Custody Battles

Robin Thicke isn't letting his bitter custody war with Paula Patton sour him on being a parent.

Robin was all smiles Friday at LAX when asked what people should know about him as a father. Of course, Paula's accused him of spanking their son too hard -- and just recently allowed him to begin having monitored visits with 6-year-old Julian.

If the ordeal's getting him down, Robin didn't let it show.

Robin Thicke's lawyers went to court Wednesday to continue his battle over child custody, and got shut down by the judge.

Robin is currently limited to 3 visits a week with 6-year-old Julian ... Thursday, Friday and Saturday for a few hours each day, and only with a court-appointed monitor present.

Robin, we're told, was upset because he didn't get to visit with Julian last Friday, because the monitor pulled the plug after determining Julian didn't want the visit. The monitor also cut short Robin's visit on Saturday, when he took his son to Kids World.

Robin's lawyers asked the judge to allow him his visits without a court-appointed monitor. The judge rejected that request. Robin then asked that the court appoint a different monitor who could be more impartial, but the judge said no. And then Robin asked the judge to prohibit the monitor from changing or canceling the scheduled visits. Again, the judge gave the thumbs down.

Robin is currently prohibited from having contact with ex-wife Paula Patton or her mother, and aside from the scheduled weekly visits he can't have contact with Julian. The judge issued the restraining order last week after Paula made claims Robin was physically abusive to her and the child ... Robin has denied the allegations.

Paula Patton is not gunning for permanent sole custody of her son ... in fact, we've learned she's not gunning for anything now, because all she wants to do is figure out what's wrong with her son.

TMZ broke the story ... a judge just ordered Robin Thicke to stay 100 yards away from 6-year-old Julian, along with Paula and her mother. For now she has sole physical and legal custody.

Sources connected with the former couple tell us, Paula doesn't know what the final custody arrangement should look like, because she doesn't know the extent of Julian's issues. The boy told school officials Robin had been spanking him very hard. Paula also claims Robin got physical with his son.

We're told Julian is acting out in troubling ways, which include hyperventilating and just "freaking out." She's putting the boy in therapy to figure out what, if anything, happened to him and how to fix it.

We're told Paula will not make a long term custody game plan until she gets the lowdown from the therapist.

Paula Patton has sworn to a judge Robin Thicke beat her during their marriage.

According to Paula's declaration filed in support of her domestic violence restraining order in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival ... she and Robin got into a fight and Robin hit her with a closed fist to her upper body and then pushed her onto the ground.

She claims he threatened multiple times to "bash my f***ing head in."

Paula gets personal, saying the straw that broke the camel's back in their marriage happened back in February 2013, when she was filming "Warcraft." Robin and Julian came to stay with her and she says Robin was supposed to take care of the boy, but early in the morning, he began screaming in front of them that he wanted to "f***ing sleep ... Who do you f***ing think you are not letting me sleep!"

She also claims Robin had a serious cocaine problem.

She makes cheating allegations in her docs, saying Robin called her while he was on tour in 2013 and she heard him having sex with another woman.

A source close to Robin scoffs at Paula's allegations, telling TMZ, "If these multi-year-old allegations were true, why is she only raising them now in the midst of a custody dispute where she's the only one violating the judge by denying Robin access to the boy?"

Paula makes various allegations involving Julian, saying among other things she began noticing behavior changes last November. She describes an incident where Julian asked Robin for a hug before bed and instead she says Robin came back to his room and spanked him.

TMZ broke the story ... a judge issued the restraining order, prohibiting Robin from coming near Paula, their son or her mom ... at least for the time being. Robin asked for an order giving him sole physical and legal custody but the judge shut him down.

Robin's lawyer claims the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services is about to close its child abuse investigation against Robin, concluding the charges are "unfounded" ... this according to Robin's lawyer. The lawyer also says DCFS is investigating Paula for emotional abuse.

Robin Thicke is not allowed to go near his child or his ex-wife, Paula Patton ... this after a judge just temporarily yanked custody away from him, but now Robin's lawyer claims Paula is being investigated by the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services for emotional abuse ... TMZ has learned.

Robin and Paula both rushed to an L.A. courtroom Thursday, each asking for complete temporary sole custody of 6-year-old Julian. The judge shut Robin down and issued a domestic violence restraining order Paula sought in which Robin must now stay clear of Julian, her and her mom until further notice.

Robin submitted a declaration from his lawyer, informing the judge they have been told by the DCFS lawyer that the agency will close the investigation into Robin because the allegations were "unfounded," and there is an open investigation into Paula for "emotional abuse."

TMZ broke the story ... DCFS opened an investigation after Julian told school officials earlier this year that his dad had been spanking him hard. According to Paula's legal docs, a school official claimed Julian had complained Robin was punching him ... something Robin has denied.

We've learned the "emotional abuse" allegation involves claims that Paula has intentionally tried to alienate Julian from Robin.

As for Paula's decision to go for a domestic violence restraining order, we're told the trigger was Robin going to Paula's house to pick up Julian for a scheduled visit, and when she wouldn't open the door he allegedly started banging on it ... something Robin denies.

Robin admits to light spanking, but only rarely.

However, it's worth noting a judge in L.A. already ruled the case stay in Jersey but we're told they're gonna try the Christmas card tactic in NJ too.

Sherri Shepherd almost screwed herself over in her child support war, all because she celebrated a birthday ... the BD of Jesus Christ himself.

THE BACKSTORY: Sherri's ex-hubby, Lamar Sally, has been trying for months to move their child support case from NJ to CA where he'd get a way bigger check.

THE SNAFU: Sherri insists the case should be heard in New Jersey because that's where she lives, but sent an Xmas card to friends and fam last month saying she's already moved to L.A. Lamar's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, has jumped all over this like white on rice.

THE COMEBACK: Sherri is trying to minimize the screwup by putting Lamar's online dating profile on blast ... a profile in which he brags he makes a lot of money -- between $75k and $100k a year.

Remember, this is the kid Sherri tried to disavow, claiming she was defrauded into making a surrogacy contract ... a claim the judge rejected.

Future and Ciara are no longer at war over custody of their 2-year-old baby Future ... we've learned the case is officially settled.

Sources close to the exes tell TMZ ... they've agreed to joint custody, however, baby Future will be with Ciara most of the time.

Future is frequently on the road, but when he's back in the ATL he'll have reasonable access to his son.

Our sources say both Future and Ciara want to close this chapter and move on with their lives.

The custody case has been dismissed.

Robin Thicke brought the cops to Paula Patton's home Friday morning because she allegedly violated their custody order by not allowing him to take their son ... but the video dramatically shows Robin walked away empty-handed.

TMZ broke the story ... Robin won a victory in court Thursday when a judge refused to limit his custody to daytime monitored visits ... this after the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services launched an investigation into allegations Robin was using excessive corporal punishment on 6-year-old Julian.

We're told Robin called Paula after the hearing to take Julian for the night -- which the custody order allows him to do -- but she went radio silent.

On Friday morning Robin went to Paula's Malibu home with L.A. County Sheriff's deputies and the court order. We're told the deputies went inside the house and spoke with Julian and he said he was scared of his dad and didn't want to go with him.

You see Paula in the video -- obtained by TMZ. Robin is out of frame. The deputies explain they will not take the child against his will.

One source connected with Robin says the couple is now close to reaching some middle ground on how to deal with the custody issues.

Uma Thurman's relationship with her ex-fiance is so toxic they shouldn't be in the same room together with their daughter ... according to a court-ordered psychologist.

Uma and Arpad Busson were in court Friday for their custody war over 4-year-old Luna, and Dr. Sara Weiss testified about the exes, saying Luna genuinely enjoys her time with Arpad ... but definitely shouldn't go longer than 7 days away from Uma.

She said Luna shows signs of separation anxiety -- and Uma even had to come pick her up once, due to a particularly bad meltdown while she was with Arpad.

But the doc added family bonding shouldn't be part of the girl's routine. As she put it, "I don't think these two people should be in the same room with Luna."

Robin Thicke and ex-wife Paula Patton have been embroiled in a nasty custody fight over their 6-year-old son. It's escalated to a Child Services case over alleged physical abuse, and Robin just scored a legal victory.

Sources familiar with the case tell TMZ ... Julian told school officials at the beginning of the year his dad had spanked him ... more than once. The school reported the incident to the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services on January 3rd, and the Dept. opened an investigation.

Paula then began denying Robin access to their son, and filed an emergency order asking the family law judge to restrict Robin's contact with Julian to monitored daytime visits only.

According to legal docs Paula told Robin, "Julian is scared of you."

Paula says in her declaration, the day before Julian told the school, he told her that Robin spanked him "really hard." He demonstrated and hit Paula on the back so hard she said, "ow." Julian then said it was actually worse than that.

A school official also submitted a declaration saying Julian told her Robin frequently "punches" him very hard.

Robin says in legal docs, "On a very rare occasion and only as a last resort, I will use light spanking, but it is consistent with the law -- open hand on the butt. This is the type of discipline to which Paula and I agreed during our marriage."

There's also a declaration from a nanny who claims she has seen Robin smoke marijuana on several occasions in front of Julian. And there's this: Paula says at Julian's kindergarten graduation last June, Robin showed up drunk at 8:30 AM and was "hooting and hollering and making inappropriate jokes" in the Catholic church.

Robin claims this is all about his decision to block Paula from attending his dad Alan's funeral last month. He says in docs, "Paula did not have a positive relationship with my father and often made negative comments to me about my father. As such, she was not welcome at his funeral."

Sources connected to the case tell us there was a hearing Thursday morning and the judge denied Paula's request to limit Robin's joint custody and also a request for drug testing.

As for DCFS, we're told social workers have interviewed Julian twice and also interviewed Paula. Robin is being interviewed Thursday afternoon.

The DCFS case is ongoing.

Preggo Jenelle Evans and her current baby daddy, David Eason, headed to a custody hearing Wednesday in North Carolina over her 2-year-old son with ex-fiance, Nathan Griffith.

Not at all awkward.

The "Teen Mom 2" star is expecting a girl at the end of the month with Eason. Hopefully her drink was decaf.

Brad Pitt has fired back at Angelina Jolie ... essentially claiming she's a bad parent for putting their family drama on blast for public consumption.

Brad just filed legal docs asking for an order to seal their file. Angelina had previously filed unsealed documents alleging Brad had parenting issues that made it too risky for him to have unmonitored visits with their 6 kids. She also alleged Brad had a lot to hide about his conduct.

In Brad's new legal docs, he says Angelina knows better ... they are famous people and the kids are damaged when she airs their dirty laundry in public. He suggests Angelina going public has humiliated and embarrassed their kids and could even endanger them.

And there's this ... in the docs Brad's lawyer says, "[Angelina] apparently has no self-regulating mechanism to preclude sensitive information from being placed in the public record, or she has other motives."

Brad asked for an emergency order sealing the case but was shut down, so now he's filed a formal motion to seal the case ... something the judge indicated he would grant.

Morena Baccarin says her ex-husband's fear of their kid catching Zika in Brazil is a bogus claim made simply to spite her ... and she just won a court battle over the trip.

In a hearing Thursday, the court found Morena's ex, Austin Chick, waited too long to object to their 3-year-old son flying south of the border to visit his dying great grandmother.

His lawyers were demanding the "Gotham" star get their custody agreement authorized in Brazil to make sure he'd get custody if something happened to Morena during the trip. Morena's team, led by lawyer Samantha Spector, says they tried to resolve that issue, but Austin's camp went radio silent for weeks.

The judge ruled there was no reason to block Morena's trip. She told the court she'd hire top-notch security in Brazil and hunker down in her hotel for extra safety.

Lena Headey got a HUGE pay raise on "Game of Thrones" and is now making more than $1 million PER EPISODE ... so claims her ex-husband, who's got plans for that extra dough.

Peter Loughran just filed new docs asking the court to make Lena pay his legal fees in their nasty custody battle -- to the tune of $40k. He says it's only fair, since he's jobless and Lena's sleeping on a bed of 'GoT' cash.

It's interesting ... there were reports Lena was set to make upwards of $500k per episode for season 7, but Peter obviously thinks she's making more than double that already.

DeAndre Jordan was a very happy man on Friday after being awarded joint custody of his 1-year-old son ... the latest in a custody war with his baby mama.

Angelina Jolie went underground while her custody battle with Brad Pitt was raging on -- and she finally surfaced once the storm passed ... for now.

Angelina was seen leaving a Los Angeles area hotel on Thursday with her kids. Our sources say she'd checked in there before the emergency hearing Wednesday morning, when Brad was trying to get their custody case sealed.

As we reported, the judge denied Brad. The exes are still operating under their temporary custody deal -- she has primary physical custody of all 6 kids, while he gets weekly visitation.