Nov 18, 2023, 11:01 IST
- Elon Musk and Grimes are trying to figure out where he should be deposed in their custody dispute.
- Musk’s lawyers requested an “secured location” in Austin, Texas, for the videotaped deposition.
Elon Musk and Grimes are trying to figure out where and when he should appear for a deposition in their child-custody battle, with the billionaire’s team requesting it be held at a secure location, according to court documents obtained by Insider.
Musk, who shares three children with Grimes, sued the singer in Texas in September to “establish the parent-child relationship” with the kids. Grimes countersued him in California weeks later seeking physical custody of the children, telling a Texas judge in October that Musk had custody of her three-year-old son, X Æ A-Xii, over her objection.
Motions filed in the Texas case this week suggested lawyers for the former couple are trying to determine when Musk would sit for a videotaped deposition in the case. The documents said Grimes’s lawyers proposed he come into their office for the deposition. But Musk’s lawyers objected to that, requesting that the deposition occur at “secured location in Austin, Texas,” that would be privately disclosed to Grimes’s lawyers.
Two attorneys with expertise in complicated and high-net-worth family law cases told Insider it wasn’t unusual for someone like Musk to request a secure location for his deposition. Peter Walzer and Christopher Melcher, partners of Walzer Melcher, said Musk likely had security concerns about doing the deposition at a law office where presumably anybody who found out about it could just show up.
Lawyers for Musk and Grimes also can’t seem to agree on a date for the deposition, with Musk’s lawyers saying he had a conflict on the date in December that her lawyers had suggested.
The motions said the lawyers tried to come to an agreement on these issues before turning to the court, but were unable to do so.
Lawyers for Musk and Grimes did not respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
Since there are dueling lawsuits in Texas and California regarding Musk and Grimes’s kids, the lawyers previously told Insider the first step in the case will likely be to determine in which jurisdiction the case should actually proceed. Meaning, Grimes and Musk could spend months just trying to prove which state their kids actually live in.
