*Mel B’s ex-husband Stephen Belafonte is asking the court to grant him full physical and legal custody of their 8-year-old daughter, Madison.
He claims the Spice Girl singer has abandoned the child since moving to the UK.
We previously reported… in December, Belafonte scored a legal victory in the ex-couple’s never-ending child custody battle when he was successful in blocking Madison from visiting her mother in the UK for Christmas.
A judge refused to let the little girl travel to England after hearing how she was “traumatized” by Mel the last time she was in the UK, according to the Daily Mail.
“I’m not going to put this kid in harm’s way,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Juhas said at a hearing.
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Belafonte’s lawyer, Michael Hanasab, told the court that the last time Madison spent a holiday with her mother in UK, she was left “traumatized and begged and pleaded not to see her mother,” according to reports provided by the child’s therapist.
“To have Madison travel to the UK right now is not in the child’s best interests. (Brown) has elected to abandon this minor child and she has caused this minor child great stress,” Hanasab said.
Belafonte is now seeking to takeover as Madison fulltime parent.
via TMZ:
Mel’s ex claims he’s been the sole caregiver of Madison for the majority of 2018 and much of 2019. He says Mel’s ensconced in England and absent from Madison’s life. Stephen also wants Mel to have access to Madison but only in L.A. and only supervised visitation.
Stephen claims he doesn’t want to subject Madison to Mel’s alleged verbal and psychological abuse. He claims he couldn’t get a hold of Mel for days last Thanksgiving and when Mel’s nanny dropped off Madison with Stephen, Madison told him “her mother would make her sit in a dark room and repeatedly question her over and over and demand answers from her.”
Stephen claims this is why Madison “also told me that she was afraid her mother would hurt her.” Moving forward, Stephen wants to make all parental decisions (medical care, schooling, etc.) when it comes to their daughter.
The judge has yet to sign off on Belafonte’s request.
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