Halle Berry's ex Olivier Martinez scores win in their bitter custody battle: French actor awarded primary custody of the couple's son

Halle Berry's ex Olivier Martinez has scored a major victory in the courtroom amid their bitter custody battle over their 13-year-old son Maceo.

Earlier this month, a legal war erupted between the exes after Martinez accused Berry of physically abusing their son Maceo. Berry has denied all of the allegations.

In the latest development, TMZ reports Martinez, 60, was awarded primary physical custody of Maceo and that Berry, 60, lost overnight visits with their child.

A rep for the actress told the site Berry still retains joint legal custody and also holds the tiebreaker should she and Martinez struggle to reach an agreement.

Martinez, who previously had 50/50 custody over Maceo with Berry, was awarded primary custody of their son and a temporary restraining order against his ex for both himself and his son against the actress earlier this month.

But on Thursday, the judge also shut down Martinez's request for a domestic violence restraining order, according to Page Six.

'We are extremely pleased that the Court has dissolved the TRO,' Marina Beck, Berry's attorney, told The Daily Mail of the latest move. 'As we move forward, Halle is determined to continue to focus on the well-being and best interests of her family.'

Halle Berry's ex Olivier Martinez has scored a major victory in the courtroom amid their bitter custody battle over their 13-year-old son Maceo. Above, Berry arriving at court with fiancee Van Hunt on Wednesday

A rep for the actress told the site Berry still retains joint legal custody and also holds the tiebreaker should she and Martinez struggle to reach an agreement

The legal war broke out after Martinez accused Berry in a court filing of 'physically abusing' their son Maceo 'by jumping on him and choking him' in a September 26 incident. Berry has denied all of the allegations.

A source for Page Six called the TRO dissolution 'a huge win' for Berry.

Patrick Baghdaserians, Martinez's lawyer, told TMZ Berry's lawyers sought to restore their 50/50 arrangement but the judge rejected their request.

The judge will reportedly re-consider the custody matter next month.

Photos show Berry smiling as she emerged from the courthouse with her fiancee Van Hunt and her attorney on Thursday.

The Daily Mail has contacted lawyers for Berry and Martinez for comment.

The latest development comes two days after attorneys for Berry and Martinez reportedly sparred in court in their ongoing custody battle over their son Maceo.

During the hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court, Martinez's attorney asked Judge Shelley Kaufman to reopen evidence so that he could question Berry over an Instagram post she shared on Monday, according to a reporter in court for Page Six.

Baghdaserians reportedly accused Berry of having violated the terms of a temporary domestic violence restraining order.

According to the publication, Berry's lawyer called Martinez's attorney's attempt to question Berry a 'last-minute grasp at straws' and said it was 'nothing more than a witch hunt.'

Martinez's attorney took issue with a repost shared to Berry's Instagram Stories on Monday, which has since disappeared.

Berry's repost featured a quotation attributed to the relationship coach Kai Vinci, in which he said: 'If kids disrespect their mom, the root cause often traces back to their relationship with the father.. [100 emoji].'

After the hearing, Berry emerged from the courthouse with a smile on her face

Berry and her fiancee were accompanied by her lawyer Marina Beck

'We are extremely pleased that the Court has dissolved the TRO,' Marina Beck, Berry's attorney, told Page Six

In response to Martinez's attorney's attempt to reopen questioning, Berry's attorney reportedly said that Martinez's legal team 'just intended to re-open evidence and continue their false narrative.'

Beck also claimed that Baghdaserians intentionally made the request in open court so that it would be observed by reporters.

According to Page Six, Martinez's attorney denied Beck's claim and said the request didn't hang on the presence of reporters in court.

Baghdaserians said that Berry's post had shown up on her Instagram Stories shortly after evidence had closed.

'This sort of conduct is the reason we are here today,' he said, accusing Berry's post of 'disturbing my client’s peace' and 'calm.'

Judge Kaufman ultimately denied the request to reopen evidence.

TMZ reports Martinez was awarded primary physical custody of their 13-year-old son

According to Page Six, the courtroom was cleared after the back-and-forth as Berry and Martinez's attorneys delivered their closing arguments.

Martinez previously faced questions from attorneys on both sides on Friday, October 23, according to a minute order reviewed by The Daily Mail.

Berry's fiancé, 56-year-old Van Hunt, also testified under questioning from Berry's legal team, according to court documents. The musician had been on the premises during the incident involving Berry and her son.

Following Hunt's testimony, Martinez's legal team proposed to recall Maceo 'as a rebuttal witness and to present his testimony remotely,' the minute order stated.

Martinez withdrew the request after the court found that if Maceo was to testify again, it would have to be in person, according to the court documents.

Hunt had been seen departing the court around 4pm on Friday, Page Six reported, noting that he seemed 'relieved' as he finished testifying and was 'seen laughing' with one of Berry's lawyers.

Berry had been seen rubbing Hunt's arm as they departed the court, the outlet reported.

Martinez and his legal team had been seen leaving the courtroom at around 4.30pm, according to the outlet.

Berry’s daughter Nahla Aubry, 18, had been slated to testify via stream during Monday's hearing, the publication reported.

In a legal filing made in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this month that was reviewed by The Daily Mail, Berry claimed that Martinez has repeatedly inserted himself into ongoing issues regarding Maceo's schooling and therapy, obstructing progress in all areas.

She told the court that Martinez has inappropriately gotten Maceo involved in the ongoing custody battle and undermined her efforts with the teen, per the filing.

Berry said that the court should award her 'sole legal custody over matters relating to Maceo’s education, healthcare, and mental-health treatment,' and 'extend [her] tie-breaking authority indefinitely.'

Berry and her partner emerged from the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles

The aforementioned requests would be 'so that necessary interventions can be implemented without continued delay, conflict, and harm to the child,' Berry said in the court filing.

Attorneys for Berry said in the filing that the ongoing 'case has been and continues to be about Olivier’s efforts to use manipulation, alienation, and litigation to obstruct necessary interventions for Maceo and to circumvent orders.'

Berry's legal team said in the filing that it was not merely Berry's 'characterization of events,' as Martinez's 'custom and practice is confirmed by numerous judicial findings, court orders, and sanctions.'

Berry said in the court filing that Maceo's 'behavioral issues at school have significantly escalated' since the temporary restraining order had been issued earlier this month.

In the filing, Berry pointed to letters submitted to the court by administrators from Maceo's school indicating that he 'has become increasingly oppositional, defiant, and disrespectful toward both peers and authority figures.'

Berry added in the legal filing that the school officials have said 'Maceo has been more disruptive at school, harassed a younger student, used inappropriate language, thrown objects at peers, been disciplined with a week of detention and unilaterally announced that he is' switching schools.

Berry said in the legal filing that, with Martinez's encouragement, Maceo has been reinforced to believe he has a say in 'decisions regarding his education, health, extracurricular activities, and general welfare.'

In addition to asking for sole custody, Berry has requested the court authorize an arrangement in which Maceo would attend therapy sessions for a year, 'both individual and conjoint,' with a therapist of her choosing.

Berry in the legal filing requested that both parties 'be ordered to forthwith communicate exclusively via Our Family Wizard,' a co-parenting app. She asked the court for conditions in which each party would check the app once a day, and send no more than one message daily in cases of no emergency.

Berry and Martinez had been married from 2013 to 2015, finalizing their split in 2023.

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The Trump administration is on an eleventh-hour blitz to challenge the results of Alaska's Senate race - before the election has even occurred.

The race was shaken up this week after a bombshell report found Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign allegedly 'planted' a candidate with a name double of her Republican opponent Dan Sullivan in a scheme to boost her winning chances.

Her campaign - and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee - are now under a criminal investigation opened this week by the state's Republican governor for allegedly recruiting the 'Decoy' Dan Sullivan.

At the same time, an ongoing civil case - filed by the Department of Justice earlier this year - is examining whether Alaska can certify the results if incumbent Dan Sullivan loses.

The Cook Political Report ranks Alaska's Senate race as a toss-up, and the crucial seat could determine the balance of power in Congress.

President Donald Trump has called for Peltola to be prosecuted herself after the report came to light, decrying 'fraud' in the state and demanding that she and the 'Decoy' Dan be removed from the ballot.

But legal experts told the Daily Mail that the civil case - and Trump's calls for a federal prosecution - are unlikely to advance.

A criminal case would be thin for prosecutors – and would almost certainly fail, says Rick Hasen, election law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Legal experts told the Daily Mail that the arguments included in the DOJ's investigation against Mary Peltola and the Democratic Party are unlikely to hold up in court

This combination photo shows Trump-backed Republican Sen Dan Sullivan, left, in Palmer, Alaska, on August 17, 2026, and another candidate in Alaska's Senate race named Dan Sullivan

A sample election ballot is displayed in Anchorage, Alaska, showing both of the Daniel Sullivan candidates

'To begin with, it is regular practice for people to support candidates for bad motives: Republicans boosting Greens and Democrats boosting Libertarians, Hasen told the Daily Mail. 'The effort in Alaska is just an extreme version of that.'

'That might not stop DOJ from trying to prosecute it,' he added. 'But I think such a claim would fail.'

Hasen further explained that Dan Sullivan 2.0 would likely defend his actions under the First Amendment, which would almost certainly outweigh any conspiracy charges – regardless of how unsavory his motivations may have been for entering the race.

'I don't see how the government could criminalize his running for office for having impure motives.'

And even if the claims would hold up, 'it could be a crime every time that the Republican Party backs a Green Party candidate, or Democrats support a MAGA candidate in a primary in the hopes that the candidate would be weaker against a Democrat in the general election. This stuff happens all the time.'

In fact, name doubles in elections are not a new political trick.

In 2024, Washington's Democratic state Attorney General Bob Ferguson was joined in the gubernatorial Democratic primary by two other candidates with the same name – both of which were paid by a Republican activist hoping to confuse voters, CNN reported.

And already in the mid 1950s, another 'JFK' – John Francis Kennedy – capitalized on the Massachusetts fame of then-Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy to become state treasurer without any public campaign or party endorsement.

As for the ongoing civil case, the Justice Department's case appears to focus, at least in part, on possible conspiracy charges.

That being whether Democrats knowingly recruited Dan J Sullivan on Peltola's behalf, as part of a broader effort to confuse and or deprive Alaskans of their votes. Or whether Dan J Sullivan himself knowingly aimed to deprive voters.

Derek Muller, an election law expert and professor at Notre Dame Law, described the Alaska civil lawsuit as 'one of the worst' he had ever seen.

The attempt to invalidate the state election results in the event of Democratic win is seen as very weak.

Alaska has gone to great lengths to distinguish the two candidates on the ballot - including by adding their middle initials and the full name Daniel J Sullivan, as opposed to Dan S Sullivan, the GOP incumbent.

Finally, they explicitly list Dan S Sullivan as 'incumbent' - making clear who is who.

Trump has insisted voters still need a '190 IQ' to get the ballot right as most people 'don't know what incumbent means.'

Regarding possible criminal charges, Muller stressed the many unknowns – and that 'further investigation is essential' to determine whether the charges should be brought by federal prosecutors.

'I do wonder if there were campaign finance violations committed here,' Muller said in a post on the Election Law Blog.

'We’ll have to wait and see how contributions were structured, and whether some where appropriately made but simply difficult to find in the disclosure data, or whether some were in violation of law.'

As far as possible charges of conspiracy to violate the National Voting Rights Act, Muller theorized on where the line might be drawn between 'ordinary politics' and 'dirty tricks' – and when that 'crosses into behavior that is designed to prevent voters from exercising a choice.'

The Justice Department filed an amended complaint Thursday that included the New York Times' shock findings that came out earlier this week

'I think the voters have been appropriately informed, and there is little likelihood of actual confusion,' Muller said. 'But I think the attempts to do so this spring and summer could still be criminal.'

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The DOJ argued in its amended complaint that both Peltola's campaign and the DSCC misled the court last week, when claiming they lacked the 'knowledge or information' to speak to the decoy candidate's intentions to run for office.

The Justice Department's filing ticks through the New York Times report before saying it provides the opposite: That they 'orchestrated the sham campaign' for purposes of 'misleading Alaskan voters.'

It is unclear whether this will alter the strength of the case.

Peltola's campaign and the DSCC, meanwhile, vehemently disputed the allegations in a filing of their own, saying Friday that the accusations were 'nonsense' and a thinly veiled attempt to delay certification of the vote.

'The only one who could possibly know Daniel J Sullivan’s true reasons for filing as a candidate is Daniel J Sullivan,' they told the court.

The turmoil around the political trickery has led to unprecedented attention on the Last Frontier's Senate race.