“I did not physically resist or argue with Respondent in front of Louetta,” Derek Richard Thomas wrote about a July visit with his 3-year-old daughter.
“Respondent took Louetta from my care roughly forty minutes into my visitation time, with police present,” Thomas wrote in an Aug. 27 declaration filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Thomas wrote that one of the monitors arrived with Louetta despite his objection to her. Another approved monitor was already on the way. Willis arrived first. Police told the parents it was a “civil matter,” according to Thomas. He claimed Louetta was upset when Willis left with her and did not want to go.
Thomas says the June order required six weeks of supervised visits before his parenting time became “unmonitored and overnight.”
The June Order
The schedule was unusually specific. Thomas received parenting time every other weekend beginning June 20, alternating between Los Angeles and Idaho. His first unmonitored overnight was set to begin Aug. 22 at 10 a.m. and end the following day at 6 p.m.
Thomas is marrying Lizzie Loch in October. He says Willis offered to “take away all of the supervision for the rest of the visits” if somebody she selected could accompany Louetta at the wedding. “Having her have someone at the wedding is more important for me than that,” Willis allegedly wrote.
Loch had come up before. Willis raised concerns in earlier court filings about Louetta being around Thomas’ fiancée during his parenting time. The June order gave Willis primary physical custody of Louetta while she and Thomas retained joint legal custody. Thomas was given parenting time every other weekend beginning June 20.
The parents were also ordered into co-parenting counseling and told to use the co-parenting app. Both parents agreed to undergo a child custody evaluation. Thomas’ attorney called the June ruling an “interim determination” and said at the time that the schedule gave Thomas an opportunity to “restore and grow his relationship” with Louetta.
The Earlier Claims
Willis also accused Thomas of emotional abuse and “coercive control.” In one filing, Willis alleged Thomas had been so high on marijuana that he could not watch Louetta for a few minutes without her rolling off a couch.
Thomas disputes that account. “I reject completely and without reservation Respondent’s claims concerning my alleged abuse of drugs,” he wrote in his Aug. 27 declaration. He also denied endangering Louetta or failing to cooperate with Willis as a co-parent.
The Idaho Fight
The custody case dates to July 2025, when Thomas went to court seeking joint legal and physical custody and visitation. He said Willis had moved Louetta to Idaho during the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires and that he had understood the move to be temporary. Thomas said he supported Willis taking Louetta out of Los Angeles but disputed the move becoming permanent.
When Thomas first went to court, he said he was seeing Louetta about once a month in Los Angeles and every day when he was allowed. He said Willis attributed the limited contact to breastfeeding. Thomas claimed control was the real issue.
Willis gave the court a different account. “I have offered visits in Idaho many times,” she wrote. She listed what she said Thomas had been offered: transportation, housing and use of her car. Willis also said she arranged Louetta’s trips to California and regular FaceTime calls with Thomas lasting at least 30 minutes.
Another filing got more specific about the housing. Willis said Thomas had been offered a “luxurious place to stay” on Demi Moore’s property in Sun Valley. Thomas’ problem with Idaho went beyond the drive or a place to sleep.
He pointed to Willis’ family’s “long-standing roots and significant influence” there. “Her mother resides there, and her family has historically owned large portions of real estate in the area,” Thomas wrote. “I worry that this could create an imbalance in the legal process.”
Two Courts
Willis had filed a paternity case in Idaho in July 2025. The next month, she asked the California court to dismiss Thomas’ case, arguing that Idaho was Louetta’s home state. Thomas wanted the dispute to stay in California.
By September, the two had agreed to mediation with a private judge “to try to resolve all issues.” There had already been another arrangement for Louetta. An August 2025 order gave Thomas six hours with her per day, for as many as three or four days a week. The visits could happen in Los Angeles or Sun Valley.
The Idaho case ended in January 2026. The court determined that California was the proper venue.
Willis later asked the court to keep Loch away from Thomas’ parenting time. She offered another option if Loch was there: a nanny could take Louetta if Thomas and Loch began fighting.
Thomas had his own description of their relationship. He said Louetta showed “tremendous affection for Lizzie.”
The Aug. 27 filing ends up back at the order entered this June. Thomas accuses Willis of doing “everything in her power to interfere, block and frustrate” his relationship with Louetta.
Willis wants that June order vacated. Thomas does not.