Putting an end to a bitter court battle, Jaime King’s ex-husband, Kyle Newman, has been awarded sole custody of their two children.
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According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, King and Newman will share legal custody of their sons James, 11, and Leo, 9. However, Newman will have a tie-breaking authority over legal custody.
While the children primarily live with Newman, the Hart of Dixie star has been given visitation rights. She can see them three times a week in specific hour blocks. But she will have to be supervised during the visit.
King’s mother, sister, and brother-in-law are among those on the approved supervised list, as is Newman’s brother, Kevin.
The supervised visitation was ordered because King has not finished her 6-month drug/alcohol program, weekly testing, aftercare, and 2-step program. She must also participate in a 26-week parenting program and individual counseling to address case issues. Conjoint counseling with minors also needs to be done when the therapist deems it to be appropriate.
King filed an emergency request to change the spousal and child support agreement in 2024. The court documents revealed that King “lacks the ability to pay the support.” She asked for the court to end the spousal support.
Newman claimed that the actress had “been out of compliance with the court’s child and spousal support orders for well over a year.”
Jaime King and Kyle Newman’s Court Battles Started in 2020
Jaime King and Kyle Newman got married in 2007. After 13 years of marriage, King filed for divorce in May 2020. She also filed a domestic violence prevention petition and an emergency motion related to child custody and visitation at the time.
King previously claimed that Newman had staged an “intervention” in mid-January 2020 at their home amid her alleged drug/alcohol struggles. The actress admitted that she agreed to go to a treatment facility after the intervention, where she could prove she wasn’t using any drugs. Following treatment at the facility, King stated no drugs or alcohol were found in her system. She was sent home after a couple of days.
However, Newman accused King of being a “chronic drug addict and alcoholic who refuses to acknowledge that she has a problem, let alone seek meaningful treatment for such probably.”
Newman then stated that King’s alleged addictions had impacted her ability to parent their children. He claimed that “several friends” told him King was drinking and using opiates while pregnant with their son, James. He also said that she used drugs while pregnant with Leo.
Newman discovered during King’s 20-week appointment that “our unborn child was also addicted due to her drug use.”
“We found out at that same appointment that Leo Thomas had a congenital heart defect and would need surgery to survive as soon as he was born,” Newman stated. “I was devastated.”