Robin Thicke & Paula Patton in Heated Custody Battle, Judge Denies Actress' Request to Limit Custody After Spanking Incident

Actor lost his father last year after he suffered a heart attack

By Lily Harrison Jan 13, 2017 3:14 AMTags
Robin Thicke, Paula Patton, GRAMMYS 2014 Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Robin Thicke and Paula Patton are currently in the midst of a tense custody battle over their 6-year-old son, Julian.

According to court documents obtained by E! News, issues between the exes concerning their only child together escalated to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services earlier this year.

However, as of Thursday morning, a judge has denied Patton's request to limit Thicke's joint custody agreement.

A source tells E! News, "Robin loves his son and did not want to give up his time with him."

photos
Most Expensive Celeb Divorces

In Thicke's declaration, he claims that Patton repeatedly denied him from seeing his son as a result of an incident involving him spanking Julian.

"It is my understanding that Paula is accusing me of ‘excessive spanking.' I am told that Julian reported to the school that I spanked him and that the school made a report to the Department of Children and Family Services," Thicke explained in the court papers.

"On a very rare occasion, and only as a last resort, I will use light spanking, but it is consistent with the law—open hand on the butt. This is the type of discipline to which Paula and I agreed during our marriage."

Thicke also claims that his ex "holds residual anger toward me because I and my family would not permit her or her family to attend the funeral of my father."

He added, "Paula did not have a positive relationship with my father and often made negative comments to me about my father. As such, she was not welcome at his funeral."

The L.A. Department of Children and Family Services case, however, is still ongoing.