Jon Kopaloff / Getty, Frederic J. Brown/ Getty, Tyler Le/ BI
- Elon Musk and Grimes met in a Texas court for a custody-dispute hearing over their three children.
- The former couple have been battling since September, filing lawsuits in Texas and California.
- The court session addressed multiple motions and was closed to the public for security reasons.
Elon Musk and Grimes met in a Texas courthouse on Friday for a hearing regarding their custody dispute.
The former couple have been in an ongoing custody battle since September over the three children they share: 3-year-old X Æ A-12, also known as baby X, 2-year-old Exa, and 1-year-old Tau.
The billionaire and the musician filed dueling lawsuits against one another in two different states: Musk in Texas and Grimes in California.
The two met in Austin on Friday to address a series of motions, including one brought to temporarily halt the proceedings.
Musk arrived with three private security guards, who escorted him to the bathroom and then later into the courtroom. Three armed Travis County sheriffs were also stationed inside and outside the courtroom.
Grimes, whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher, arrived after Musk, minutes before the hearing began.
The case was sealed to the public in December, and the judge agreed to close the courtroom to the press and public only minutes after the hearing began, and a small group of spectators had to leave the room. Musk's security lightly pushed one reporter as they were on their way out of the courtroom.
"We're going to be getting into many details related to these children," Lindsey Eykel, Musk's attorney, said on Friday.
Grimes' attorney, Geoffrey Weisbert, agreed to the motion to close the courtroom, citing "security concerns" related to the children, some of which pertained to the case.
Musk's righthand man, Jared Birchall, was also in attendance. Birchall left the courtroom with some of Musk's security personnel shortly after the courtroom was closed to the public.
The hearing was disrupted by a fire alarm about an hour into the proceeding. Musk was rushed out of the building by his security entourage and drove away in a Tesla.
Grace Kay
A spokesperson for the courthouse said the fire alarm was part of a planned test of the system.
The hearing resumed about 30 minutes later.
Musk and Grimes' meeting in court comes just days after Grimes' mother, Sandy Garossino, accused Musk of "withholding" the children from Grimes.
"She was thrilled for the kids' planned visit to celebrate her birthday this weekend. Today. But those hopes were crushed when the trip was canceled," Garossino wrote on X.
"I am alarmed to learn that the children cannot come as you are withholding them and their needed passport documents from Claire," she added, referring to Grimes by her first name.
This story is developing.