Halle Berry’s Ex Olivier Martinez Slams Her ‘Draconian’ Demand for Sole Legal Custody of 10-Year-Old Son
Halle Berry’s ex-husband Olivier Martinez asked a judge to push back an upcoming hearing on the actress’ demand for sole legal custody of their 10-year-old son, claiming he needs time to cross-examine her about "false claims" and a "twisted narrative", In Touch can exclusively reveal.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Olivier, 58, asked the court to continue Halle’s requested hearing for September 10, by a minimum of 120 days.
In addition, he asked the court to order Halle to cough up funds for him to pay his legal team to fight her in court.
Olivier’s lawyer wrote that Halle is “seeking new, extraordinary and draconian relief, to have sole legal custody regarding the parties’ minor child's mental health and educational decisions, including wanting to solely decide to give the parties’ son psychiatric medication.”
The lawyer accused Halle of “attempting to bootstrap her way into an immediate hearing” after having a separate motion for emergency orders shut down in July.
His lawyer noted, “[Halle] is making this sole custody request and refusing to set it on a date sufficiently far ahead for [Olivier] to defend it knowing full well that [Olivier] has been asking [Halle] for months to make an attorney fee contribution as he does not have sufficient funds to pay his counsel. She has refused this request, despite the fact that Petitioner is admittedly earning several millions of dollars at this time, and likely more given her new movie about to be released.”
“Bluntly, [Halle] is attempting to obtain a trial result by ambush, by making a last-minute request, on a date set for a different relief, in an untimely and incomplete pleading,” his lawyer said. “[Halle] is attempting to 'game the system' by starving out [Olivier] from being able to defend himself against her last-minute draconian request for sole legal custody regarding health and education decisions.”
His lawyer added, “After using her extraordinarily high income for months to try to create a false narrative regarding [Olivier’s] cooperation with [Halle], to which [Olivier] has not had the funds to respond to every letter and every email, she is now trying to use her ability to pay any and all amounts of her own attorneys’ fees to trample on [Olivier’s] rights and gain sole decision-making ability regarding crucial decisions in Maceo's life, a child who spends 50 percent of his time with each of his parents.”
“[Halle] is not allowed to take advantage of [Olivier] - and in fact, Maceo - in such a manner. What is at issue is minor child, it is not [Halle’s] sharp litigation and gaming tactics. A minor child who is very close to his father, and with whom he spends one-half (1?2) of his time,” the motion read.
Olivier said he needed to cross-examine Halle “with regard to her false claims, twisted narrative and basis for her extreme request. It is crucial that the court know what Halle has been doing, and the level of pressure which amounts to near harassment, on a very constant basis from her, attempting to hurl us into discord and unnecessary problems.”
He asked the court to push the hearing on Halle’s motion and award him attorney fees.
As In Touch previously reported, Halle asked the court to strip Olivier of legal custody of their son.
She accused him of interfering with Maceo's therapy. Halle accused Olivier of “ignoring, interfering with and/or withholding consent for needed steps to obtain educational and psychoeducational services as well as other interventions for Maceo to meet his educational, psychological and social needs; or alternatively, using soccer activities as leverage for negotiating terms impacting Maceo’s educational and therapeutic needs.”
In addition, she accused Olivier of attempting to “influence Maceo’s therapist to view [Halle] as a risk to Maceo by communicating false stories about [Halle’s] relationship with Maceo through a former employee.” Halle accused Olivier of conspiring with her former employee named Erica. She said her ex-husband reached out to Maceo’s therapist “per Olivier’s request” to have a conversation.
In her filing, Halle also revealed she sued Erica for violating the terms of her employment agreement. She said that as part of the lawsuit, she learned that “(1) Olivier pressured Erica to reach out to [the therapist] by leveraging a referral for employment and requested that she send him photos and videos recorded during her employment; (2) that Olivier told Erica exactly what to say in the email to [the therapist]; and (3) despite the pressure from Olivier and her willingness to apparently lie, Erica believed that I was an excellent mother.” Halle added, “Erica also disclosed that Olivier told her that [the therapist] wanted to speak to her which was another one of Olivier’s fabrications as [the therapist] never made such a request.”
A judge has yet to rule.
