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When Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Kanye West in early 2021, she requested joint and legal physical custody of their four children – North, 9, Saint, 6, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 3. In his response, Kanye also requested joint physical and legal custody. However, the exes have yet to work out a custody arrangement as of yet.
In the wake of Kanye’s recent behavior (and reports of trouble at court), there have been questions over whether he’ll get joint custody or not. Here’s everything we know about the ongoing custody situation between Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
If Kanye West Misses Court, He Could Lose Custody
Kim and Kanye were both declared legally single earlier in March 2022. However, their divorce still isn’t finalized, as they need to come to an agreement on the division of their remaining assets and custody.
According to recent reports, Kanye is making things difficult. He failed to show up to a scheduled deposition without notice on November 16th in which Kim’s lawyers were supposed to question him. Kanye’s deposition appearance was re-scheduled for later in the month. But it could majorly hurt Ye’s case if he fails to appear again.
Speaking to The Sun, Lexie Rigden of Rigden Law LLC explained that Kanye is at a real risk of losing custody of his children.
“If Kanye refuses to show up to his deposition, the Judge could sanction him monetarily, make him pay counsel fees, and if it is an egregious enough discovery violation, the judge may be able to bar him from putting on a case at trial,” she said.
“In most divorce cases, the parties are able to at least work out some of the issues,” she continued. “But, given his behavior and apparent unreasonableness, everything may be in dispute, from custody to distribution of assets.”
Kanye West’s Controversial Behavior Doesn’t Look Good
Though he’s long been known for his controversial antics, Kanye’s recent antics have had major fallout on his career. He lost this long-time partnership with Adidas following a series of antisemitic and anti-Black comments. Shortly after, Forbes said Kanye lost his billionaire status with the end of the Adidas deal.
Other companies and brands like Vogue, Balenciaga, and Gap have cut ties with the rapper in recent months.
In addition, Kanye is facing various legal troubles. He’s been called out for workplace harassment and abuse and has reportedly paid settlements to former employees over related incidents. Ye’s other ongoing lawsuits include a million-dollar case filed by his former manager. George Floyd’s family also launched a $250 million lawsuit over defamatory comments Kanye made about the activist’s death.
Kanye has and continues to call people out online in various social media rants. He hasn’t been afraid of calling Kim and her family out, and airing out the details of their custody battle.
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This includes criticizing Kim’s parenting and claiming her mother, Kris, will corrupt their children. He also harassed Pete Davidson when he was dating Kim earlier in the year. Ye encourages his fans to scream at Pete in public, and he released an animated music video featuring himself burying a likeness of Pete alive.
In speaking The Sun, attorney Lexie Ridgen noted that Kanye’s recent behavior could greatly hinder him in the custody battle.
“His disparaging posts about Kim and her family in the media, and his nonsensical proposals including that the children attend two different schools at once, are going to likely be used to show that he cannot reasonably co-parent and does not have the children’s best interests in mind,” she explained.
Kim Kardashian Already Has Their Kids 80% Of the Time
Kim maintains she does her best to ensure Kanye is in their kids’ lives. But the rapper has admitted that Kim has them 80% of the time.
“Even to this day, I’ll still give Kim advice on things that can help, because that’s gonna go to the kids,” Kanye during an appearance on the Mind Full podcast.
He continued, “She’s still got to, basically, 80 percent of the time, raise those children.”
If the children are with Kim most of the time, that’s another factor that won’t bode well in Kanye’s bid to win custody.
But among his many allegations, Kanye has claimed that Kim has intentionally kept their children from him. He’s gone so far as to claim the kids have been kidnapped, which his ex-wife has denied.
For example, in March, Ye made an Instagram post implying that he’s not always allowed to have access to his kids. “This was on my daughters back pack when I was ‘allowed’ to see her last week,” he wrote. “This is why I go so hard for my family I am wired to protect my family at all cost As the priest of my home Don’t worry Northy God is still alive.”
Kim replied directly in the comments to reveal that Kanye had just seen their kids. “Please stop with this narrative, you were just here this morning picking up the kids for school,” she wrote.
Between his spotty court record, controversial behavior, and (alleged) lack of involvement, Kanye custody situation remains up in the air.
