to reopen the evidence so Berry could be questioned about an Instagram post she shared on Monday, according to a Page Six reporter present in court.
Baghdaserians reportedly argued that Berry had breached the terms of a temporary domestic violence restraining order.
Berry’s attorney dismissed the request to question her as a “last-minute grasp at straws” and called it “nothing more than a witch hunt,” according to the publication.
The dispute centered on a repost Berry shared to her Instagram Stories on Monday. The post has since disappeared.
Berry’s repost featured a quotation attributed to relationship coach Kai Vinci: “If kids disrespect their mom, the root cause often traces back to their relationship with the father.. [100 emoji].”
After the hearing, Berry emerged from the courthouse with a smile on her face
Berry and her fiancee were accompanied by her lawyer Marina Beck
‘We are extremely pleased that the Court has dissolved the TRO,’ Marina Beck, Berry’s attorney, told Page Six
In response to Martinez’s attorney’s attempt to reopen questioning, Berry’s attorney reportedly said that Martinez’s legal team ‘just intended to re-open evidence and continue their false narrative.’
Beck also claimed that Baghdaserians intentionally made the request in open court so that it would be observed by reporters.
According to Page Six, Martinez’s attorney denied Beck’s claim and said the request didn’t hang on the presence of reporters in court.
Baghdaserians said that Berry’s post had shown up on her Instagram Stories shortly after evidence had closed.
CONTINUE READING: Maine Residents Warned Not to Fish in River Over Contamination
‘This sort of conduct is the reason we are here today,’ he said, accusing Berry’s post of ‘disturbing my client’s peace’ and ‘calm.’
Judge Kaufman ultimately denied the request to reopen evidence.
TMZ reports Martinez was awarded primary physical custody of their 13-year-old son
According to Page Six, the courtroom was cleared after the back-and-forth as Berry and Martinez’s attorneys delivered their closing arguments.
Martinez previously faced questions from attorneys on both sides on Friday, October 23, according to a minute order reviewed by The Daily Mail.
Berry’s fiancé, 56-year-old Van Hunt, also testified under questioning from Berry’s legal team, according to court documents. The musician had been on the premises during the incident involving Berry and her son.
Following Hunt’s testimony, Martinez’s legal team proposed to recall Maceo ‘as a rebuttal witness and to present his testimony remotely,’ the minute order stated.
Martinez withdrew the request after the court found that if Maceo was to testify again, it would have to be in person, according to the court documents.
Hunt had been seen departing the court around 4pm on Friday, Page Six reported, noting that he seemed ‘relieved’ as he finished testifying and was ‘seen laughing’ with one of Berry’s lawyers.
Berry had been seen rubbing Hunt’s arm as they departed the court, the outlet reported.
Martinez and his legal team had been seen leaving the courtroom at around 4.30pm, according to the outlet.
Berry’s daughter Nahla Aubry, 18, had been slated to testify via stream during Monday’s hearing, the publication reported.
In a legal filing made in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this month that was reviewed by The Daily Mail, Berry claimed that Martinez has repeatedly inserted himself into ongoing issues regarding Maceo’s schooling and therapy, obstructing progress in all areas.
She told the court that Martinez has inappropriately gotten Maceo involved in the ongoing custody battle and undermined her efforts with the teen, per the filing.
Berry said that the court should award her ‘sole legal custody over matters relating to Maceo’s education, healthcare, and mental-health treatment,’ and ‘extend [her] tie-breaking authority indefinitely.’
Berry and her partner emerged from the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles
The aforementioned requests would be ‘so that necessary interventions can be implemented without continued delay, conflict, and harm to the child,’ Berry said in the court filing.
Attorneys for Berry said in the filing that the ongoing ‘case has been and continues to be about Olivier’s efforts to use manipulation, alienation, and litigation to obstruct necessary interventions for Maceo and to circumvent orders.’
Berry’s legal team said in the filing that it was not merely Berry’s ‘characterization of events,’ as Martinez’s ‘custom and practice is confirmed by numerous judicial findings, court orders, and sanctions.’
Berry said in the court filing that Maceo’s ‘behavioral issues at school have significantly escalated’ since the temporary restraining order had been issued earlier this month.
In the filing, Berry pointed to letters submitted to the court by administrators from Maceo’s school indicating that he ‘has become increasingly oppositional, defiant, and disrespectful toward both peers and authority figures.’
Berry added in the legal filing that the school officials have said ‘Maceo has been more disruptive at school, harassed a younger student, used inappropriate language, thrown objects at peers, been disciplined with a week of detention and unilaterally announced that he is’ switching schools.
Berry said in the legal filing that, with Martinez’s encouragement, Maceo has been reinforced to believe he has a say in ‘decisions regarding his education, health, extracurricular activities, and general welfare.’
In addition to asking for sole custody, Berry has requested the court authorize an arrangement in which Maceo would attend therapy sessions for a year, ‘both individual and conjoint,’ with a therapist of her choosing.
Berry in the legal filing requested that both parties ‘be ordered to forthwith communicate exclusively via Our Family Wizard,’ a co-parenting app. She asked the court for conditions in which each party would check the app once a day, and send no more than one message daily in cases of no emergency.
Berry and Martinez had been married from 2013 to 2015, finalizing their split in 2023.