By Emmanuel King
Halle Berry left a Los Angeles courtroom on Thursday, October 29, with the restraining order against her gone and her custody fight very much alive. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Shelley Kaufman dissolved the temporary restraining order that had restricted Berry's time with her 13-year-old son, Maceo, and denied her ex-husband Olivier Martinez's request for a domestic violence restraining order, according to court documents reported by NBCLA and coverage from People and USA Today.
The ruling was not a full victory for either side. Kaufman declined to restore the 50/50 physical custody arrangement Berry had asked for, and she ruled that Berry cannot have overnight visits at this time. Martinez, who has held temporary primary physical custody since the start of October, will keep it for now. Berry retains joint legal custody, and according to her representative, she holds tie-breaking authority when the former couple cannot agree on major decisions, TMZ reported. The judge will revisit the custody issues in November.
Berry's reaction came through her attorney, Marina Beck, who issued a statement shortly after the ruling. "We are extremely pleased that the Court has dissolved the TRO," Beck said. "As we move forward, Halle is determined to continue to focus on the well-being and best interests of her family." Berry herself declined to speak with reporters outside the courtroom, according to Extra. A source close to the actress told Page Six the decision was "a huge win for Halle."
Martinez's camp framed the day differently. His attorney, Patrick Baghdaserians, told TMZ that keeping primary physical custody was a "huge victory" for his client. Speaking outside the courthouse, Martinez struck a softer note, telling Extra that he hopes Maceo and his mother "will be able to have a better relationship in the future," adding, "I don't want my son to hate his mom. I want him to love her."
The case began on October 1, when Martinez filed for a domestic violence restraining order protecting himself and Maceo. According to court documents reported by USA Today, Martinez alleged that during a September 26 incident at Berry's home, she attacked their son, putting her hands around his neck. He alleged additional prior incidents and asked the court for sole custody. A judge granted a temporary order that day, limiting Berry's visits to Mondays and Tuesdays and alternating weekends, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., while denying Martinez's request that her sobriety be monitored, citing "insufficient information."
Berry has denied the allegations from the start. In a declaration filed October 5 and obtained by People, she stated, "I have never physically, emotionally, or otherwise abused Maceo. I am a victim of domestic violence, and I help victims of domestic violence." In her own court filings, she described the September 26 encounter as playful roughhousing between a mother and her son. Her daughter, Nahla Aubry, 18, submitted a declaration calling Berry "a loving and devoted parent" and writing that she never observed anything abusive in her mother's parenting.
The hearing that followed stretched across nine days. Maceo testified behind closed doors for nearly four hours on October 19, with his testimony limited to the restraining order request. His therapist and a school official also took the stand, as did Nahla and Berry's fiancé, Van Hunt. Extra reported that the court has also directed Berry to attend counseling sessions aimed at repairing her relationship with her son.
The legal war behind this ruling has now run longer than the marriage itself. Berry and Martinez met on the set of Dark Tide, married in France in July 2013, and welcomed Maceo that October. They announced their split in 2015, were declared legally single in 2016, and did not fully settle custody and support until August 2023, when they agreed to joint custody, $8,000 a month in child support, and an additional 4.3 percent of any income Berry earns above $2 million. The fighting resumed within a year, and in August 2024 Berry herself asked the court for sole legal custody.
For a working actor, a decade of litigation is not just a legal burden. It is a second career running alongside the first one, with court dates competing against call sheets and every filing becoming a headline that follows the next premiere. Berry has kept working through all of it, but cases like this one show the cost of a public life: the most private parts of a family, including a 13-year-old who never asked for any of this, end up argued in open court and summarized in the press.
For now, the arrangement the judge left in place is temporary. Both parents are due back in court in November, when the custody question at the center of this fight will be argued again.