Custody Battles

A judge is siding with Tyrese, ruling there are limits when it comes to his ex-wife demanding he cover childcare costs ... especially if her activities aren't work-related.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, the judge ruled Norma Gibson can't expect Tyrese to reimburse her for babysitters to watch their 11-year-old daughter, Shayla ... if Norma's running "non-work errands" or running her household.

As we first reported, Tyrese was pissed about childcare bills Norma was running up -- especially one particular day in August -- when she admitted she was merely "living life." He was also upset that, in his view, she wasn't making an effort to get a steady job.

In the docs, the judge lays out what qualifies as work activities for Norma -- including developing her life coaching biz, working on her book or pursuing her art. The court says if she requires childcare while doing any of those things ... she can put that on Tyrese's tab.

Angelina Jolie doesn't seem to be sweating her looming custody trial with Brad Pitt, at least not when she's with her kids ... or some of them, anyway.

Angie was hanging out with three of her children Sunday in Los Feliz -- where she, Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox took their pup for a stroll around the block ... with Shiloh leading the way.

No sign of Maddox, Zahara or Pax here -- the older 3 of the bunch -- but there were certainly no faces of distress on display within the dog-walking group ... in fact, it was nothing but smiles as far as we can see. Even the pooch seemed to be in good spirits.

The happy family outing comes amid a much darker backdrop -- Angelina and Brad are heading to court to decide whether Angie gets sole physical custody of the 6 kids, or if it'll be a 50/50 split ... like Brad wants. Their custody trial is set to begin on Dec. 4, which we're told could take anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks. The judge will sort it all out after that.

Kris Jenner is swooping in to help Rob Kardashian make a quick buck off the holiday shopping season, plugging her son's sock line after he filed docs to have his child support payments to Blac Chyna lessened.

Kris and Rob unleashed a social media ad blitz Thursday, promoting a line of Christmas-themed socks that were just released by Arthur George, the clothing company Kris just bought a stake in.

It's funny ... the socks read, "Let's Get Baked," and Kris is calling them the perfect holiday gift. We can think of a few meanings for the phrase, and at least one belongs on the naughty list.

Rob followed Mom's lead and plugged the socks on his Twitter.

Kris and Rob teaming up to sell socks comes days after Rob went to court seeking to get a reduction in child support payments to Chyna ... he said he was basically broke after previously agreeing to pay Chyna $20,000 a month to support 2-year-old Dream.

Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna might be duking it out in court over money to care for their daughter -- but turns out there's a measure of peace behind the scenes.

Sources connected to both parents tell us Rob and BC are a well-oiled co-parenting machine when it comes to baby Dream ... they've both been cooperative in creating and abiding by a fair schedule ... with zero hiccups so far.

We're told the former couple manages their 50/50 split like this -- 4 days with one parent and 3 days with the other ... and they switch that up week-to-week. Sometimes there's scheduling conflict with either Chyna or Rob, but they've learned to pivot without any real drama.

A big reason for their success ... nannies!!! We're told both Rob and Chyna have their own who handle all the baby hand-offs.

Here's the thing ... Rob and Chyna intensely dislike each other, but they have figured out a way to wall off their feelings when it comes to their daughter.

As we reported ... Rob's gone back to court asking a judge to lower his child support payments, which had been set at $20k/month. We're told Rob had planned to request the payments be chopped down from the get-go, and only agreed to the hefty child support to get Chyna to back off her domestic violence claims ... which could've hurt him.

Chyna's lawyer, Lisa Bloom, tells us Rob didn't pull a fast one on anybody -- saying they fully expected him to go back to go court to lower his payments.

For now, Chyna's not getting a penny from Rob. The judge put all payments on hold a few months ago until he decides what, if anything, Rob should pay her.

10:45 AM PT -- Sources connected to the litigation tell TMZ months ago a judge suspended Rob's entire obligation to pay any child support until he could evaluate Chyna's resources as well as Rob's, so for now, Chyna's getting $0 in child support.

Rob Kardashian has gone into court to get a reduction in child support, but it's something he planned on doing for more than a year ... and it was all designed to get Blac Chyna to drop domestic violence allegations that could have cost him custody.

Sources connected to the case tell TMZ, Rob and Chyna are now locked in a war over how much he has to pay to support 2-year-old Dream. As we reported, Rob agreed in September 2017 to pay her $20,000 a month in child support. He now says he's basically broke and she's rolling in the dough.

Our sources say, Rob agreed to pay $20k a month knowing that a judge would have reduced that amount significantly, but he needed Chyna to back off her claim he physically abused her -- aggressively hitting, shoving and pushing her to the ground during their relationship -- something that could have badly hurt him in their custody fight.

In return for Rob agreeing to pay $20k a month, Chyna dropped her domestic violence restraining order and agreed to give him 50/50 joint custody of their child. Our sources say Rob planned from the get-go to let some time pass, then go back into court and ask for a reduction in child support, claiming he has virtually no income. That's exactly what he has done.

Chyna's lawyer, Lisa Bloom, tells TMZ ...Chyna was NOT played and she knew Rob would probably go back into court for a reduction in support. Bloom says her client made her point and got what she wanted -- an agreement Rob would leave her alone. She also got him to agree not to post more revenge porn targeting her, something Bloom says has dogged Chyna to this day.

Bloom says Chyna never wanted to fight over custody and wanted Rob to be involved in Dream's life. She also claims Rob is pretending to be poor when he leads a lavish lifestyle. She says, "Rob has deliberately retreated from social media to suppress his income in order to reduce support. What kind of father plays games with supporting his own baby?"

And, Bloom says, Chyna still has a separate, active civil case against Rob which raises the domestic violence issue.

"Big Brother" alum Christmas Abbott has some baby daddy issues ... because the guy she says fathered her kid is seeking a paternity test to confirm her story and, if he is, he wants joint custody.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Benjamin Bunn claims Christmas told him he was the father, and he took care of the reality TV star during her pregnancy ... but Benjamin claims Christmas has been keeping him from the child.

Benjamin claims Christmas has refused to voluntarily submit a genetic marker test, so he's seeking a paternity test to settle the matter once and for all.

Christmas gave birth last month in North Carolina, and Benjamin claims they were planning to raise the kid in Florida. But, Benjamin says Christmas abandoned their plan after she had an altercation with his side chick in Tampa, returning to N.C. with the kid, and they've gone MIA.

As we reported ... Christmas turned herself into Florida authorities this week and was booked for felony criminal mischief, after allegedly confronting Benjamin's side chick outside a Tampa gym and ramming into the woman's car.

Matt Barnes scored a big win in court today against his ex-wife Gloria Govan -- the court awarded him sole physical and legal custody of their twin 10-year-old boys ... TMZ Sports has learned.

The two have been at war for years -- and today, Matt obtained an 18-month restraining order against Gloria claiming she's a physical danger to him.

The restraining order was granted through May 2020 -- but does not extend to the kids because the judge doesn't believe Gloria poses a danger to them.

During Thursday's hearing, the judge ruled Gloria will get regular visitation -- including every other weekend from Friday until Monday morning. She is also allowed to have dinner with the kids every Wednesday evening.

The two are still working out the custody arrangements for the holidays including Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years.

As part of Thursday's hearing, the judge also ordered Govan to complete 26 sessions of anger management and 10 parenting classes.

Matt was accompanied in court by his attorney Samantha Spector.

TMZ previously reported, Gloria was arrested the Friday before Labor Day after Matt claimed she put the lives of their twin boys at risk by allegedly flying into a rage in her car, blocking Matt and the kids from driving away from their school.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will go head-to-head in a full-blown custody trial, which begins early next month ... TMZ has learned.

Angelina and Brad have filed legal docs asking an L.A. Superior Court Judge to give them until next June to hash out their bitter divorce ... with the help of a private judge.

The custody trial is now set to begin December 4, and the 2 parents could not be further apart. Angelina wants sole physical custody of their 6 kids and Brad wants 50/50 joint custody.

We're told the custody trial should take somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks, and then the judge has to sort it all out.

In addition to custody, the private judge needs to handle the property settlement. There is not a prenup ... which is huge, given the bad blood between the two.

Chris Brown and Nia Guzman are getting along better than ever ... so good, in fact, sources tell us they're on the verge of hammering out a new child support deal.

Sources connected to Chris and Nia tell TMZ ... for several months now they've been in mediation and they've all but ironed out a deal that would have Chris upping his monthly payments to Nia for their 4-year-old daughter, Royalty.

We're told Chris has been paying Nia around $2,500 per month. She's asking for $21k per month, but we're told that, while she won't get that amount, she WILL get a significant increase.

And, get this ... our sources say as part of the deal, Chris is buying Nia a new house. He'll also pay over $100k in Nia's legal costs. We're told they're still ironing out details on the custody split.

As we reported ... Chris claimed Nia tried squeezing more money outta him back in 2016 after he was arrested for felony assault with a deadly weapon. Things got so bad between them, DCFS got involved.

Our sources now say over the last few months, Chris and Nia went from screaming matches to remaining civil and polite ... all for the sake of Royalty.

The L.A. County D.A. has rejected criminal charges against Gloria Govan ... this after she was arrested for felony child endangerment in a super bitter custody war with ex-husband Matt Barnes.

Gloria was arrested the Friday before Labor Day after Matt claimed she put the lives of their twin boys at risk by allegedly flying into a rage in her car, blocking Matt and the kids from driving away from their school.

Sources connected with Gloria called BS on Matt's claim he had custody of the kids that weekend. Gloria says she even asked her lawyer well in advance to notify Matt's attorney Labor Day weekend was hers.

On the day in question ... her rep told the D.A. Gloria went to the school to pick up the boys, but Matt was already there. She says the kids were in her car when Matt ordered the boys to get in his car ... she believed in violation of the custody order. Gloria says she blocked his car, called 911 and "calmly" waited for cops.

Gloria denied she drove crazy to get at Matt's car and ultimately the D.A. said there was insufficient evidence to move forward.

Matt subsequently got a restraining order, keeping Gloria 100 yards from the kids. She's only allowed to see the boys once a week with a monitor present.

Sofia Vergara's ex is trying to destroy her marriage to Joe Manganiello ... so say sources close to the actress.

Sofia's been locked in a long legal battle with her ex-fiance, Nick Loeb, over two frozen embryos the couple produced. He wants to keep them but she wants them destroyed.

Our Sofia sources say the driving force behind the fight has nothing to do with bringing another life into the world ... it's pure and simple revenge. The sources claim Nick remains angry Sofia dumped him and they believe his end goal is to ruin her marriage.

The sources point to the fact that Loeb had a daughter with another woman last October, so his desire to become a father has already been fulfilled, yet he continues to fight over the embryos.

And, speaking of the fight ... Nick has moved his lawsuit against Sofia to Louisiana -- a heavily pro-life state that recognizes embryos as human beings.

In order to sue in Louisiana, Nick needs to be a resident of the state. We've learned the longtime California resident now claims he lives in Plaquemines Parish, LA, where he's even established a trust fund for the embryos, whom he named Emma and Isabella. Our Sofia sources say Nick never stays at the home, and is only using the address as a front.

Nick's attorneys, Pierre Miller and Jasha McQueen, confirm Nick is renting a place in the area and is registered to vote in LA, but would not get specific when asked how often he stays at the property. McQueen also says Nick has a Louisiana driver's license, and they're confident a judge will see he's taken the appropriate steps to establish residency and win his case.

Taylor "Lil Bit" Wright had a ton of legal trouble last week, because we've learned she got busted for a second time in 3 days -- and this time it involved her kids.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the former "Party Down South" star got arrested Wednesday for taking her kids out of their home state of Virginia to North Carolina -- a violation of her custody agreement with their father.

That arrest came just 48 hours after cops hauled her in for allegedly punching her mother-in-law in the face.

We broke the story ... Taylor cracked a pretty wide grin for her mug shot on that assault case.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have reached a custody agreement, but it is vague for an obvious reason ... Ben's issue with alcohol.

As we have already reported, the couple long ago agreed to joint custody of their 3 kids. There are 2 elements to the agreement -- legal and physical custody.

Legal custody is simple ... they will jointly agree on decisions that affect the kids, such as education and various activities.

As for physical custody, that's where it gets tricky. As we reported, the divorce was held up for a long time because Ben was on and off the bottle, and Jennifer didn't want to strike any custody arrangement until he was sober and stable.

We're told the physical custody agreement is vague ... it doesn't outline any specific division of time with the kids. But, we're told, at least at the beginning, Jen will get the lion's share of custodial time, and when Ben has the kids he will have a monitor to ensure he's sober and the kids are safe.

There's another factor -- their kids are older now -- 12, 9 and 6 -- and they may be conscious of Ben's problem with alcohol and how it's affected their family, and they will have a voice as well.

Mel B agreed to submit to random drug testing to prove she's a fit parent, and so far ... it looks like a good decision.

Mel was tested for drugs and alcohol 3 times recently -- on September 6, 7 and 10 -- and the results were negative for all of them ... according to new legal docs obtained by TMZ.

To be clear ... the results show she tested negative for everything -- alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and addictive painkillers.

We broke the story ... the Spice Girl agreed to submit to the testing for a limited time as part of her ongoing custody battle with Stephen Belafonte. This came after a member of their household staff accused her of being an alcoholic and a sex addict who's unfit to retain custody of their kids.

Mel strongly denied the accusations, and now has test results to back her up ... at least pertaining to the alcoholic claims.

As part of their last settlement, Mel B also agreed to submit to a child custody evaluation with psychological testing. In new legal docs, Belafonte proposed a list of custody evaluators.

6:00 AM PT -- Govan was released after posting $100,000 bail.

"Basketball Wives" star Gloria Govan was arrested for felony child endangerment after a dangerous fight with her ex-husband ... which cops say put their kids at risk.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Gloria's kids were at their school Friday, about to get out for the day, and ex-husband Matt Barnes was scheduled to pick them up. We're told according to their child custody agreement, Matt had custody for the long, Labor Day weekend.

Our sources say at 2:55 PM -- 5 minutes before school let out -- Gloria arrived to get the twin boys. She got the children in her car and that's when Matt showed up and told her it was his weekend for the kids.

We're told Matt told the kids to get out of Gloria's car and into his. It appears the kids followed Matt's instructions, because we're told Gloria then flew into a rage, tried to follow Matt's car, screaming and cussing. Our sources say she then blocked Matt's car with the kids inside, and that's when someone called 911.

Gloria was arrested for child endangerment and also violating a court order. After police took Gloria to jail, they let Matt take the kids after he showed them paperwork he had custody this weekend.

4:00 PM PT -- Mel B says she is not a "raging alcoholic," though she does drink socially. She also denies she takes "illicit drugs," and says she's not a sex addict ... these are her responses to Belafonte's request for sole legal and physical custody.

Mel B claims Russell Updegraff's declaration in which he makes these claims has no credibility, because she says he's an ex employee who has an ax to grind, and he and Belafonte are hell bent in dragging her through the mud and ruining her reputation out of spite.

She says she is willing to submit to random drug testing for a limited period of time to prove she's a fit parent, and wants Stephen to do the same.

And, in her legal docs Mel B repeats her claim that Belafonte has abused her so badly she's suffering from PTSD.

Mel also agrees to submit to a child custody evaluation with psychological testing, because she strongly opposes Stephen getting full custody. She also states the following -- she's not a "sex addict" who brings home random men, she is not a raging alcoholic as Stephen paints her to be, she does not take illicit drugs ... and her children's well-being is her top priority

There's more ... Anthony Santa Maria -- Mel B's housekeeper and childcare services provider -- vouches for Mel in the docs, claiming he's never witnessed her drunk "or even buzzed," and he's never seen her do anything remotely dangerous or neglectful with her kids.

Short story ... Mel B says Belafonte is angry, hungry for media attention and he has waged a vicious campaign to destroy her so he can stay in the spotlight.

10:15 AM PT -- We've learned Mel B and Stephen reached a settlement in the judge's chambers. The details are confidential. On her way out of court, we asked Mel if she was going to rehab ... but she was mum.

Stephen Belafonte says Mel B isn't fit to retain custody of her children, because she's in the grip of an alcohol-fueled spiral ... so claims ex-husband Belafonte.

Belafonte appeared in court Friday, armed with documentation from people who have been close to Mel B. She showed up as well, covered in sweat.

One of the declarations Belafonte submitted is from Russell Updegraff, who said in legal docs he's been responsible for watching her 2 kids, Madison and Angel, who he says are at serious risk because of a profound drinking problem on Mel B's part.

Updegraff claims Mel B drinks daily ... often starting as early as 10 AM. He says the day begins with beer, and then turns to wine and eventually hard liquor ... including vodka, tequila and gin. He says Mel B typically passes out, awakes and then becomes mean and belligerent.

Updegraff says the drinking problem is so bad, she's asked him to go to the store and get 12 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of vodka and one to two 12-packs of beer ... which she consumes in 4 to 5 days.

According to Updegraff's declaration, Madison, who turns 7 Saturday, and 11-year-old Angel are scared and stressed. He claims Mel B was sometimes physically abusive to Angel, digging her nails into her, grabbing her and shaking her.

Updegraff also says Mel B has been a cocaine user, although the docs suggest the real issue now is alcohol.

And, Updegraff says Mel B often brings various men home, with the kids present. In one case, he says a strange man tried to bring Madison into the shower, and he had to intervene and stop him.

He also says Mel B would regularly leave town for 1 to 2 weeks at a time and never check in to see how the kids were doing.

The hearing will be held this morning. We will update when the judge rules.

Belafonte wants temporary custody of kids so Mel B can go to rehab and get clean. He does not want to take the kids away from her, but fears they are at extreme risk given Mel B's state.