The long custody battle for Jenelle Evans‘ son Jace has finally ended.
The Ashley can reveal that the custody court case— in which the fired ‘Teen Mom’ star had been battling her mom Barbara and Jace’s dad Andrew Lewis to keep custody of the teen— ended on Monday. Despite the court battle being very public and nasty (not to mention expensive for all parties involved), it wrapped up quietly.
Court records obtained by The Ashley stated that the case was “voluntarily dismissed” on October 19. This likely means that it was the Plaintiff (who is Barbara) who agreed to drop the case, given that she was the one who had it reopened in March when she refiled for custody of Jace. In addition, the attorney for the parties (Jenelle, Barb and Andrew) were allowed to withdraw from the case as they had requested to do earlier this month.
Finally, the hearing that had been set for November 9 (which had been rescheduled at least four times) has been cancelled.
The Ashley told you last week that her source stated that having all three attorneys file to be dropped from the case signified that the case was about to be dismissed. This is, of course, because Barbara and Andrew got what they were fighting for— Jace is back to living with Barbara in North Carolina and Andrew has been getting the visitation he was fighting for.
“There’s nothing more for them to fight in court about,” the source said. “Jace is home with Barbara and Jenelle has accepted it and is allowing him to remain there without a fight. She has no intention of bringing Jace to Florida [to live with her].”
It is not currently known if the case was dismissed with or without prejudice. If it was dismissed without prejudice, Barbara could legally file to reopen the case (again) down the road. Under North Carolina law, a first-time voluntary dismissal filed by a plaintiff is “without prejudice” (unless it is specifically stated otherwise). This means that Barb would be able to refile within the one-year timeframe if necessary. (However, in this case, she would have less than a year, due to Jace turning 18 in August 2027.)
Last week, Jenelle gave her followers on TikTok Live an update on Jace. She stated that Jace is currently doing well living at her mom’s and that, although he is currently working at a restaurant, he is curious about capitalizing off his existing fame.
“He works at a family-owned business and they love him there. But he is wanting to— he’s asking me about TV!” Jenelle said. “Y’all, he does not want to work a normal job!
“…He’s more motivated now to actually do things,” Jenelle added. “And I said, ‘Well, honestly, Jace, everyone knows you online and if you just start making the right videos and the right content, people want to hear from you.’”
Jenelle— who hasn’t had an actual job herself since she was a knocked-up teen on MTV— stated that she plans to “coach” her son on how to avoid working a real job.
“So I think I’m gonna start coaching him with social media and how to get monetized and everything,” she said, adding that she plans to do a merch line with Jace.
Starcasm was the first to report the end of the court case.
RELATED STORY: EXCLUSIVE! Lawyers for Barbara Evans & Andrew Lewis File to Be Removed from Custody Case for Jenelle Evans’ Son Jace
(Photos: MTV; TikTok; Instagram)
wait but does this mean jenelle still legally has custody of jace then? because you know these sh!tty moms like jenelle and amber don’t actually care to see their kids everyday just so that they can think they have some type of power
Yep. It wasn’t smart to drop the case. Jenelle changes her mind on a dime based on comments on her social media regarding Jace. If Jace is beneficial to Jenelle’s image she will use him without a thought for his well being. I wouldn’t trust Jenelle as far as I could throw her.