- Elon Musk claims Grimes’ friends told her to file her custody lawsuit in California.
- Grimes and Musk each sued for custody in separate states.
- Musk could face a hefty child support payment if the case plays out in the Golden State instead of Texas.
Grimes might have been strategizing ahead of her custody battle with ex-partner Elon Musk — at least according to Musk.
Musk has accused Grimes, whose legal name is Claire Boucher, of moving to California in order to dodge Texas courts, according to court records obtained by Business Insider. In an amended petition filed Monday, Musk’s legal team said Grimes told him she had been warned by friends that “California would be a better court jurisdiction for her than Texas.”
The billionaire said in the petition that Grimes had mentioned it “various times within the past year, when there was conflict in our relationship.” The pair have three children together: X, Exa, and Tau.
Christopher Melcher, a California family law attorney and partner at Walzer Melcher, told Business Insider that Musk may have included that claim in his filing to influence the Texas judge’s opinion of Grimes.
“To the extent that she was told that information — both courts, Texas and California, use the same standards for determining child custody matters, which is the best interest of the child,” he said, meaning when it comes to custody, there’s no reason she’d do better in California than Texas.
However, she would almost certainly fare better in California than Texas when it comes to child support, Melcher said, citing the two states’ differing child support laws.
While Texas caps monthly child support payments at $2,760 for three children, California does not have a limit — meaning Musk could be required to pay a much larger amount. The Tesla CEO, one of the richest people in the world, currently has a net worth of about $222 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
While it’s unclear if the case will ultimately result in child support orders, family law experts said that would explain why both Musk and Grimes are fighting so hard over where the case plays out.
Peter M. Walzer, a California family law attorney and partner at Walzer Melcher, told Business Insider that he did not think the claim that Grimes told Musk she heard California would be better for her was especially damaging, noting it’s already apparent the two are fighting over jurisdiction.
Attorneys for Musk and Grimes did not respond to a request for comment.
Texas v. California
Musk said in his amended complaint filed this week that he took legal action against Grimes in September after she took their two youngest children to California and he realized she did not plan to return. That same month, Grimes responded to Musk’s Texas lawsuit with a countersuit in California.
Musk’s petition said that Grimes described their custody agreement in an enrollment packet for one of their children’s daycare programs on August 4. According to Musk, Grimes said the pair have a “2 week 2 week agreement” if they’re “not getting along” or they’re not in the same city — meaning they’d split time with the children 50/50.
“We live in separate houses but we are together,” the document reads. “However custody can be tricky as I work in SF and Dad works in Texas. We try to spend as much time as possible in each others city.”
In his suit, Musk has called for Grimes to bring their youngest children back to Texas, while Grimes claims in her own he has X in the state over her objection.
Musk has also asked the court to issue a temporary order that would designate him as the sole managing conservator of the children. In other words, Musk would be given primary control over most decisions involving the children — from where they live and what schools they attend to their medical needs.
Walzer said it would be unusual for a parent to be named the sole managing conservator unless there were serious concerns about the other parent, such as allegations of child abuse or substance abuse. However, there’s no evidence Musk has such concerns about Grimes.
Additionally, the billionaire has asked the court to award Grimes a standard possession schedule for seeing the children, which would allow the singer to have the kids on the first, third, and fifth weekends of each month, as well as for one month during the summer and some holidays. Musk is also requesting that all of Grimes’ time with the children be spent in Travis County, Texas.
This type of schedule, while common in custody disputes, makes little sense in this particular situation, Melcher said, as it would require Grimes to either move to Texas or constantly be traveling back and forth.
Musk may be sending Grimes a message that “she’s gonna have to make herself available in Texas” if she wants to regularly see her children, he added.
