Kelly Clarkson has been granted primary custody of her and Brandon Blackstock’s two kids in Los Angeles amid their divorce.
“The Court finds that under the circumstances present in this case, the interest in providing stability and continuity for the minor children weighs in favor of Petitioner having primary custody,” read documents obtained by TMZ on Monday, November 30. “The level of conflict between the parents has increased. The parties have a difficult time coparenting due to issues of trust between them.”
The exes will share joint physical and legal custody of daughter River, 6, and son Remington, 4, with Clarkson, 38, having primary physical custody in L.A.
The Grammy winner filed for divorce from Blackstock, 43, in June after nearly seven years of marriage. The Voice judge cited “irreconcilable differences” at the time, and the case was classified as “dissolution with minor children.”
The late October custody ruling will allow Blackstock to visit their little ones at Clarkson’s Woodvale home. (The Texas native plans to reside in Montana, while his estranged wife lives in Los Angeles for work.)
Blackstock, who is also the father of Savannah and Seth with ex-wife Melissa Ashworth, will spend Thanksgiving with River and Remington, as well as December 19 through 25 at 2 p.m. He will FaceTime the kids every day “at a mutually agreed upon time” and get them on the first and fifth weekends of the month in L.A., and the third weekend in Montana.
He and the Emmy winner tied the knot in October 2013 in Tennessee, one year after their engagement. Ahead of their split, the pair disagreed on expanding their family.
“I so want another child, and my husband is like, ‘No! We have four!’” the American Idol alum told Gordon Ramsay in a May episode of her NBC show after his now-19-month-old son, Oscar, crashed the interview. “You get baby fever when you see them and you’re like, ‘Oh, I miss the chubby little legs and the little face.’”
The “Walk Away” singer told Redbook magazine in 2016 that being a working mom can be “hard,” explaining at the time: “There are days where I cry and I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I can handle all this!’ or get it all done. But at the end of the day, 99 percent of the time, it’s awesome and it’s worth it, and that’s what I say to myself.”
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