Child Custody

The pop princess is a big spender. Court papers released this week in Britney Spears' custody dispute with Kevin Federline show she spends lavishly on clothes and entertainment, and doesn't save or invest any of her roughly $737,000 monthly income. Spears' monthly expenses include $49,267 in mortgage for two houses, $16,000 for clothes and $102,000 on entertainment, gifts and vacation, according to her financial declaration.

Reporters who showed up Friday as Britney Spears and her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, appeared together for the first time in their ugly custody battle were chagrined to find themselves shut out of the downtown courtroom. But the pop star still served the hungry media what they wanted when she repeatedly snapped at reporters and launched an obscenity-laden insult during her frequent breaks from the all-day hearing.

Britney Spears and former husband Kevin Federline were ordered Wednesday to appear in court later this month by a Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner who is seeking to resolve the custody battle over their two toddler sons. In a proceeding lasting more than three hours, Spears, 25, and Federline, 29, were ordered to attend a hearing Oct. 26 before Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon, part of the continuing fight over custody of Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.

Britney Spears has lived her two years of motherhood under the glare of both the media and the government. There were the tabloid stories when her baby fell out of a highchair and suffered scratches. There were the paparazzi photos showing her driving down Pacific Coast Highway while holding her infant son in her lap rather than securing him in a child car seat, which led to an inquiry by L.A. County officials.

A Los Angeles County Court commissioner laid down the law to singer Britney Spears today, saying there was evidence that the pop star was "a habitual, frequent and continuous" user of drugs and alcohol and ordered mandatory, random biweekly drug tests. The commissioner, ruling in a dispute between Spears and her former husband, Kevin Federline, over custody of their two children, also ruled that she must meet with a parenting coach.

Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, who years ago made headlines when he agreed to accept joint legal custody of a little girl who was not his daughter, is paving the way for her to meet and bond with her biological father, Hollywood producer Steve Bing. It's the latest turn in a case that has played out for tabloid readers as well as Wall Street watchers: It started in 2002, when Kerkorian's ex-wife, Lisa Bonder Kerkorian, 42, sued for $320,000 a month in child support for her daughter, Kira.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to get involved in a custody fight over an 8-year-old girl whose Chinese parents have been trying for seven years to get back from temporary foster care. Without comment, the high court rejected a request to review a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that Anna Mae He must be returned to birth parents Shaoqiang and Qin Luo He. "This is wonderful news for my family," Shaoqiang He said of the high court decision.

A National Guard member charged with desertion while fighting for custody of her 7-year-old daughter has been granted an honorable discharge from the Army, her lawyer said Saturday. New Hampshire Army National Guard Spc. Lisa Hayes learned of the discharge Friday at Fort Dix, N.J., where she had surrendered earlier in the week. She and her daughter, Brystal, returned home to Rindge, N.H., early Saturday, said her lawyer, Linda Theroux.

A court hearing to determine whether a 2-year-old Riverside County foster child should be united with her father -- a convicted sex offender -- or become eligible for adoption was postponed Wednesday. The adoption of the special-needs girl, named Heaven, had been recommended by her county social worker when a Riverside County Juvenile Court commissioner halted the process last month to consider uniting the girl with her father.

As the would-be adoptive parents of a 2-year-old foster child, Glenda and Roger S. thought they had prepared for everything. They decorated a pink-walled room with Disney princesses, checked their paperwork and lined up medical specialists to see the special-needs child for checkups as soon as the girl, Heaven, was to arrive.