Custody Battles

Madonna's crying out to Rocco again ... posting a pic from happier days.

Madge put up the photo of Rocco grinning with dandelions around his neck and said, "I miss this boy so full of life so full of love!"

She and Guy Ritchie are set to face off in court next month in their custody battle over Rocco ... who's living with Dad in England, for now. Madonna's been reaching out by posting pics with messages for her son.

Bristol Palin has just released her inner grizzly in her custody battle with baby daddy Dakota Meyer ... by insisting their newborn is better off staying in Alaska with her.

Dakota's DNA is a match with 2-month-old Sailor Grace, according to legal docs, but Bristol's still pushing back on his bid for joint custody. The problem ... she lives in Alaska and he's in Kentucky.

Bristol wants primary physical custody. She's ok if Dakota gets visitation, but that's it.

As for legal custody -- the right to make decisions for their kid -- she wants final say if there's a disagreement.

Bristol also wants child support ... he's already filed legal docs saying he's willing to pay ... though not necessarily as much as she wants.

Pregnant "Gotham" star Morena Baccarin is on doctor-ordered bed rest, and says there's no way she can sit for a lengthy deposition in her divorce ... but she doesn't want to delay the split.

Morena's 8 months pregnant with her co-star Ben McKenzie's baby, but still in the middle of divorcing estranged husband Austin Chick. He's requested a date for her to sit down with their attorneys to start hammering out divorce deets.

In the docs, 36-year-old Baccarin says she has a high risk pregnancy, and doctors have advised her that sitting for a depo would be "unnecessarily stressful."

What would make her happy is a quick change in marital status -- she's requesting an immediate termination of the marriage ... but wants to settle child custody, support, and property issues later.

"16 and Pregnant" star Lindsey Harrison just had a huge victory in court -- she's been awarded all parental rights to her 5-year-old daughter.

Lindsey, who's 21 now, got a managing conservatorship over her daughter, Aniyah Monroe Harrison-Ponce.

According to legal docs ... Aniyah's birth father, Forrest Dean Ponce, has been absent for 6 months, and failed to support his daughter for at least a year.

Guy Ritchie and son Rocco strolled through a London park Wednesday when they got interrupted by a call ... we're guessing it was not Madonna.

Rocco is sporting a new look ... buzzed to the skin. It won't grow out much before his NYC courtroom showdown next month with his mom. Madonna thinks Guy is not parenting the 15-year-old, allowing him to make his own rules. Rocco and Guy say Madonna's way too controlling.

We're told Guy has lawyered up for the fight.

Madonna is not relying on the paparazzi to document her son's life with Guy Ritchie in the middle of their custody war ... we're told she's hired a P.I. to get the lowdown in London first hand.

Multiple sources connected with the singer tell us, Madonna believes Guy has set no rules for 15-year-old Rocco and he's living dangerously ... not enrolled in school, hanging out in skate parks, smoking and essentially doing anything he wants.

We're told the animosity runs deep between Madonna and Guy ... she feels strongly their son needs structure and he's unable and unwilling to provide it.

"Too Close" singer Raphael Brown, from the R&B group Next, got sole custody of his kids -- at least for now -- and may have saved them from being snatched and moved to Minnesota.

According to legal docs, Brown said his ex-wife, Juliette, abused their 12-year-old son and recently forcibly removed him from school.

He says the first time the son was taken out of school, the boy ran scared and screaming from his mom's car. Brown says 2 days later his ex tried again, but the cops intervened and sent him home to his dad.

Brown says he's scared his ex might also be abusing their daughter.

We spoke with Juliette and she thinks Raphael's a "difficult person" and this is merely a ploy to escape paying child support. She claims to be an exceptional mother who has never abused her kids, and has only doled out occasional spankings ... which she calls perfectly legal.

The couple has had their share of troubles, and prior to getting sole custody ... Brown was concerned his ex would take the kids to Minnesota where her family lives.

Bristol Palin's newest baby daddy is one smart cookie, because he just beat her to the punch by telling the family law judge exactly how much he can afford in the child support department.

Dakota Meyer -- the father of Bristol's 2-month-old daughter Sailor -- claims in new legal docs he makes $100,000 a year working construction, and gets another $37k in disability from the Marine Corps.

Under Alaska law, Dakota's income would entitle Bristol to $1,754 a month in child support.

So, you ask, why is Dakota running to court to establish his legal obligation to pay child support? Well, he's a good student of history, because when Bristol was fighting Levi Johnston for child support, he tried convincing the judge her claims about his income were wildly inflated.

Dakota is trying to manage expectations out of the gate by immediately going on the offensive.

Tyga is alarmed his baby mama was arrested for possessing ecstasy and being wasted in public, and he's now sharpening the legal knives to wrestle custody from her.

Sources connected with Tyga tell TMZ he's alarmed at Blac Chyna's arrest in Austin last week, and is worried her problems with drugs and alcohol might be putting 3-year-old King at risk.

Tyga has already filed legal docs to change the custody arrangement, and now thinks Chyna's recent run-in proves he's the more responsible parent and he should have King during the week, allowing her visitation on weekends.

And this is interesting ... we're told Tyga is well aware of the video Rob Kardashian posted of him playing with King. We're told Tyga is cool with Rob's relationship with Chyna and has no fear about being replaced as a father by anyone, including Rob.

Tyga thinks Rob is a good guy and has no problem with him. Chyna on the other hand ...

Guy Ritchie was tooling around London Wednesday -- the same day the NYC courtroom showdown with Madonna was scheduled -- but he didn't miss a thing, because the hearing's been put off a month.

Rocco's been living with his dad since the beginning of December, insisting he didn't want to go back and live with his mom. Rocco's position hasn't softened. It appears he hasn't returned to NYC to even visit.

Gilbert Arenas has been "behaving badly" and needs to change ... so says a judge who just ordered the ex-NBA star to attend co-parenting classes with his ex ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Gilbert and Laura Govan -- the mother of his 4 children -- were just in L.A. County Superior Court ... where they've been battling out a custody arrangement ever since their nasty split last year.

But on Monday, the judge admonished Arenas in open court -- saying, "Gilbert is behaving badly. He needs to change."

As we previously reported, Laura has claimed Gilbert is a "reckless parent" -- and was furious after he posted a video of their 8-year-old son dangerously riding on the front hood of a Polaris back in December.

The hostility between Laura and Gilbert goes back way further than that -- but on Monday, the judge told them they NEED to learn to get along for the sake of the kids and ordered them to 12 hours of co-parenting classes, which must be taken together.

If they don't complete the classes, the judge could alter the arrangement again -- affecting everything from Gilbert's financial obligation to visitation.

They're due back in court in July -- giving them 6 months to figure things out.

Chris Brown's baby mama claims the singer is not only a bad influence on their kid ... he's making the child sick.

Nia Guzman claims 1-year-old Royalty has developed asthma, and she says it's all because Chris has exposed her to an extreme amount of secondhand smoke. Brown is a weed and tobacco enthusiast.

Nia says when Royalty comes back from a visit with Chris she usually reeks of smoke.

Guzman also claims in legal docs she's worried Chris is abusing drugs and has relapsed ... especially with sizzurp.

Nia wants to restrict Chris' visitation ... asking the judge to force him to hire a full-time nanny or pull back on his right to be around the child.

She also wants the judge to force Chris to take random drug tests, prohibit him from using drugs or consuming alcohol around Royalty, and stop him from smoking around their daughter.

And Nia wants more child support ... she's getting $2,500 a month but wants it upped to nearly $16k a month.

We've reached out to Chris' attorney for comment ... so far, no word back.

Guy Ritchie, his wife and Rocco are going strong as they prepare to battle Madonna next week over who gets the kid.

It's been 2 months since the 15-year-old bailed on his mom during the London leg of her tour and moved in with his dad. He said then that he wanted to live with Guy, and apparently time hasn't softened his feelings.

Tila Tequila is not mentally stable enough to continue calling the shots for her daughter ... according to the kid's father.

Thomas Whitaker is fighting for full legal custody of 1-year-old Isabella, and wants to make all decisions for the little girl. He claims Tila has delusions of grandeur ... such as believing she's God.

Thomas says they don't have a formal custody arrangement right now. He's asking the court to grant him child support, and change Isabella's last name from Nguyen (Tila's real last name) to Whitaker.

He's also requesting some new ground rules: no booze for Tila 24 hours before she gets Isabella and while she has her -- plus, no bad-mouthing dad.

Tennessee Titans star Kendall Wright has serious off-season headaches ... his baby mama is taking him to court for child support, and thinks he's getting revenge by repossessing her car.

In court docs obtained by TMZ Sports, Kortney Michelle Owens-Rader says she has a 5-month-old baby boy with Wright named Kendall Jr. -- and the Titans leading receiver agreed in December to pay her $2,100/month in child support, starting in 2016.

The docs make it seem like everything's cool between Kortney and Kendall, but sources close to her say that's not the case. We're told Wright had been "taking care" of Kortney -- a singer signed to Floyd Mayweather's record label -- but nothing was on paper.

Cut to last week when, according to our sources, Kortney's 2014 Cadillac XTS -- a gift from Wright in happier times -- was repossessed. We're told Kortney thinks Wright stopped making payments because he was pissed she took him to court.

This probably won't get better ... they're due back in court in a couple of months. We've reached out to Wright's reps, but nothing back yet.

Sherri Shepherd is going all the way to the Supreme Court ... of Pennsylvania to get off the financial hook for the kid she and estranged husband Lamar Sally had last year through a surrogate.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ, Shepherd's asking the highest court in the state to relieve her from paying up to $4,600 a month to Sally until their son turns 18. Her reason? She says the first judge overstepped his boundaries in using a surrogacy contract to make her the mom ... even though she's not biologically related to the child.

Lamar tells TMZ ... it's ridiculous Sherri spent nearly $100k to bring their kid into the world, yet wants nothing to do with him. He says it's unfortunate one day the baby will be able to read the lengths Sherri went to in order to be out of his life.