Rumer Willis is asking a judge to keep Derek Richard Thomas’s visits with their 3-year-old daughter, Louetta, supervised while their custody dispute continues.
Willis filed an emergency request on August 24 seeking to stop Thomas’s parenting time from progressing to unsupervised overnight visits. In court papers obtained by TMZ, she says he repeatedly failed to follow the supervision arrangement established earlier this summer and made decisions around Louetta that she considers unsafe.
Thomas disputes her account. His attorney, Mike Kretzmer, called the latest filing “reckless and demonstrably false” and said Thomas has never used illicit substances or engaged in conduct that placed his daughter at risk.
The June 9 custody order gave Willis primary physical custody while the parents retained joint legal custody. Thomas received parenting time every other weekend beginning June 20, first with supervision and later scheduled to transition to unmonitored overnight visits. The latest dispute is due back in court September 10.
Willis Says Thomas Completed Only Five and a Half Supervised Visits
Willis says problems with the supervised schedule began after the nanny originally approved to monitor Thomas’s visits became unavailable because of health issues.
According to her filing, Thomas objected to replacement supervisors on multiple occasions and completed only five and a half supervised visits. She alleges that during one visit he refused to allow a supervising nanny into the home where he was staying with Louetta.
Willis also describes a Fourth of July disagreement. She says Thomas left Louetta with the supervising nanny during a parade and later would not allow the nanny into the Airbnb where he and the child were staying.
Another allegation concerns a roughly two-and-a-half-mile walk during extreme heat. Willis says Thomas also considered crossing a five-lane road with a 55-mph speed limit while with Louetta. Those accounts come from Willis’s filing and have not been established as facts by the court.
Her emergency request asks that supervision remain in place and that overnight visits be delayed while the court considers the dispute and the previously ordered custody evaluation.
Thomas Says Willis Has Interfered With His Parenting Time
Thomas filed his own declaration on August 27, accusing Willis of making “excuse after excuse” that prevented him from exercising the parenting time granted under the June order.
Wealth of Geeks previously reported his account of a July visitation dispute in which Willis arrived with police after Thomas objected to one of the proposed monitors. Thomas said another approved supervisor was already on the way.
According to his filing, officers described the disagreement as a civil matter. Willis left with Louetta about 40 minutes into the visit, and Thomas said he did not physically resist because he did not want the situation to escalate in front of their daughter.
Thomas also denies Willis’s allegations about drug use and unsafe parenting. “I reject completely and without reservation Respondent’s claims concerning my alleged abuse of drugs, any conduct on my part that endangers Louetta, and any failure at efforts to cooperate with her and to co-parent Louetta,” he wrote.
Kretzmer has separately accused Willis of moving Louetta to Nashville without the authorization required under the custody arrangement. Willis maintains that Thomas agreed to the relocation.
Willis Wants Supervision Extended While Thomas Wants the June Order Left in Place
Willis is asking the court to continue supervised parenting time and prevent overnight visits while the custody evaluation and latest dispute remain unresolved.
Thomas wants the June 9 plan to remain in effect, including its progression to unmonitored overnight visits. He argues that Willis should not be allowed to change the arrangement based on accusations he denies.
The existing order also requires both parents to participate in co-parenting counseling, communicate through a co-parenting app and undergo a custody evaluation.
The court is scheduled to address the latest dispute on September 10.