Elon Musk and Grimes' 3 kids ordered to stay in California after Grimes files for physical custody
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- Grimes sued Elon Musk for physical custody of the former couple's three children last month.
- Her petition includes a standard order that prevents either person from taking the kids out of California.
- But it's not clear where the kids currently reside and the former couple can't seem to agree.
Grimes and Elon Musk's three children are not allowed to leave California after Grimes sued Musk for physical custody of the kids last month, according to court records obtained by Insider.
In a parental rights lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court on September 29, Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, asked a judge to grant her physical custody of the former couple's three children and grant her and Musk joint legal custody.
The petition comes about three weeks after Musk quietly sued Grimes in Texas court in an effort to "establish a parent-child relationship" between him and the kids — three-year-old X and one-year-olds Exa and Tau.
Grimes also asked a judge to throw out Musk's suit.
Included in Grimes' petition is a "standard restraining order" that prohibits the children from being taken out of California or applying for a passport without a court order or written permission of all parties. Musk's Texas suit includes a similar standard order that forbids either parent from hiding the children, changing the children's current residence, or disrupting their schooling or daycare.
Such orders are standard in custody and family law cases but tend to vary from state to state, according to Neama Rahmani, a Los Angeles-based attorney and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers.
Lawyers for Musk and Grimes declined to comment and Musk didn't respond to efforts to reach him.
Disputed residences
As they battle in court, Musk and Grimes can't seem to agree where their three children are supposed to be living — or even where they have been living.
In his petition, Musk accused Grimes of moving to California "in an apparent attempt to circumvent jurisdiction" of Texas courts.
The Texas legal system is more financially favorable to big earners in custody and divorce cases because the state has a cap on child support, according to high-net-worth family law attorney Holly Davis, who is based in Austin.
California, meanwhile, has "very relaxed standards" about allowing people to maintain their lifestyle post-divorce and during a custody battle, Davis said.
Clive Mason - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
Musk's net worth is currently estimated to be $259.6 billion, according to Forbes, making him the richest person in the world.
The Tesla CEO alleged in his September suit that the children's primary residence is in Austin, Texas. According to the filing, he, Grimes, and their son, X, all officially moved to Texas at the beginning of 2021.
Musk said he has had "actual care, control, and possession of each child since the birth of each child," according to the suit, and has had possession of the children in Texas "for at least six consecutive months," including primarily residing in the same house with both Grimes and the kids from May 2023 to July 2023.
Grimes, however, disputed Musk's claims, alleging in her suit that the children have primarily lived with her in California since the start of 2023.
When making residential custody decisions, courts tend to favor where children have been living for the previous six months in an attempt to disrupt the kid's lives as little as possible, Davis said.
But if the parents are disputing in which state that residence has been, the two state courts may seek to meet for conference and decide which state is best for the kids.
It's not clear where Musk and Grimes' kids are currently living.
On September 7, Grimes wrote and quickly deleted a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, asking Musk to "let me see my son or plz respond to my lawyer."
A week later, Musk brought their eldest son, who has become known as baby X, to his meeting with the president of Turkey in New York, telling the world leader that he "mostly" takes care of X.